Celebrating Freedom in Rural Utah July 10, 2019

Epic Blanding 4th of July Celebration

Blanding Fireworks 2019  Some of the best in the West! 

Thanks Raini Chee

Short Version of Stan Bronson's Concert, July 4

Combat Veterans are Grand Marshals for 4th of July

>>News In the West <<

~~ 1984 Voting Boundary Decisions Compared to Gerrymandering of 2017

"in the November 1984 general election, voters approved the boundaries of the new voting districts. These voter-approved boundaries remained the same for nearly 30 years.

In the general election, 64 percent of voters approved the new voting districts, with 2,055 approving and 1,161 opposing.

~~July 2 Commission Meeting in Oljato

~~ Commissioner Maryboy Comments on July 2 Commission Meeting

~~ Moab Considers New Nightly Rental Policy

Opinions in Recent San Juan Record

~~ Government's $22 Trillion Debt, and Annual Gov. Shutdown, Makes Case for State Control of National Parks and Monuments

"The federal government, on the other hand, has no skin in the game when it comes to shutting down monuments and national parks thousands of miles from Capitol Hill. For the feds, it's all a political game in Washington, DC. What happens in the communities bordering federal lands — many of them rural — is but a mere afterthought to people like Nancy Pelosi. But at the local level, access to local tourist attractions could mean a restaurant's ability to pay its staff with income from tourists."

~~ Stop Relying on Tourism to Save Rural Communities

"No less than five new hotels are currently being built (in Moab). Tourists are pouring in like the end is near and Moab is the only safe place. The sewer system can barely keep up. And yet, Moab and the State of Utah continue to advertise the area throwing more than $2.3 million dollars into promoting the area each year.

Regardless of the fact that the land is suffering, that the roads cannot hold the amount of traffic, that the sewer system is being overwhelmed, growing tourism in Moab continues to be a top priority. In 2017 more than 46% of Moab’s job force labored in the tourism industry compared with the 11% of Utah’s total workforce."

~~ Administration Reining in EPA Union

~~ Families of Blanding Veterans Post Information on this Site

~~ America Has A Moral Obligation to Develop and Export Clean Nat'l Gas

~~ Utah's Cattle Herds are "Udderly" Astonishing: Cow Appreciation Day

~~Three Pillars of Good Navajo Communication

~~ Big Government is Not the Answer to Climate Change

~~ Does Supreme Court Decision Have Local Implications

"I recently reviewed the 1984 issues of the San Juan Record to better understand the issue. I walked away from the process with an increased appreciation for what happened in 1984. I also had a growing concern about what happened in San Juan County in 2017.

In 1984, the process to create the voting districts, at several key points along the way, was a public process. This is in marked contrast to the process to create the current voting districts." San Juan Record editor, Bill Boyle

~~ Roads in Ruin in Parts of Utah

"A transfer of ownership of some roads in San Juan County, Utah, from the county to the Navajo Nation has resulted in disappearing road signs, general confusion, and spreading potholes.

Around October 2018, Manuel Morgan, a former San Juan County commissioner, noticed that the county roads signs in his community between Ismay and Aneth were missing.

“One morning they were gone – everywhere,” he said. “No county road signs to help people find us. No one told us the county roads signs would be taken down.”  Four Corners Free Press

~~ Developers Redirect Water Resources Away From Agriculture in Colo.

~~Taxing Tourists is Popular, Taxing High Density Housing is Divisive

~~ Uranium Mining Ban and Russian Cash: Arizona Lawmakers at Odds

"trade tensions between the U.S. and a number of countries have heightened the need to assure adequate domestic supplies of minerals and metals.

Uranium, a crucial part of the nation’s energy supply as a fuel for power plants, is one of those minerals. Yet the country’s uranium production is near historic lows because of an international oversupply."

 Ten Years Since Infamous Blanding Raids of 2009  

~~ Emotions Run Hot After Artifact Raid in Blanding

~~ Federal Agents Bust Artifact Ring

~~ Artifact Raid Raises Questions Years Later

~~ BLM Used Excessive Force

~~ Artifact Sting in the Desert Goes Awry

~~ The Shameful, Archaeological Raids in the Four Corners

            (Be sure to read Jay Redd's Reply)

~~ Widow Sues Over Husband's Death

~~Artifacts, Suicides, and Struggle over Federal Lands

~~10th Circuit Court Clears Federal Agents In Doctor's Death 

________________

~~ Posted on Protect the Bears Ears:   

June 25 at 7:29 AM · 

I think you'll find this as upsetting.

So, I'm hiking through Wire Pass which is a beautiful slot canyon that leads to an opening that's so breathtaking and sacred. It's a huge natural amphitheater that the Native Americans held so sacred. It's a huge natural amphitheater that the Native Americans held so sacred. You can actually feel it. I just get to the amphitheater and sit for lunch and notice who's here, I see a nice couple with two dogs soaking in the beauty. Then, I see a woman and daughter (I'm only guessing mother and daughter). I see the daughter open the metal box which contains a brief history of this historic place how sacred it was to the Native Americans and about it being unlawful to deface this area. I then stopped paying attention but then something drew my eyes over to where the girl was. I look and think she's carving into the wall but I see her mother watching her so I think naw, but curiosity got to me so I took out my camera and zoomed in. I yelled 'hey' to her and she walked away. I told her mother about it, I said your daughter just destroyed Native American Sacred history. I said look, she never said a word to me and walked towards her daughter. I was thinking she was getting her to bring her over when they both took off! Then, I go back to where I was sitting and I see a man letting his kids use this sacred place as a jungle gym destroying artwork. If you look at the picture with the name she carved you'll see it's right in the middle of petroglyphs This was all within 15 minutes of being there. No stopping this. It's going to be all destroyed soon. If you want to see this, best do it soon. I'm happy I can share these wonders with those who can't get here.
Update, she was caught. Here is the link
https://www.facebook.com/120889757943366/posts/2519780228054295/?substory_index=0

~~ Bear Essentials ~ July 4, 2017 ~~

Thanks, Joy Howell!

~~~~~~~

San Juan County Utah Information & To Do List

n  Phil Lyman & Wendy Black to speak at Mayor’s Breakfast July 4, 7:30 AM

n  Cooperative effort to stabilize Shumway Cabin in Fiddlers Green

n  Friends of Cedar Mesa provide add’l photos on Cabin project

n  Manti-LaSal Forest Service Hearing Blanding July 13, library 7-9PM

n  Public comments on the White Mesa Mill will be accepted through July 31.      E-mail to dwmrcpublic@utah.gov

n  The Department of Interior is accepting comments relative to National Monuments until July 10.  The opposition has amped up, and we must as well. Consider writing again.  https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001

n  Bears Ears:  A Tale of Two Towns: Bluff and Blanding  by John Doughtery

n  Libertarian Ecology Looks at Possible Fix for Bears Ears

                                                                 

 

Good News Bears

n  A Better Path Forward for the Department of Interior

n  Fox News looks at Brian Head Fire

n  Support for Thinning Forests Grows Washington Times

n  Senator Hatch Discusses Need for Citizen Civility (Time Magazine)

n  Cows Vindicated in Panguitch because of Autumn Buttercup  [Reminds me of Ferdinand the bull, who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights.]

n  New Mexico Ranchers Seek to Shrink Organ Mountain NM.

n  Mass. Fishermen Challenge Obama’s Marine National Monument

n  Dan Love Further Investigated for Criminal Conduct

n  FBI Agent Involved in LaVoy Finicum’s Death Indicted for Lying

n  More FBI Agents investigated in Finicum Death

n   So when are Environmentalists Going to Help Fight Forest Fires?           

                                          

 

Bad News Bears

n  Environmental Lawsuits cost Taxpayers Millions

n  Federal Land Grabs have Let to Declining Condition of Public & National Lands

n  Audit shows Navajo Tribe Give Millions in Bonuses  Navajo Times

n  Brian Head Fire Caused by Mismanagement Rep. Mike Noel comments

n  Grasping at Straws, ticks and tortoises; justifying a Million Acre Monument

n  Ranchers and Livestock need Protection from Wolves

n  North Dakota Rancher Fighting for his Business

n  Environmental NGO’s Continue to Cripple America  Shake, Rattle, & Troll: “Arizona is plagued with “environmentalist NGO’s, the CBD, Sierra Club, Lobo of the Southwest, Guardians of the Earth”

                                                                 ~~~~~~

http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

Independence Day Patriotic Speech in Blanding

Given by Wendy Black July 4, 2017 and Mayor's Breakfast. Centennial Park, Blanding, Utah                  

Good Morning and Happy Independence Day. 

In preparing to speak today, I found this saying: "You can't separate peace from independence because no one can be at peace unless he has his independence."

We as humans are in a constant state of always trying achieve our individual independence. We start when we are infants, trying to roll over, to crawl, to stand up, to walk and to talk, then we move on in this quest to dress ourselves, feed ourselves and bath ourselves, we learn to ride a bike and then to drive a car. 

Hopefully, soon afterwards, we are ready to move out on our own. Then as adults, we work to gain our financial independence, through going to school and building careers. We hopefully have learned to be good and responsible citizens in our process to gain our independence.  We finally feel that we have arrived at our total freedom as individuals. Right???

We on this North American Continent should never forget that the men and women who first crossed the Atlantic came here not to find soil for their plows but came here to find independence for their souls.  Our Independence from England is the reason for this holiday. Some of you may not know that in 1776 there were many in the Continental Congress, and throughout the colonies, who were not all that happy about breaking away from Britain. They were afraid of change, afraid to lose the financial backing of the crown. The radicals who were ready for a break from Britain needed to light a fire under those who were still reluctant to act. Thomas Paine wrote and published a pamphlet called, “Common Sense.”  It was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. This publication was bought and read by more people than watch the Superbowl today. It had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. As of 2006, it remained the all-time best selling American title, and is still in print today. Because of the vision of great men like Thomas Paine the United States is an icon of independence to the world. 

[online-version of Common Sense]

We, in San Juan County, have had some experience in both resistance and fear of losing our independence through this fight against a National Monument.  We thought we were living in safety. We were hidden in our little corner of the world.  We had all of the bliss and comfort we needed. We felt we did not need to pay attention.  We assumed that we didn’t need to speak out, after all we are just a small community. How much noise could we ever really make? How much change could we really affect? Why should we need to fight for our freedom? That was being taken care of by government people doing their jobs.  Such as the BLM and the FOREST SERVICE. Not to say we don’t love our government employed neighbors; after all they are just doing their jobs. The heads of these departments on the other hand -- they may need some guidance and if we don’t give it to them, THEN who will?  The ENVIRONMENTALISTS will! THE GREEN MACHINES will, and THE OUTDOOR COMPANIES will. 

A year ago, we decided that we, as a county could no longer be reluctant to act. Modern day radicals knew that we had to light that fire, no matter how small we felt. We had to stand up tall and strong or we would lose our independence-- Our independence to love our land the way we have for generations; Our independence to choose our livelihood; Our independence to have our communities grow the way that 

WE choose; Our independence to enjoy our own backyard doing what we want like camping, fishing, hunting, gathering, sight seeing, hiking, and gathering for family reunions.

So we, Navajos, Utes, Anglos, and Hispanics alike, took to our computers and wrote many, many letters and commented on many, many editorials. We were often texting, tweeting, and instagramming each other and others at 1 and 2 in the morning since that’s when we had time to write and comment. We stood behind our local leaders who were already fighting for rural Utah to be heard. We stood tall and proud at opposition rallies and our own celebrations. Because of the unity of the small communities of San Juan County, we have become an icon to the United States in our fight for our independence and control of our own public lands.  We have won many battles over the past year, but we are still in a huge war.

This Fourth of July, we might find ourselves barbecuing, congregating with loved ones and enjoying our precious free time. But it is also a time to step back, take stock and appreciate the freedoms we enjoy every day from living in this country. It is a time to appreciate just how we gained this independence and to remember those who have fought for and are still fighting to preserve it. Our brave men and women in uniform,  and those that fight for our independence that are not in uniform.  Such as our brave local leaders, PHIL LYMAN, BRUCE ADAMS, and REBECCA BENALLY and don’t forget our state leaders, Mike Noel, David Hinkins, Governor Herbert and Lt. Governor Spencer Cox, Mike Lee, Jason Chaffetz, Rob Bishop and Senator Hatch and many more.

  

The most patriotic men and women may be the ones who go in the direction that they think is right even when they see the world is against them. They are leaders who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the path of honor and duty. Do not blame others if they do not agree with you. Instead appreciate that we have the freedom to express ourselves and embrace our differences. Be happy that you have tried and succeeded in being patriotic.

I am so proud to be part of this community and the efforts that have been made to secure our independence. Give yourselves a huge applause. 

And finally,  I want to say: This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.

Cemetery on the Navajo Reservation where Native Patriots are always remembered