Bundy Ranch

Yesterday afternoon my brother and I paid an unannounced visit to Cliven at his ranch near Riverside. We were interested in his knowledge of the Gold Butte country and especially of its old roads and trails. Our family is hoping to learn about the route or routes our ancestors of a century ago used on their way from the Muddy River to new homesteads on the Arizona Strip and Cliven knows this country better than most. But what was most impressive about our visit was his genuine kindness. He dropped everything to spend more than an hour with us chatting, poring over old maps, and answering questions. Granted, my brother and I are cousins, but neither of us are well acquainted with him and neither of us had even been to his place. My impression as we drove away is that the media has shamelessly slandered him and so distorted who he really is and what he believes that the country outside this little corner of Southern Nevada his little chance of ever truly understanding what he's about. That the Federal establishment has chosen to wage war against this humble, decent man whose only crime has been to continue to raise his cattle and mind his own business as he has done all his life, and as his forbears did before him, and who would like nothing more than to be left alone, is a sobering reminder of how easily Government and its media allies can distort and falsify the facts of a matter so as to manufacture an outcome in its favor. Grampa Dean's