Ranchers refuse to return cattle, despite threat of prison

Monday, Nov. 13, 2000 | 10:59 a.m.

U.S. Attorney Paul Warner has threatened the ranchers with a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison if the cattle aren't returned. But the rancher refuse to return the cattle until the Bureau of Land Management can produce documents that show the agency has a right to the animals.

"If they feel somewhere in the federal process they were treated unfairly, then go to court. I mean, that's the process," Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, told the Deseret News. "The rule of law is important in this country. We don't remedy grievances by vigilantism or by taking the animals, as they did in this case."

The ranchers claim it's not vigilantism but civil disobedience and standing up for their constitutional rights.

The cattle, which belonged to ranchers Mary Bulloch and Quinn Griffen, had been impounded by BLM officials.

Bulloch, who has been ranching alone since her husband died in 1993, does not have a telephone and could not be reached for comment.

Monument manager Kate Cannon, concerned about the dry range conditions in the monument, gave a mid-October deadline to remove the cattle from drought-stricken grazing allotments in the remote area known as 50-Mile Mountain.

When Griffen and Bulloch missed the deadline, that cattle were corralled by helicopter and ground crews and taken to the Salina feedlot to be sold at auction.

Todd Macfarlane, a rancher and attorney representing several of those who helped remove the cattle from the auction house, said Cannon is violating the BLM's due-process rules and has been unwilling to work with ranchers.

Macfarlane, the former Kane County attorney, admits the confrontation was tense when the ranchers removed the cattle from the auction house. But he says the ranchers were unarmed and didn't threaten violence.

They took the animals after Sevier County Attorney Don Brown told Sheriff Phil Barney to let ranchers have the cows if they had proof of ownership.

"We are not trying to pick a fight with the BLM and federal government," he said. "To say that people were taking up arms and getting ready for a shootout, that's not us."

Bulloch retrieved most of her cattle before the BLM's deadline. But she had to wean calves and move the rest of the cows to other lands before she could go back for the rest, the ranchers said.

Rydalch said the BLM "bent over backwards," warning ranchers for weeks to remove the cattle and the U.S. attorney's office is giving the ranchers time to return the cattle and correct a wrong that has been done.

"We're optimistic the cattle will be returned," she said.

Macfarlane, Brown and Johnson realize they could face federal charges, but are confident they would prevail in court.

"We find it to be our constitutional duty," Macfarlane said. "It's also our Christian duty to help those who need help."