video footage of Wednesday\u2019s clash<\/a> between angry protesters and BLM rangers that shows Bundy\u2019s sister being tackled to the ground and one of Bundy\u2019s seven sons being shot with a stun gun.<\/p>\n\u201cWatching that video last night created a visceral reaction in me,\u201d said Arizona Rep. Kelly Townsend, a tea party Republican who is driving up from Phoenix to take part in a rally with lawmakers and Oath Keepers near the Bundy ranch Monday. \u201cIt sounds dramatic, but it reminded me of Tiananmen Square. I don\u2019t recognize my country at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m highly offended by the feds coming in as aggressively as they have,\u201d Fiore said.<\/p>\n
Federal officials have said the large law enforcement presence and high level of security come in response to direct and indirect threats of violence made by Bundy family members and others.<\/p>\n
Before the federal roundup of Bundy\u2019s livestock began, the BLM set up two orange plastic pens as rallying points for demonstrators wanting to protest the ongoing operation on federal land 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The move drew criticism from elected leaders and others. In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Brian Sandoval said the First Amendment areas were \u201coffensive\u201d and called on the agency to remove them.<\/p>\n
During a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon, Amy Lueders, state director for the BLM in Nevada, said the agency heard the governor\u2019s concerns and \u201cmade some adjustments\u201d to address them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are allowing people to congregate on public land as long as they don\u2019t inhibit the operation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bunkerville resident Jim Olson lives across the street from where one of the First Amendment areas was set up. He said it reminded him of East Berlin during the Cold War, and he was glad to see a crew of BLM firefighters take it down Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took five minutes. They hooked a truck onto it, and bing, bang, boom the fence was gone,\u201d Olson said. \u201cOf course the publicity has just been horrid, and they (BLM officials) are not handling it very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bundy family and its supporters have established their own rally area on private property along state Route 170 near the Virgin River. The \u201cFirst Amendment areas\u201d went largely unused, except as a repository for protest signs bearing slogans such as \u201c1st Amendment isn\u2019t an area\u201d and \u201c1st Amendment: Corralled like an animal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost 600,000 acres of public land has been temporarily closed to the public as more than 900 cattle are rounded up from a vast swath of mountains and desert where Bundy has left his livestock to roam even though he hasn\u2019t paid federal grazing fees since 1993.<\/p>\n
The BLM\u2019s Lueders said the seizure of cattle on federal land was being done as a \u201clast resort,\u201d and there is only one person to blame for the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Bundy is breaking the law, and he has been breaking the law for 20 years,\u201d she said. \u201cHe owes the taxpayers of the United States over $1 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
Townsend, the lawmaker from Arizona, said Bundy \u201cmay be in the wrong as far as the law is concerned,\u201d but the way the roundup is being conducted is \u201cun-American.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is part of a delegation of sympathetic state lawmakers, former law enforcement officers and military veterans who have been invited to stand with the Bundys and camp at their 160-acre ranch, with certain conditions.<\/p>\n
On the Oath Keepers\u2019 Facebook page, those planning to make the trip are instructed to bring cameras and \u201cfilm everything\u201d but not to wear military camouflage or openly carry rifles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny rifles people may have with them need to stay in the vehicles,\u201d the post says.<\/p>\n
Gov. Sandoval is urging \u201call individuals who are near the situation to act with restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough tensions remain high, escalation of current events could have negative, long lasting consequences that can be avoided,\u201d he said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n
Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R-Las Vegas, called the footage \u201chorrifying.\u201d The pro-gun lawmaker has made two trips to the Bunkerville area in the past two days so she could meet with protesters, \u201cprotect our Nevadans and keep the peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is something heating up concerning a dispute between the federal government and a rancher…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}