The Paiutes traditional hunting grounds in Southern Nevada were usurped by Mormom colonists in the 1870s. The well-watered land along the Colorado was especially appealing to the polygamous sects and Edward Bunker, who is no relation to Archie Bunker, founded Bunkerville in 1877 to establish a commune based on shared labor. It lasted four years and the remote town settled into a ranching community with a present population of over one thousand inhabitants. I have driven past Bunkerville several times coming from Las Vegas or returning from Utah. It is far enough off Interstate 15 to not notice the small town in the desolate Virgin Valley.
Water comprises on 1% of the Clark County's territory and few travelers bother to detour off the highway to drive along 170, since like all polygamous Mormon enclaves Bunkerville has no restaurants or gas stations or any appeal to passing motorists, since the clannish polygamists prefer that 'non-members; to keep on trucking to Las Vegas or Zion Canyon. They like their towns tight, however this weekend Bunkerville hit the national headlines.
The Bureau of Land Management had been confiscating a rancher's cattle free-grazing on federal lands. Cliven Bundy refused to recognize the government's ownership and claimed his family were the rightful owners with deeds dating back to their seizure from the Paiutes in the 1870s. Courts had levied the 67 year-old rancher with over $1 million in fines for trespassing without Bundy ever paying a dime for grazing rights on the expansive desertlands.
Bundy's plight gained sympathy from like-thinkers and soon hundreds of armed protestors confronted federal officials near the Bundy's compound.
The White House decided to defuse the situation and the confiscated cattle was restored to the Bundys in order to avoid a repeat of federal violence at Ruby Ridge, Idaho or Waco, Texas. CNN was busy covering the missing Malaysian flight, leaving Fox News to tell its side of the story.
"Our mission here is to protect the protestors and the American citizens from the violence that the federal government is dishing out,” Jim Landy, a member of the West Mountain Rangers, who made the journey from Montana to Nevada, told Fox News Channel. “People here are scared."
And the Feds can be scary, but the long dispute with the Bundy family is another example of White America protecting the rights of agricultural moochers. These lands were allocated for 150 head. The Bundys let hundreds more onto the reserve. They grazed the grass to the dirt. He lost a court case in 2012, but decided the law didn't apply to him or any free-rangers.
Bundy argued that the rules were changed in 1993 to protect the desert tortoise.
Free-rangers hated anything other than stupid bovine herds, since that's the only living animal to which they can relate, until they kill it for a Mickie D hamburger.
Rightwingers claimed a victory for the West and I am glad that the tense situation ended without bloodshed, although one of Bundy's grandsons had been tasered by a federal officer, but it's all part of the welfare state of the right.
Gun, cows, and SUVs.
Fuck them all.
I prefer GTOs, blondes, and sushi.
This afternoon a friend asked how I knew that Bunkerville was Mormon.
"My great-greast-great-great-granduncle once removed was Joseph Smith. I know a polygamists when I see one."
And that's the truth.
To read about the Bundy Standoff on Wikipedia, please go to the following URL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundy_standoff
A view of Bunkerville.
A nice place to be.
No Dairy Queens or Taco stands.
A road and big houses off the road.
Big houses mean one thing.
Big families.
'Choose the right'.
It's the Mormon way to be.
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