Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Saturday, December 3, 2022
Southern Rockies Nature Blog: How a Popular Hunting App and a Conservation Group...
Friday, November 25, 2022
Friday Farming: New UW Extension Publications Estimate Economic Impact of Removing Federal Grazing
In a word, it would be far-reaching:
New UW Extension Publications Estimate Economic Impact of Removing Federal Grazing
None of which kept a Cheyenne newspaper I'd never heard of from claiming basically that ranching is irrelevant in regard to the state's agriculture, the sort of headline that causes even people not otherwise inclined to distrust the press and suspect it has an agenda to do just that.
The Tribune, I'd note, did much better with its headline.
The Studies, as posted on the UW Ag Extension site, can be found here:
Economic Impacts of Removing Federal Grazing Used by Cattle Ranches in a Three-State Area (Idaho, Oregon, and Wyoming)Publication #: B-1385.4 | |
Economic Impacts of Removing Federal Grazing Used by Cattle Ranches in OregonPublication #: B-1385.3 | |
Economic Impacts of Removing Federal Grazing Used by Cattle Ranches in IdahoPublication #: B-1385.2 | |
Economic Impacts of Removing Federal Grazing Used by Cattle Ranches in WyomingPublication #: B-1385.1 |
Note, that's a direct copy from the UW Ag extension website.
I'd note that part of the ongoing angst of our age is the real boneheaded effort to remove agriculture from the public lands. It would end up developing those lands, as if areas like Ft. Collins or Denver are somehow a better thing for nature. The people who advocate such things haven't really thought them through
Thursday, November 3, 2022
This is why we can't have nice things.
And this is absolutely appalling.
The State of Wyoming and Natrona County will actually make more money by way of this purchase than it does keeping the property in private hands. So what is this really about?
Well, that requires reading the wind, but if you do, it's plain that the Republican Party of the state abhors the concept of public land to at least some degree. All of Wyoming's current Congressional delegation supported the concept of turning the Federal lands over to the state during the 2016 race, and likely still think that way, even though average Wyomingites are overwhelmingly opposed to it. Governor Gordon's knee-jerk reaction to the Marton transfer seems to express that view as well.
Underlying it all is the concept, generally, that only immediate generations seem to count, and everything is better privatized. Listen to Republican politicians in the state generally, and you'll commonly hear that view. While few will openly state it, the general concept is that it's best to transfer all the land to the State, and for the state to sell all of it to private parties. That will generate "wealth".
It'll also convert the state basically into Ohio, but as it seems that monied interests are the only ones that count, much of the current GOP is deaf on this issue.
Now, we can't say that this is 100% true. The GOP itself is split between the Trumpite populist wings and the old party. Many in the old party are not of this mind, and others remember the era when Governor Geringer and legislators who supported him, like Jim Hageman, Harriet Hageman's father, attempted to privatize the state's wildlife. But many more do not recall anything of this sort.
Indeed, the state has become amazingly blind, at least politically, to think long term, a disturbing symptom of a society that's in deep existential distress. Like late stage Weimar Germany, people are reaching out for simple solutions to long term systemic problems, and only the most extreme views seem to be really having an influence.
Wyoming at one time had an actual two party system. Today is an anniversary of various events which demonstrate that, as noted here regarding past Democrats elected to state office.
McGee fit into another era in Wyoming's politics in that he was able to be elected as a Democrat and, perhaps even more surprisingly, the Class 2 Senator position was occupied by a Democrat at the time that McGee was elected, making both of Wyoming's Senators Democrats. He served from 1959 until 1977. That he was elected in the late 1950s is surprising to recall, because his somewhat flashy sartorial style really fit in with the early 1970s. Nonetheless, his service stretched all the way back to 1959 and he was sworn in as Senator by Vice President Richard Nixon. After being defeated for a reelection bid in 1976, a campaign which he was largely absent in, he was appointed by President Carter as the Ambassador to the Organization of American States.
Politically, McGee was slightly liberal, but remained a popular Wyoming politician. His defeat in 1976 was attributed by the national media to his opposition to the Vietnam War which was almost certainly incorrect. McGee did oppose the war, but his seat remained safe throughout it. There has been some speculation that by 1976 he no longer wanted to remain in the Senate, but for one reason or another ran anyhow. That would be more consistent with his campaign that year against Malcolm Wallop in which Wallop was allowed to run a nearly unopposed campaign. McGee was the last Senator from Wyoming to be a member of the Democratic Party.
The Post Office in Laramie is named after Senator McGee.
1964 Teno Roncolio, a Democratic lawyer originally from Rock Springs, but living in Cheyenne at the time, elected to Congress.
Roncolio would only serve one term from his 1964 election, and then attempt a run for the Senate. His Senatorial run was unsuccessful, and he would regain his position in the House in 1970.
Roncolio's 1964 election meant that two out of the three members of Congress (House and Senate) from Wyoming were Democrats, an event which would be almost inconceivable today.
Roncolio received the Silver Star while serving in the U.S. Army during World War Two for heroism in the invasion of Normandy, and he was one of the sources interviewed by Cornelius Ryan for his Book "The Longest Day." Roncolio was the last member of the Democratic Party to be elected to Congress from Wyoming.
And this is just from this day in history. It omits such figures as Governors Ed Herschlar and Mike Sullivan.
It's frankly almost impossible to imagine Wyomingites voting for any of these figures now. Osborne was elected because of something, while over a century ago, that directly relates to what we see now with Gordon, an effort by large landed interest to drive out small ones. They were engaged, quite frankly, in an attempted Republican Party supported public lands, land grab. The effort has never really stopped.
Roncolio was a war hero and McGee a University of Wyoming professor. McGee would be reviled for merely occupying that profession today. Roncolio would be harder to lambaste, as you really couldn't do that with somebody who had landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. That's instructive, however, in that much of the death of the Democratic Party in the state is due to the Democratic Party itself.
Roncalio was a lawyer who was a Catholic Italian American. Sullivan was a Catholic Irish American. Herschlar had been a World War Two Marine Corps raider. Kendrick was a Texas born rancher. Al these men essentially had "the bark on" in some fashion, and you knew that they held views that were close to those of common Wyomingites, including rank and file Republicans. That day has really passed. While some very solid Democrats remain, its nearly impossible to find one that holds middle of the road views on major social issues. Statewide races are sometimes the exception, but often the state's Democrats can be predicted to be impossibly left wing to elect.
Up until now, this has been stemmed a bit by the fact that the majority of the Republican Party has been grounded in the traditional middle, but during this election that has already massively slipped. It could be seen to be slipping when Barack Obama was elected, an event to which many Wyomingites had a strange knee-jerk reaction to that's hard to explain. Following that, it became increasingly clear that major existential changes are occurring to industries that the state has long depended upon. While massive amounts of coal are still being mined, it's clear to anyone with eyes to see that this is a temporary situation, and one which the state hasn't begun to adjust to. The same is now true of oil and gas. Instead of addressing the economic crisis head on, the popular reaction has to been to blame the Democratic Party. And the Democratic Party, in turn, by nationally embracing increasingly left wing causes, has made itself easy to blame.
This election really demonstrates this. Absent a real surprise, Wyoming will be sending Harriet Hageman to Congress. Neither Cheney nor Hageman can be regarded as "greens" (and while it's hardly been noted, Sen. Barasso has been quietly backing electric charging stations for oncoming electric automobiles in the state), but hardly a day has gone by this week where some Hageman campaign flyer hasn't arrived here, some of which just have silly theses. To read Hageman's propaganda, the Federal government is at war with the state and keeping it from doing whatever it wants due to over regulation and by refusing to allow the production of oil and coal. In reality, Federal oil and gas leases are going unused.
There's always an extreme danger in listening to people who tell you that nothing is your fault, and that everything is somebody else's, that person being somebody that you probably don't actually know. One day in the early 30s somebody is telling you that the Deutsches Heer didn't really lose the war, and was somehow "stabbed in the back" by the Jews, and the next day you are freezing in a muddy trench in Stalingrad. Well, that's your fault for listening to such complete nonsense.
Around here, right now, there seems to be very little push back on the concept that the voice of the public can be ignored, everything ought to be privatized, and everyone will benefit from never being able to go on the land again as we'll all have jobs for Big Out Of State Entity. That's nonsense. But until there's a way to cause politicians to suffer at the polls for such positions, this will keep on keeping on.
Saturday, October 8, 2022
Saturday, September 10, 2022
The Invaders
Woody Guthrie
The property owner, let's not pretend he's a rancher as that would imply that he makes his money from chiefly from agriculture, who owns the Elk Mountain Ranch has claimed that allowing corner crossing would devalue the property by $3,100,000 to $7,000,000, or so newspaper reports hold. The press further reports that it was shown this information by a "confidential" source.
More likely his legal representation claimed that.
Okay, let's break this down.
This is the story, as we'll recall, of three out-of-state hunters who hunted on the Elk Mountain Ranch's leased public lands, with Elk Mountain Ranch owned by Iron Bar Holdings, and ended up being tried for trespassing in Carbon County. According to the Wyoming Secretary of State's website, Iron Bar Holdings is a North Carolina limited liability company registered to do business in Wyoming.
North Carolina?
Fred Eshelman, PharmD
Fred Eshelman is the founder of Eshelman Ventures LLC, an investment company primarily interested in private health-care companies. Previously he founded and served as CEO and executive chairman of Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI, NASDAQ) prior to the sale of the company to private equity interests.
After PPD he served as the founding chairman and largest shareholder of Furiex Pharmaceuticals (FURX, NASDAQ), a company which licensed and rapidly developed new medicines. Furiex was sold to Forest Labs/Actavis in July, 2014.
His career has also included positions as senior vice president (development) and board member of the former Glaxo, Inc., as well as various management positions with Beecham Laboratories and Boehringer Mannheim Pharmaceuticals.
Eshelman has served on the executive committee of the Medical Foundation of North Carolina, was on the board of trustees for UNC-W and in 2011 was appointed by the NC General Assembly to serve on the Board of Governors for the state’s multicampus university system as well as the NC Biotechnology Center. In addition, he chairs the board of visitors for the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the top pharmacy programs in the United States. In May 2008 the School was named for Eshelman in recognition of his many contributions to the school and the profession.
Eshelman has received many awards including the Davie and Distinguished Service Awards from UNC and Outstanding Alumnus from both the UNC and University of Cincinnati schools of pharmacy, as well as the N.C. Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Award. He earned a B.S. in pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Cincinnati, and completed a residency at Cincinnati General Hospital. He is a graduate of the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School.
U.S. District Court
District of Wyoming (Cheyenne)
CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 2:22-cv-00067-SWS
Iron Bar Holdings LLC v. Cape et al Assigned to: Honorable Scott W Skavdahl Referred to: Honorable Kelly H Rankin
| Date Filed: 03/22/2022 Jury Demand: Both Nature of Suit: 890 Other Statutory Actions Jurisdiction: Federal Question |
Plaintiff | ||
Iron Bar Holdings LLC a North Carolina limited liability company registered to do business in Wyoming | represented by | M Gregory Weisz PENCE & MACMILLAN LLC 1720 Carey Avenue, Suite 600 PO Box 765 Cheyenne, WY 82003 307/638-0386 Fax: 307/634-0336 Email: gweisz@penceandmac.com LEAD ATTORNEY ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED |
V. | ||
Movant | ||
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers TERMINATED: 08/31/2022 | represented by | Eric B Hanson KEKER, VAN NEST & PETERS 633 Battery St. San Francisco, CA 94111 415-676-2349 Email: ehanson@keker.com TERMINATED: 08/31/2022 LEAD ATTORNEY PRO HAC VICE Patrick Lewallen CHAPMAN VALDEZ & LANSING 125 West 2nd Street PO Box 2710 Casper, WY 82601 307/237-1983 Email: plewallen@bslo.com TERMINATED: 08/31/2022 LEAD ATTORNEY Trevor James Schenk CHAPMAN VALDEZ & LANSING 125 W. 2nd Street PO Box 2710 Casper, WY 82602 307-259-3797 Email: tschenk@bslo.com TERMINATED: 08/31/2022 LEAD ATTORNEY |
V. | ||
Defendant | ||
Bradley H Cape | represented by | Ryan A Semerad THE FULLER LAW FIRM 242 South Grant Street Casper, WY 82609 307-265-3455 Fax: 307-265-2859 Email: semerad@thefullerlawyers.com ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED |
Defendant | ||
Zachary M Smith | represented by | Ryan A Semerad (See above for address) ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED |
Defendant | ||
Phillip G Yeomans | represented by | Ryan A Semerad (See above for address) ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED |
Defendant | ||
John W Slowensky | represented by | Ryan A Semerad (See above for address) ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED |
Amicus | ||
Wyoming Stockgrowers Association | represented by | Karen J Budd-Falen BUDD-FALEN LAW OFFICES 300 East 18th Street P O Box 346 Cheyenne, WY 82003 307/632-5105 Fax: 307/637-3891 Email: karen@buddfalen.com LEAD ATTORNEY ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED |
Amicus | ||
Wyoming Wool Growers Association | represented by | Karen J Budd-Falen (See above for address) LEAD ATTORNEY ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED |
Saturday, June 25, 2022
This is why we can't have nice things.
Ugh.
Calling to "neutralize" the purchase by disposing of Federal lands elsewhere.
Why can't Wyoming's representation in Congress representing Wyomingites on these issues? Most approve of the Federal land, and this is good for Wyoming in general, and Natrona County in particular.
I guess if we must "neutralize" Federal influence in the state, we could end Federal highway funds coming in, close the Railroad Transportation Safety Board, and shut down the FAA. . . oh wait. . .
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Reactionary
"Mind numbingly stupid" is the way one person I know characterized it.
Governor Questions Transparency of BLM Land Acquisition
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has announced that Wyoming is appealing a massive acquisition of land by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Natrona and Carbon Counties. The State has concerns that BLM did not involve the public in the acquisition process and that the environmental assessment did not adequately consider impacts on tax revenues, school funding, grazing, mineral development and other natural resources.
The Governor emphasized that the challenge to the acquisition is focused on the adequacy and proper adherence to the process that occurred. He supports the expansion of public access for hunters and anglers, as well as opportunities for recreation. He also recognizes the rights of private landowners to sell their land as they see fit.
“This action is not about limiting access for sportspeople or challenging the rights of private property owners rights,” Governor Gordon said. “It is about whether the Federal government can increase its land holdings without public scrutiny, or should it adhere to the same transparent process that private landowners are subject to if they sought to purchase or exchange federal land.”
To buy or sell land the State must have a 60-day comment period and hold two public votes of the State Board of Land Commissioners.
Here's the actual complaint.[1]
At some point conservationist, hunters, fishermen, outdoorsmen, sportsmen, and the tourist industry really should start to start questioning why they support Republican candidates in this state.[2] Suffice it to say, if Marty Throne, the Democrat, was now Governor, we wouldn't be putting up with this now.
- The Governor emphasized that the challenge to the acquisition is focused on the adequacy and proper adherence to the process that occurred. He supports the expansion of public access for hunters and anglers, as well as opportunities for recreation. He also recognizes the rights of private landowners to sell their land as they see fit.
- “This action is not about limiting access for sportspeople or challenging the rights of private property owners rights,
Well that's exactly what the action does.
- “It is about whether the Federal government can increase its land holdings without public scrutiny, or should it adhere to the same transparent process that private landowners are subject to if they sought to purchase or exchange federal land.”
M'eh. A land exchange isn't anything like a sale, and quite frankly it seems that in most land exchanges the Federal government ends up with less land than it started off with.
The state should dismiss this action.
There's no reason to believe that this land won't still be grazed. It probably just opens it up for that, on a very large scale, for neighboring ranchers. What it does beyond that is open up land that's been closed to ready access for years up to the residents of the state.
Footnotes:
1. A "complaint" is the initiating document in a lawsuit.
2. I know the answer to this question even as I pose it. As the national Democratic Party is for gun control in a big way, for abortion on demand, for much more government involvement in everything, and is on the far left of every social movement, it leaves conservative voters with nowhere else to go.
This is a tragedy, quite frankly, as it leads to the delusion in the GOP that Eathornism is the view of everyone in the GOP, and the State. And because a lot of people in any political party are followers, rather than thinkers, it means that people who support extreme positions in the GOP do so as they're just following along not thinking them out, which would lead them to some other conclusion on some issues.
I've long maintained here, for example, that there's no reason to believe that there aren't a considerable number of people who, for example, are opposed to abortion and the death penalty, but I'm certain if this came up to the GOP Central Committee right now we'd get full support for the death penalty in a major way. That's a minor example, however.
I'm also certain that there are those, for example, who are opposed to abortion, support the war in Ukraine, and are very concerned about climate change. Where do they go to vote? They can't vote Democratic, due to abortion, and the GOP here doesn't really reflect their views on anything else.
As a result of that, they vote Republican, as abortion is their big issue. Some people do the same with the Second Amendment, and otherwise hold very Democratic views.
And the Public Lands issue is a good example. People who vote only on this issue, and there are some, vote Democratic quite a bit, I suspect.
The problem is, however, is that on life and death issues, like abortion, that leaves those very serious on those issues with hardly any options left.
This year might prove to be different, however, as the Republican Party is setting up horrific moral choices for the voters. In numerous states, the GOP is running Secretary of State candidates who would have stolen the vote for Trump in 2020, had they been in power. As people go to the polls this upcoming election, it looks like in many races they'll have a Republican candidate who effectively is pushing for the end of democracy, or at least the installation of an illiberal democracy. As democracy is the first principal of democracy, many voters may now pause when they go to vote Republican and wonder if that principle requires them to vote for somebody else.
For those with less firm concerns, the switch to another party may even be easier. This fall, for example, you know for certain that voters who normally vote Republican will go into the voting booth, having never said a word to anyone, and vote for a Democratic candidate as they're sick of Trump, worried about Eathorne, tired of Republican land grabbing efforts, not really convinced that everyone needs to have StG42, and worried about what kind of environment the future holds in a year that's been weird. The GOP ought to consider that, as if they don't manage to install the illiberal democracy they seem to imagine, they may end up getting very much the opposite.
Saturday, June 4, 2022
BLM acquisition unlocks thousands of acres, new stretch of North Platte near Casper
This major public access story hit the news here Thursday.
BLM acquisition unlocks thousands of acres, new stretch of North Platte near Casper
I'm quite familiar with this stretch of property. As a kid, before the recent owners who owned transferred it, I used to hunt part of it. I never asked for permission, even though I'm sure I should have. In those days, in the 70s, we asked for permission a lot less, and it was granted by fiat a lot more.
This is a real boon to sportsmen. It'll open up miles of river to fishing, and miles and miles to hunting. I've passed by deer and doves in this area a lot as I didn't have permission to go where they were. Now I'll be able to, although I hope the BLM makes as much of this roadless as possible.
I hope they also lease it out for grazing.
Indeed, I have some mixed feelings about this as I really hate to see a local ranch go out of production. The family that owned it had started off as sheepmen in Johnson County and moved down to Natrona County when their land was bought for coal production. Now they'll just be out of agriculture entirely, and I really hate to see that, even though I'm glad to see this didn't go to out of state interest. Indeed, what occurred is more in keeping with the purpose of the original Federal land programs, including the Homestead Act, than what often does occur with land sales now days.
I will note that, of course, in the age of the internet this of course resulted in moronic comments, including the blisteringly ignorant comment that its somehow unconstitutional for the Federal Government to own land. That comment is so dense that it should disqualify a person from going onto land in general until some education occurs.
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Jury finds you can cross corners in Carbon County.
Big news on the public access to lands front:
Jury finds four corner-crossing hunters not guilty of trespass
Now, what this isn't.
It isn't a court declaration that's binding precedent on the whole state. It's one jury, in a circuit court case. That's it.
It does mean that these four guys are not going to be convicted.
And beyond that, it shows that juries, quite frankly, are unlikely to convict anyone for corner crossing. Not only in Carbon County, but anywhere in the state.
And it doesn't end the issue, actually. A civil suit remains, and it's far more likely to have a bigger impact, as it will likely be the one that ultimately goes to the Supreme Court and the Wyoming Supreme Court will then determine the issue.
It does send a signal, however, both to courts (of course) but to the legislature on how average Wyomingites view these issues, and that likely is summed up by a comment made in court by the defendants' lawyer:
DEFENSE ATTORNEY RYAN SEMERAD ON RANCH OWNER FRED ESHELMAN
Eschelman is an entrepreneur who is noted for his charitable donations. . . and his donations to right wing politicians as well. He's apparently humble and generous. Not so generous, however, that the South Carolinian saw fit to just turn a blind eye to this matter or to generally allowing some of the less well funded access to public land, not his land, on his Wyoming ranch.
The original encounter, moreover, was caught on audio and video, with Eschelman's employee stating to law enforcement;“Do they realize how much money my boss has? …and property?”
And indeed, his having a Wyoming ranch brings to mind Thomas Wolfe's comment on that in his book A Man In Full.
On the topic of decisions, this also points out the dangers of pursuing something best left untouched, something that was pointed out a couple of years ago in the Wyoming ve. Herrera case. Sometimes, there are issues that you'd rather leave undecided.
Indeed here, the County Attorney, an elected official, made the decision to prosecute, no doubt based on prior interpretations of the law, which would have favored the same. But in doing so, she's accidentally taken the side of a wealthy out of stater against the interest of common Wyomingites. This probably never crossed her mind, but it likely has crossed the mind of a lot of locals by this point, and the effective statements of the defense now doubt have taken root. Eschelman, in the words of the defense, is a would be king and oppressor. I've now seen public comments that the County Attorney prosecuted as she was influenced by his wealth. That's extremely unlikely, she was probably influenced by the law, and may very well not be in the class to whom this issue is dear to the heart, but she's no doubt aware that it is to many now. How this also plays out is yet to be seen.
And indeed, this takes us back to the topic of allmannsretten, which we've addressed elsewhere.
As noted, this story is still playing out. It'll be very interesting to see where it goes ultimately.