Rancher fined for vandalism

by Staff

A retired Escalante, Utah, rancher pleaded guilty to "enhancing" 21 Anasazi petroglyphs at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area with a pocket knife. Rancher McKay Bailey agreed to pay restoration costs and forfeit his 1990 Ford pickup for violating the 1979 Archaeological Resources Protection Act. In exchange for his guilty plea, the government recommended a $1,000 fine and dismissal of a destruction of government property charge. Sentencing will be held in Salt Lake City in June. Archaeologists call the sites Bailey vandalized the Mobius Message Panels, and believe Native Americans used them some 1,000 years ago to leave messages for each other. "The panels were scraped over pretty good," says law enforcement specialist Bob Maguire. "It's basically pretty hard to tell if it was the same petroglyph."


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