By: Bert Smith

Cliven Bundy is a hero of the range livestock operator on the public land. All of the grazing rights on the public land have been taken over by the federal government under grand theft from the states' rights and states' borders. So therefore, Bundy has never broken the law. Bundy's ancestors have been on the range in Nevada since 1877. His pioneer forefathers settled the ranching area where no one else would or could use it, developing the water and establishing a spread to raise desert cattle, a native breed that survives on browse. They developed the range and the water.

Cliven Bundy has followed in the same ranching business which established first use of the water, and the grazing and the browse which came with the water right. The ones that get first-use rights on the water get the first use of the grass and the browse. Grazing and the browse go together. This is a sacred God-given right of unalienable rights, private property rights. We believe in these things because without this our nation would have no foundation without God-given rights.

Cliven has been a strong and faithful friend to the grazing people and stood fast in every type of opposition that the BLM can throw at him and we admire his tenacity and determination to stay with his convictions. He has developed a special breed of cattle that can survive in the desert and still produce a calf. It's not a big money-making deal but it's a way of life for the Bundys to raise their family and to live peaceful and honest lives.

We have to admire people who will take what's left over in nature and make it produce food where nothing else can. Nature does a poor job of running a ranch or developing water or producing any food. Nature left by itself goes to rack and ruin. It takes man's hand and God's blessing to develop food on the desert or anyplace. We admire the Bundys for what they are doing. We give them our blessings and support to go ahead with what they are doing to defend their property rights, their cattle, their livestock, their livelihood and their way of life.

Every man who has a grazing permit on the forest service or BLM land should back Cliven Bundy with his support and prayers. Cliven Bundy is the last man standing in S.Nevada and needs our support and prayers to preserve his property and his way of life. The federal government claims to be able to charge grazing fees, a right they do not have under Article 1-8-17 of the U.S. Constitution.

mr. bert smith