Cliven Bundy is not a hero to many of us (“Celebrity Scofflaw,” HCN, 4/30/18). He is a crook. He has stolen public resources like grass and water. He owes about a million and half dollars and continues his thievery. Who would call that a heroic thing?
The government’s grazing fee is very cheap. A cattleman can graze a cow and calf all summer for less than a hundred dollars and then sell the calf for $800. That is a fine deal, and here in Colorado the waiting list for grazing permits is growing. Nobody can afford to buy land and then pay taxes and come out ahead. Bundy says: “What is a grazing permit?” He knows full well what that means. He knows full well that neither the state, the country nor the Bundys own that Nevada land. The federal government owns it, and mostly it does a good job managing it.
Thank you for writing that update. I hope to someday soon read that Bundy pays up and adheres to proper grazing rates. Or else surely it is time to get him off that public land and take those cattle to pay his debt. Please keep us updated on this. And put me down, along with many others I know, as a citizen who is tired of seeing a crook take over and get away with it.
Signed: a small cattle rancher on a small, privately owned ranch.
Marilyn Colyer
Mancos, Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bundy, anti-hero.
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