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San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman is spearheading the protest. He plans to lead riders about a mile and a half onto a trail in Recapture Canyon currently closed to ATVs. The ride is a violation of the law. "It's only breaking the law from a federal standpoint," said Lyman. "From a county standpoint, this is a county road."
The group plans to protest what Lyman calls an overreach on the part of the federal government. The Federal Bureau of Land Management banned motorized vehicles in 2007 in the canyon to protect archaeological artifacts left behind thousands of years ago.
Payne characterized their discussion, saying Eldridge has contacted other sheriff’s departments who “stated that if he needed support to get the BLM out of there, they would help.”
Your plan to ride ATVs through known archaeological sites is reprehensible. While you declare this ride in the name of freedom, in fact it is a freedom limited to a small percentage of the public with only their self-interest in mind. The resources within this canyon bear witness to cultural groups that have inhabited the area far longer than the focus group you are representing and should be left undisturbed. While I can agree with the premise of free access to travel on public lands you must keep in mind that there is a delicate balance where your freedom, will and desire does not impinge on my freedom, will and desire. That balance is known as law and regardless of whether you agree or disagree, it is how we as a people have elected to live in this country in a mutual contract, so while you espouse that you are protesting against an unfair government ruling, you are in fact unilaterally denying any private citizen that disagrees with your position and abides by that contract a say in the matter.
“We regret that the illegal ATV ride planned for tomorrow appears to be going forward. Recapture Canyon is public land belonging to all Americans and contains ancient cultural sites and artifacts that are at serious risk of being destroyed or damaged.”
The Bureau of Land Management is warning riders to stay out, vowing prosecution against those who ignore a law put in place after an illegal trail was found that cuts through ruins that are nearly 2,000 years old.
The agency will, however, document people who ride ATVs on the prohibited trail, he said.
So, is the sovereignty/anti-federal government movement spreading, or is this just the same voices trying to squeeze another few minutes of limelight out of the Bundy stand-off? - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...
originally posted by: Daedalus
and wanting to off-road all over a native burial site.
originally posted by: dfens
It is a pretty weak attempt by this group to try and ride the tails of Bundy simply because people are anti-BLM at the moment. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
“We’ve made our protest by gathering right here,” he said. “I feel no moral hesitancy to cross over into the federally controlled area, but the last thing I want to see is violence. Recapture Canyon is not about conflict.”
That’s when one of Cliven Bundy's sons, Aamon Bundy, and several of his followers shouted out that the ride must go on to make a statement. “Let’s go down into that canyon,” he said. “That’s why we came here.”
But Lyman, dressed in jeans and an untucked blue dress shirt, still wasn’t convinced. Then Bundy made him mad. He said the politician was speaking “the language of weakness.”
“We are not speaking the language of weakness,” he shot back. "You are outsiders. I know the people here. There’s no language of weakness here.”
originally posted by: FlyersFan
originally posted by: Daedalus
and wanting to off-road all over a native burial site.
Oh man ... that's wrong on many levels. It's disrespectful, not to mention its seriously bad karmic hit back for those who would do such a thing. I know lots of folks don't believe in that, but I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of what those Native American spirits have in store for people who ATV over their burial site.
Really Phil Lyman ? This is a little extreme.. If the BLM is really trying to "protect" the land as they claim . And their is no shady backdoor deals going on for the land. Than what's wrong with that? I fully supported Clive Bundy ,however I can't support this protest . unless you can provide proof that the BLM is NOT trying to protect a peace of American history? . if you're doing this as a political stunt , with all due respect sir . you deserve to have your ass kicked .. Just saying..
Recapture Canyon is home to dwellings, artifacts and burials left behind by Ancestral Puebloans as many as 2,000 years ago before they mysteriously vanished.
The Navajo Nation isn't happy about ATVs rolling through the artifact-rich area where Navajos currently hunt, hold ceremonies, and gather wild roots, berries and medicinal herbs.
The tribe claims an ancestral affiliation with the prehistoric Puebloans, who built cliff dwellings and kivas and buried their dead in Recapture Canyon between A.D. 750 and 1150.
The Act of 1872 also set the price for land assumed under the mining act:
FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. Sess. II Ch. 152. 1872. 95 approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy) a patent shall issue for the placer-claim, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The reminder of the placer-claim, or any placer-claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings
It set the price of the land claim to range $2.50 to $5.00 per acre. This price set by law has remained the same since 1872.