Spring Runoff: Water! Words! and Warnings: Bear Essentials May 12, 2019

News in the Nation and the West

Recapture overflows: April 29, 2019 8:14:22 AM by Kelly Jeppesen -- San Juan Record

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Bears Ears Advisory Council Hosting Public Meeting June 5-6

"Written comments to address the BENM-MAC may be sent to the BLM Canyon Country District, 82 East Dogwood, Moab, Utah 84532, or via email with the subject line “BENM-MAC” to blm_ut_mt_mail@blm.gov. Written comments must be received by Friday, May 31, 2019 to be considered by BENM-MAC members in their first meeting."  Canyon Echo

               Five Years Ago: Recapture Canyon in Retrospect  by Rep. Phil Lyman

 --Free Range Report--  

"Recapture had gone from being a symbol of conflict in the west to being a symbol of corruption in the BLM and the so-called Department of Justice."

"Now, five years after the May 10, 2014 protest in Recapture. The BLM admits, behind closed doors of course, that they do not have a Title V Road in Recapture Canyon. They admit that they had conflated their pipeline right of way for the county road, inappropriately asserting jurisdiction over the county road. They, and the U.S. Attorney’s office admit that those they convicted for trespass and conspiracy did not trespass or conspire. They were forced to drop their claim of damages to archeological sites, when respected archaeologists called their claims of damages not only ludicrous, but spurious and dishonest."

BYU Commencement Speaker Arthur Brooks: 

"We don't need to disagree less. We need to disagree better."

Controversy over Non-Native Mt. Goats in La Sal Mts

Social Movement: Eco-Socialism or Death

Shuttles for Tourists Begin in Zions

A Variety of Concerns in Navajo Times: Letters to the Editor

~~ Bears Ears Advisory Council; a brief summary of board members 

~~ Signatures for Studying Forms of County Government needed before June. 

  Those circulating petitions, please get them to to Mayor Lyman's office by June 1.  If you haven't signed, go to his office in Cedar Mesa Pottery to sign, or to the Wilcox home, 112 S. 300 W. 

~~ Applicants needed for County Administrator, closes May 17

"Serves as County Administrator to the San Juan County Board of Commissioners. Incumbent will perform a broad range of duties including advising the Commission, attending meetings on their behalf, and recommending management strategies. Incumbent will also perform duties as the Risk Manager for the County. Incumbent will also attend Commission meetings and receive work assignments from the Board of Commissioners. Requires an MBA, MPA, or Business / Accounting degree, or similar degree, with five (5) years progressive experience in managing organizations, or a combination of education and experience.

Position Location: San Juan County Administration Building, Monticello. Position closes: May 17. https://sanjuancounty.org/?s=jobs

~~Link for Filing Complaints to the Attorney General's Office

~~ Recording of May 7, 2019 SJC Commission Meeting (First part of meeting is missing because camera wasn't turned on.)

~~ Recording of May 7, 2019 County Commission Work Meeting 

~~ County Web site

~~ Public Notices of Meetings  (Thus avoiding secret combinations)

~~ Radical Gratitude for Recapture Reservoir By Merry Palmer

          Watch: Twisted Arch Video: Recapture Reservoir Spring 2019 👍 Brett Saunders

Recapture Reservoir May 5 by David Homedew

~~ Congressional Western Caucus: 

 "Update on what Interior is doing with regards to wild horse population management, permitting reform, critical minerals, oil and gas drilling, and mining.

~~ San Juan and Ethics in County Government

Utah codes: Title 17 Chapter 16a County Officers and Employees Disclosure Act, Section 2 - Purposes

17-16a-2. Purposes. 
The purposes of this chapter are to establish standards of conduct for county officers and employees and to require these persons to disclose conflicts of interest between their public duties and their personal interests.

and also Section 11

17-16a-11. County ethics commission -- Complaints charging violations -- Procedure.
(1) A county may establish by ordinance an ethics commission to review a complaint, except as provided in Subsection (3), against an officer or employee subject to this part for a violation of a provision of this part.
(2)
(a) Except as provided in Subsection (3), a person filing a complaint for a violation of this part shall file the complaint:
(i) with the county ethics commission, if the county has established a county ethics commission in accordance with Subsection (1); or
(ii) with the Political Subdivisions Ethics Review Commission established in accordance with Title 63A, Chapter 15, Political Subdivisions Ethics Review Commission if the county has not established a county ethics commission.
(b) A county that receives a complaint described in Subsection (2)(a) may:
(i) accept the complaint if the county has established a county ethics commission in accordance with Subsection (1); or
(ii) forward the complaint to the Political Subdivisions Ethics Review Commission established in Section 63A-15-201:
(A) regardless of whether the county has established a county ethics commission; or
(B) if the county has not established a county ethics commission.
(3) Any complaint against a person who is under the merit system, charging that person with a violation of this part, shall be filed and processed in accordance with the provisions of the merit system.

For More information regarding legal issues

~~ Tribal Sovereignty Does not Generate Successful Businesses

“We’ve been in a socialist system for the past 100 years,” Begay charged. “We don’t even understand what it means to have a private sector. It does not mean establishing 
enterprises owned by the tribe and run by the tribe to compete with small businesses 
owned by individual Navajos.”

~~Fed. Gov. Lied about Who Owned Recapture Canyon    The Petroglyph

~~ Interim County Administrator Hired in Defiance of Ut. Open Meeting Laws  San Juan Record

~~ Utah's Open Meeting Law Violated by New Commissioners  Deseret News

"During the work meeting, Adams said the job opening should have been filled in-house, or if there were no suitable candidates, advertised outside."
"I wonder what the negotiation process was, and why I wasn't included," Adams said, referencing a meeting Everitt had with Grayeyes and Maryboy to discuss working for San Juan County.: Des. News

~~ A Reminder of what Tourist Towns do to Housing Market

~~ Extreme Environmentalists Continue Attack on Oregon Multiple Use Lands

"In the most recent lawsuit, the U.S. Forest Service is accused of unlawfully approving a 10-year grazing permit for the allotment despite “irreparable harm” to the threatened Oregon spotted frog and wetland plants and mollusks."

Administrator for County on Agenda 5/7/2019 -- Controversy Continues

Concerns in the News

Citizenship in the U.S.: Why should it be Controversial for the Census?  

What the Left Gets Wrong About Racial Disparities

Bumper to Bumper in Moab  How many tourists are needed?

Moab City Manager Retires: Applies for Temp Job in SJC

Resignation of Kelly Pehrson: SJC Democratic Party Sets the Record Straight

 Spring Run-off at Cottonwood.  Photo by Jay Jones

~~ Spring Run Off in all Its Glory

~~Elizabeth Warren and Environmental Justice -- Bill Keshlear

~~Pod Cast with Ryan Benally, Member of Advisory Council for Bears Ears

~~ Shannon Brooks Responds to SL Tribune Adaki Letter

~~Political Donnybrook Continues to Plague San Juan County

~~2 Commissioners Try to Steam Roll Moab Leftist as County Administrator

~~County Administrator Resigns and Takes New Post

~~ Unelected Attorney from Durango, Appears to be Running County Commission

~~First Soros High Jacks Public Lands in the West, now the U.S. Census

~~ Even Capitol Press believes AP Spin on Bears Ears Advisory Council

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April Showers Concern over Committees and Commission ~~ Bear Essentials 4/26/2019

Reflections on the West

Book on Bears Ears Available  $40 -- Back and Beyond in Moab

 Reflections on Bears Ears

"The idea, however, that the federal government would simply take over land in the possession of others through a designation of a national monument is not unprecedented. Just south of Bears Ears, Canyon de Chelly National Monument is still disputed ground. The Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs maintain ambiguous control of the area rather than the Navajo Nation, despite the fact that none of the land is technically owned by federal agencies."

~~

KUER Assigns Reporter to Cover SE Utah

"Kate Groetzinger (Southeast Utah Bureau) is from Austin, Texas, where she is completing a master's degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin's Moody School of Journalism. She has worked for Austin’s NPR station, KUT, and her work has been published in the Texas Observer, The Austin Chronicle, Quartz, Rhode Island Magazine and Artsy. She has also worked for the Voces Oral History Archive at the University of Texas, collecting and preserving the stories of Latino/a civil rights leaders in Texas. She holds a degree in English from Brown University."  However, SJC remains gun-shy! 

~~

Amy Irvine Takes On Edward Abby: Interview by Andrea Ross

"Amy Irvine: We all objectify landscape—because we have this idea that it’s our church, our refuge, our aesthetic. We feel entitled to use it as a surface for recreation, or entertainment.       Our impacts on public lands is something that I don’t think the environmental community has not been very honest about. I want to take this moment to ask: What do we do now? We have to admit that we are loving the land to death. For example, the numbers of people flocking to the Bears Ears: it has no management plan in place. And the government’s been furloughed, so even if they could staff it, that’s not happening; nothing is in place to protect it. On such vast and vulnerable landscapes, we must better police ourselves."

~~

Senator Mike Lee Pod Cast: Rediscoverng the Declaration of Independence

"Abuses of federal power, including federal overreach and over-regulation, balance of power between the legislative and executive branches, along with issues within the judicial system are rampant. All the issues appear rooted in the neglect of the Declaration of Independence. Could rediscovering the declaration renew the nation and restore power to the people? Utah's senior senator, Sen. Mike Lee, explores the issue on this edition of "Therefore, What?"

~~

Three of the most Telling Failures of Socialism

1. Socialism has never succeeded anywhere --including the Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union, the National Socialism of Nazi Germany, the Maoism of Communist China, the Chavez-Maduro socialism of Venezuela. It has never come close to anywhere near Marx’s ideal of a classless society.

2. Marx has been wrong about nearly everything he predicted. The nation-state has not withered away. Capitalism didn’t break down as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

3. Socialism denies the existence of an essential human trait—human nature. Marx borrowed from the Enlightenment to declare that human nature was malleable, not constant. Christian theology with its idea of a fixed God-given nature infuriated Marx.

~~ Dry Wash Reservoir Pipeline Increases Amount and Distribution of Water

by Scoot Flannery: The expanded storage in Dry Wash Reservoir highlighted the need for a more efficient conveyance system from Dry Wash Canyon. That's when the Blanding Irrigation Company went to work. Funding was procured, permitting was completed, and the project was constructed during one of the driest years in memory... just in time for one of the best water years!

Although they didn't have to build a tunnel from Indian Creek to Johnson Creek, the work, effort, and volunteer time that went into this project is proof that the spirit of those who came before us is still alive today!

  (See article in Good News Blanding) 

 Video showing run off from Dry Wash April 22

Summary of April Meeting with State AG's Office 

By Cheryl Bowers, Blanding City Councilwoman: 

" - A quick update on the training with the Attorney General's office today in Monticello (April 23). I wanted to get this out in case anyone (like me) was waiting to see the results of this training before writing additional letters.

The Assistant Attorney General, Scott Cheney, and the Director of the Utah Records office conducted the training. They were both gracious and very helpful at answering questions.

1. Bruce Adams was the only commissioner there. I'm not sure why Commissioners Greyeyes and Maryboy weren't there, but they missed out on some good information. Kendall Laws and the new Assistant County Attorney were there, along with John David and a Spanish Valley resident (I believe her name is Ms. Fields).

2. They only emphasized two areas of concern: the Open Meetings Act (OMPA) and GRAMA requests.

Items most people may not be aware of:

(1. The Assistant AG's determination was that having 4-6 meetings a year in other parts of the county wasn't a violation of the law (to have "Occasional meetings" outside of the county seat). In fact, he recommended it.

(2. Texts received during the course of a commission or public meeting are subject to GRAMA requests and have to be produced if they were about county business. They recommended public officials don't text during a commission meeting as then it becomes public information.

(3. The Assistant AG recommended that during public comment, the Chair of the board allow back and forth discussion, including answering questions, so there is no misperception of secrecy. They recommended that if we have a concern about why, how or who initiated an issue, resolution, etc. that we ask that question during public comment and the public body should respond. (The Chair does still have the ability not to answer or to stop discussion that he believes is beyond time, etc.).

(4. I spent a lot of time on- two members of a public body meeting together as there will be change to this starting in July. The assistant AG, said that if the meeting (without proper public notice) meets the definition of OPMA then it can be a violation- Definition - "The convening of a public body with a quorum present, whether in person or electronic communications, for the purpose of discussing, receiving comments from the public about or acting upon a matter over which the public body or specific body has jurisdiction or advisory power."  (More information about Utah Open Meeting Act)

~~Advisory Committee for Bears Ears SL Tribune Version 

~~SJ Record Version of New Advisory Committee

Adams, Maryboy, and Greyeyes: SJC commissioners - KUER photo

~~Utah, Colo, and Ute Tribe Hope to Benefit from "Liquid" Assets

~~ Conflicts Voiced at April 23 County Commission Meeting

~~ Senator Mike Lee's Congressional Concerns  Live stream video

~~The Problem with Affluence (and Influence) in the New West by Stacy Young

"The New West is also where virtually every successful company that comprises what we might call the Recreation Industrial Complex (RIC) now primarily sells sanctimony and only secondarily sells the good or service that keeps its owners and executives well-fed. In a way, it’s an ingenious twist on Robinson Crusoe: we should speak only of our arduous journey toward self-actualization but, yeah, by the way, we also happen to be fabulously wealthy thanks to the Brazilian plantation we own.

In canyon country, specifically, we can observe how the RIC manufactured both the demand for “Bears Ears” and the satisfaction of that demand. In statistical terms, approximately no one seemed to need to visit “Bears Ears” before December 2016, but now every outdoor athlete with a shoe contract and a Personal Brand to burnish — an “influencer” in the postmodern vernacular — seems determined to make an Insta-pilgrimage to “Bears Ears” or to at least engage in a bit of slacktivism from afar. The hoi polloi cannot be far behind."  April Canyon Zephyr

~~ Opposing view on Spanish Valley Development by Kerry Behunin 

~~ Kelly Pehrson, County Administrator Gives Two Week Notice:

Pehrson will be the new Deputy Director over Utah Department of Agriculture and Food in Salt Lake City. The Petroglyph

~~ Moab is Drowning in Tourists --Why are they Advertising?

~~Big Money Funding the Environmental Left

~~Fossil Fuels and Sage Grouse: Interior Dept Targeted in Law Suit

~~ How Instagram Ruined the Great Outdoors

~~Development in Spanish Valley May be Halted

~~ James Adakai Letter to SL Tribune

Spring has Sprung --so has the Threat of More Lawsuits; Is Negotiation a Foreign Language?

News in the West

Opposed to Increase in Bears Ears Acreage?  Sign Petition

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Despite Harsh Winter, Deer Herd Survival is good in Utah

(Article lists hunting permits recommended for 2019 hunts)

Kammy Palmer Photo, Blue Mt. Shadows

Mesa Verde Begins Wild Horse Removal

Colorado Rural Residents Not Happy With Liberal Laws

"The National Popular Vote bill, which Gov. Jared Polis signed into law March 15, would grant all of Colorado’s presidential votes to the winner of the popular vote, part of a nationwide movement to ensure that future presidents cannot be elected based on the Electoral College. Although the bill would go into effect only if enough states sign on, the bill still passed easily through the House and Senate, despite objections from rural Colorado."

Pros and Cons of Signing Conservation Easements and Land Trusts

Embezzlement at Ute Mt. Casino

"After a 3-year investigation into the embezzlement of funds from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, 16 defendants have been convicted and sentenced for their illegal conduct to include each defendant participating in taking a substantial amount of money from the tribe that was not due to them"

Lime Ridge Cattlegate Case Closed

.....and then this 

New Lime Ridge Cattlegate Case Begins with Law Suit

On-Line Auction to Raise Money for Laws Court Appeal 
~~ April 17-23 noon; 

check e-mail for messages!

~~ A Win for Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan 

"Legislation essential to implementing drought contingency plans in the Colorado River Basin has passed in Congress with a swiftness more commonly found in the currents of Class 5 rapids than in Washington, D.C., thanks in part to the help of Colorado's two U.S. senators. The Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan Authorization Act needs only the signature of President Trump to become law following its passage by Congress just six days after its introduction in the Senate."

~~Video overview of San Juan County News  Editor Bill Boyle, San Juan Record

~~Representative Curtis Visits San Juan County

~~ Blanding Mayor Supports Five Member Commission:

"For no less than 30 years I have been a proponent of a Five Member County Commission. I suggested it as an alternative in the hearings on redistricting. I asked the County Commission to place the question on the ballot for 2018 and they declined I believe now is the time to act. The recent attention given to the districts has created a more educated electorate. Now, more than at any previous time I believe the people are prepared to make an educated choice for the future of their county.

There are a number of reasons a Five Member County Commission makes sense. Primary among these is that it provides a greater voice to the people. It does this in numerous ways among which are:

1: Share The Load. Five members share the workload more effectively than three. This may give more time to any individual commissioner to spend on specific issues of concern. Also, it may help to prevent council members from becoming overworked, burned out and less effective. We have an enormous county. There is plenty of work to go around.

2: Better Decisions. More people involved in the discussion almost always leads to better ideas because there is more variety of opinion, experience and expertise. At times more voices on council can make decisions more difficult or the council less responsive. However, most towns, cities and counties run just fine with a five member commission/council. I maintain that if the discussion doesn’t clearly identify the best solution on an issue then more time and a more deliberate approach should be taken. Sometimes, especially in government, slower is better.

3: Share The Power. A five member commission shares the power and the attendant responsibility and liability with more people. In this case there is certainly safety in numbers. Safety for the commission as more people share in the decisions being made and more safety for the citizens against possible abuse of power.

4: More Responsive. Even though every commission member represents the entire county it has been decided we will have districts. Five districts puts each representative closer geographically, and likely more in tune, with the citizens in their district. This is in turn makes them more accessible to the citizens and more understanding and responsive to their needs and opinions.

5: Open Meetings Compliance. There has been debate in the Utah legislature to either relax or tighten up on three member commission compliance with the Open Meetings Act. Under current law any two commissioners or council members constitute a quorum and may violate, or appear to violate, the act with many of their conversations. These conversations, when they are in the spirit of the Open Meetings Act, facilitate good governance and can happen legally with a five member commission.

6: Restore Representation for Blanding. Since I originally published this paper decisions by a federal judge have stripped Blanding of representation as a legally protected ‘community of interest’. A five member commission restores this representation as explained in #4 above.

There is a petition in circulation for the registered voters of San Juan County to exercise their right of self governance and place a question on the ballot in November. The question is simply whether a committee should be formed to study the possibility of changing our form of government. We will vote on whether to study the issue and vote again on any proposed solution. All voices will have ample time to be heard as the citizens of San Juan County consider and debate this important question.

I encourage everyone to support the formation of a study committee by voting in favor of the question. But first, we need signatures to get the question of the ballot. We have a natural right to petition which is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Let’s exercise that right. Please sign the petition. Anyone who would like to sign or help gather signatures please contact the petition sponsor closest to you: Suzette Morris - Aneth and Montezuma Creek, Wendy Walker Tibbetts - Spanish Valley and LaSal, Alex Bitsinnie - Navajo Mtn and Monument Valley, Tim Young - Monticello, Joe B Lyman - Blanding and anywhere in the county." Mayor Joe B. Lyman

~~

~~New Lime Ridge Cattlegate Case Files Frivolous Law Suit

~~Resolution Related to Law Suits

~~Law Suit Against San Juan County Attorney

~~Senator Eliz. Warren Pledges to Restore Bears Ears if Elected President

~~Boos Generated Resolutions Create Rift in SJC Commission Meeting

~~ Industrial Strength Tourism also Kills the Environment

"…we kill off the traditional industries that supported western towns, replacing them with the tourism that beautiful places attract when promoted. Then decide we’re loving these places to death, so they must be closed to tourists, too..."

The Swiss businessman and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss, the US-based founder of the Synthes medical technology group, plans to give the huge donation (1 Billion) to help better protect wildlife areas. 

In an open letterexternal link published on Wednesday (Nov. 2018) in the New York Times, the 83-year-old said the money would be released over the next ten years. The Wyss Foundationexternal link will direct funds to efforts aimed at creating protected areas for wildlife and improving management of existing ones. The goal of the foundation is to keep about 30% of the earth in its natural state until 2030. 

~~ Animal Rights Over Human Needs: Wyss Funding 

"Causes supported by Wyss include radical environmentalism. In Montana, his foundation backs groups against energy and growth development disguised as hunting and wildlife enthusiasts. There’s a lot of overlap between HSUS’s animal liberation agenda and radical environmentalism—such as anti-hunting sentiments."

~~Illegal Activities at Calif. Ecological Reserve

~~California's Restricted Water Supply Used for Raising Saudi Alfalfa

~~COLORADO DEMOCRATS PASS BILL TO CRACK DOWN ON OIL AND GAS DRILLING

More Collusion and Conflict: Bear Essentials 4/6/2019

What's New in the West

The County Seat: Exploring other forms of County Government

Despicable Behavior Revisited: Division, Demos and the 2020 Elections

"Ironically perhaps, former San Juan County Commissioner Benally also was systematically defamed over roughly the same period. She ran afoul of an insular, male-dominated county Democratic Party apparatus and its single-issue allies — the same kind of structural “patriarchy” many of Miller’s feminist critics believe he represents. Yet Benally found no support among progressives based in Salt Lake City; instead she found well-organized opponents.

That’s not surprising. Benally criticized designation of Bears Ears National Monument; she collaborated with high-ranking Republicans; she didn’t trust the federal government because of its dismal historical record on Native American affairs; and she had ideological disagreements with the party about the importance of local control over county governance and management of public lands. Specifically, she said publicly that:

• Converting sacred lands to a monument will ultimately be controlled by “bureaucrats unfamiliar with Navajo history and traditional ways.”
• The federal government has broken promises of trust responsibilities and formal treaties again and again and again for the past 200 years.
• Promises related to creation of jobs managing the monument are not guaranteed.
• The federal government’s history of managing national monuments on sacred lands has been inconsistent, even disastrous.
• Groups outside of San Juan County — deep-pocketed environmental groups — should not be able to dictate the future of the region’s lands or pretend to speak for Navajos."  
•  Bill Keshlear, Canyon Zephyr  4/1/ 2019

Audio Recording of SJC Work Meeting 4/2/19

Excessive Resolutions, Rebuffs, and best Remedies:  Will they listen?

Audio Recording of SJ Commission Meeting 4/2/19

SJ County Attorney Kendall Laws Explains his Paper Trail of

Communication with Commissioners and Concerns about Lawsuit 4/2/19

~~ April 2 San Juan Commission Meeting Recording

Stand United Petition: Opposes Expansion of Bears Ears  (sign on-line)

~~ Boos Conspiracy Plot to Remove SJ County Prosecutor

~~ Dispersed Camping Takes Toll on Public Lands Near Moab

"These public lands, sandwiched between U.S. 191 and Arches National Park, remain premier places to ride and view dinosaur tracks, but dispersed camping has taken a serious toll on the land and degraded the visitor experience.

Campers drive over soft soils in search of sites to pitch a tent, flatten vegetation, and leave behind mounds of fetid waste, according to the Bureau of Land Management’s environmental assessment of a proposal to consolidate dispersed camping into designated sites." Maffley

~~ Court Pressures Phil Lyman to Increase Monthly Restitution Fee

"The back-and-forth follows a request by the U.S. attorney’s office that Lyman be ordered to increase his monthly payments from $100 to $500 toward some $96,000 in outstanding restitution stemming from his misdemeanor conviction in 2015 for leading a protest ride on ATVs through Utah’s Recapture Canyon."

Chilcoat and Franklin Charges Settled Out of Court