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The Colossal National Monument Deception

SedonaEye.com financial columnist J. Rick Normand

SedonaEye.com financial columnist J. Rick Normand

Sedona AZ (October 5, 2015) – Is it true that, given the opportunity, the State of Arizona, promiscuously and wantonly would sell-off our precious public lands to greedy private developers in order to close the state’s deficit operating budget? No, that’s simply not legally possible or fiscally prudent.

Since his election, President Obama has established or expanded 19 National Monuments for a total of more than 260 million acres of public lands and waters, more than any previous President. There are about seventeen more requests on his desk right now including three just requested by California’s powerful senator, Dianne Feinstein. From the Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2015, in an article entitled “Feinstein asks Obama to bypass Congress to create three desert monuments,” comes this notice…“U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she has asked President Obama to bypass Congress and create three new national monuments in California, giving federal protection to more than 1 million acres of mountain ranges, sandy expanses and forests lying roughly between Palm Springs and the Nevada border.”

national monument mapMeanwhile, our Congressperson, Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, thanks to her incompetence in her failed attempt to get Sedona designated as a National Scenic Area a few years back, would likely stand as the lowest priority requestor in the pecking order of current requests for National Monument designation on Obama’s desk even if the current proposed Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument designation had already been presented, which it has not and will not be for at least another half year, at best. In other words, the Keep Sedona Beautiful-Sierra Club, and probably City of Sedona endorsed, National Monument designation for our Red Rock country, may never see the light of day once presented to the President. And, remember, as the President leaves office, he will want to accomplish certain personal priorities to cement his legacy as he envisions it. What really happens at the end of every presidential term is that the opposing party comes to him and says “we’ll give you a few concessions if you’ll give us a few.” So, the trade off of last minute concessions to one another gets prioritized and it’s the most powerful players that will affect the President’s quest for legacy status that will get their demands met. Do you see a problem here for our somewhat unempowered Congressperson Kirkpatrick?

POLITICAL DOCTRINE HAS TAKEN OVER CONSERVATION DOCTRINE

Notwithstanding, compounding this Presidential priority issue for the proposed Red Rock country National Monument designation is the fact that is has now been ascertained that the “KSB-Sierra Club driven” nefarious Monument Workgroup, requested by the City, had predicated their proposal recommendations on premises that are unproven and unprovable. In other words, the entirety of the KSB-Sierra Club generated and Democrats of the Red Rocks endorsed, Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument designation proposal, is built upon intentionally stated false premises meant to deceive the public. From here on out, I’ll just refer to this proposal as the “KSB-SC-DORR National Monument proposal.”

Here’s how it should work if presented in a formal debate in a public forum, if it weren’t for the fact that the “KSB-SC-DORR National Monument proposal” uses a slight-of-hand to attempt to confuse the public (although it has turned out that our public here is one helluva lot smarter that the NM designation sponsors thought):

The “KSB-SC-DORR National Monument proposal” is predicated upon a primary major premise, a secondary major premise, and two implied premises, none of which are valid or can be proven or confirmed as true! If the major premises are not true, their truth being amplified by the implied premises, then any conclusion to the argument cannot be deemed to be credible.

The major premise of the “KSB-SC-DORR National Monument proposal” is that the U.S. Forest Service will be the designated NM federal management agency, the secondary major premise is that federal land management is morally, environmentally and legally superior to state park and state trust land agency management, and the two implied premises are that the proposed National Monument boundaries have been determined and that the list of antiquities to be protected has been inventoried. The “KSB-SC-DORR National Monument proposal,” while seemingly based upon an affirmation of these premises due to a study done by their own sponsors, has not documented or proven a single one of them and can never do so.

Therefore, the public, or so the sponsor’s thought, could be hoodwinked by this intended deception. This is how the planned deception is designed:

1.] The major premise: The U.S. Forest Service will be the designated NM federal management agency.

Animas River in Colorado was polluted by an EPA leak

Animas River in Colorado was polluted by an EPA leak. The Navajo Reservation and affected states are suing the government as a result of its action.

The KSB-SC-DORR National Monument designation proposal, presented time and again to anyone or any policy advocacy group that cared to listen, states that the Monument Workgroup (whose members would never have been disclosed if not for the investigative efforts of The Sedona Eye) has made 31 policy recommendations, couched as regional benefits, that would presumably guarantee their proposal’s promised benefits would accrue to the Verde Valley and would ensure that the proposed Presidential Proclamation for the NM designation would be granted. All 31 recommendations can only occur, as compiled in their proposal, provided that the U.S. Forest Service will be the designated NM federal management agency. The odds of this are slim and none. Why? There are 22 National Monuments in our State of Arizona, more than any other state, and not one of them has the USFS designated as the federal agency manager. All are managed by the National Park Service or the Bureau of Land Management. This should lead an astute examiner of the KSB-SC-DORR National Monument designation proposal to ask the question…why can’t the Monument Workgroup produce a written guarantee from any federal land and resource management agency as to that alleged fact? Why would the NPS not be the designated Monument manager as more than 90 ninety of this nation’s 117 National Monuments are and as all are in Arizona if not for the few managed here by the BLM? And, why is this a huge, if not, cataclysmic distinction which KSB and the Sierra Club understand, but won’t tell you?

MORE RUNAWAY FEDERALISM COMPLETE WITH POLICE POWER

Graffiti forced closure of Joshua Tree National Monument now Park and the most popular hiking trails may remain off limits. Pets are not allowed more than 100 feet from a road, picnic area, or campground and are prohibited from all trails and must be leashed at all times. Damage to the ancient site may be permanent.

Graffiti forced closure of Joshua Tree National Monument now Park and the most popular hiking trails may remain off limits. Pets are not allowed more than 100 feet from a road, picnic area or campground and are prohibited from all trails and must be leashed at all times. Park managers say damage to the ancient site may be permanent.

The answer is that the USFS is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Agriculture which applies very lenient management rules of public access and activities within the confines of the Monument, whereas the “virtually always guaranteed” management of National Monuments is delegated to the National Park Service, an armed federal police force, which is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, as is the BLM, both of which apply Draconian management rules of public access and activities within the confines of the Monuments they manage. The USFS was created to manage wildlands safety, as to fire and insect infestation, flood consequences, and animal overpopulation, and healthy vegetative growth. The NPS was created to manage human and corporate access, activities, revenue generation, and the uses of National Monuments and National Parks. There’s a big difference as to how this distinction will affect the lives of the residents of the Verde Valley and the NM proponents have gone out of their way to NOT disclose it to the public. If, as is always customary, the NPS is designated by the President to manage the Sedona Verde-Valley Red Rock National Monument, the consequences will be extreme and you need to know what they are. If the KSB-SC-DORR National Monument proposal’s primary premise fails to materialize, then all 31 of their proposed recommendations are invalid and their whole pro-NM argument fails…period!

KSB GETS ITS HANDS SLAPPED BY THE ARIZONA STATE SENATE

2.] The secondary major premise: That federal land management is morally, environmentally and legally superior to state park and state trust land agency management.

This premise is asserted, in particular, by prime NM proposal driver, Sedona City Councilor Angela LeFevre, and KSB Executive Vice President Norris Petersen, as well as former “political party hop-scotching” KSB President Tom O’Halleran who has now deserted KSB in its hour of need. While most environmentalists believe this premise to be true, there is no demonstrable evidence of the alleged truth of this statement. Primarily, it is used as a scare tactic. It is implied that this premise is true based upon a purely emotional belief that since there is a powerful movement in the nine western states to force the federal government to return most of its western land holdings to the states, that the state will promiscuously and wantonly sell-off these precious lands to greedy private developers in order to close the state’s deficit operating budgets. This is not true in Arizona as clearly evidenced in the Letter shown below from the President Pro Tempore of the State Senate of Arizona, addressed to Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarty, explaining why our laws, since statehood, would prohibit such KSB alleged wanton sale of our treasured state trust lands.

sylvia allen national monument letter

sylvia allen national monument letter 2
3.] The first implied premise: The National Monument boundaries have been determined (which is false!)

This is an excerpt from an email sent to one of our brethren, John Finch, in response to his query to the USFS as to whether or not the boundaries for the KSB-SC-DORR National Monument designation proposal had been set and reduced to a map for public distribution:

“Lawrence, Melanie A -FS” <malawrence@fs.fed.us>
Melanie Lawrence
Administrative Management Specialist
Forest Service
Coconino National Forest, Supervisor’s Office
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 9:58 AM
Subject: RE: Honaki Registry Information

Mr. Finch,

Once again, we don’t know what that boundary is because we have nothing to do with the proposal! The National Monument committee has been doing the same thing with their requests to us – assuming we know the boundary they are proposing. My understanding, from the requests they have made to us, is that the proposed boundary is larger than the Amendment 12 area. You will need to contact them to see what other sites are on National Register of Historic Places, or have been nominated, or recorded, in the proposed area. Perhaps I wasn’t clear in my first email about the twelve sites that are within the Honanki heritage area. Please use the website I furnished to look up other historic sites.

As with some of your earlier questions and inquiries (which are not FOIA-related because there are no agency records involved), I will no longer be available to find answers. You will need to direct your questions to the National Park Service (the agency that manages National Monuments) or the individuals on the committee proposing the creation of the NM since you are working to provide them accurate information. [End]

Dept of Agriculture USFS Forest ServiceSo, here’s another critical question…if the USFS doesn’t know what the KSB-SC-DORR National Monument Workgroup’s proposed designation boundaries are, then the Monument Workgroup must not have determined what the boundaries will be either. Then, doesn’t that raise the question, how can Ann Kirkpatrick present the proposal to President Obama for issuance of a Proclamation that wouldn’t have defined boundaries? Are all of us non-insiders missing something here?

TACTICAL DEMONIZATION OF THE VALUES OF THE AMERICAN WEST

So, what kind of a red-herring, or ruse, is this whole presentation of KSB’s meant to accomplish? Why would this group, so egregiously, divide this community so bitterly with decade’s long repercussions, with a proposal based on false premises and known distortions?

AZ Sonoran Desert National Monument is overwhelmed with trash

AZ Sonoran Desert National Monument is overwhelmed with trash as it tries to cope with results of illegal immigration across the Mexican-US border.

While trying to answer this question, consider that the KSB-SC-DORR National Monument Workgroup’s proposal, to date, 1.] has no defined NM boundaries and 2.] has no proof, by their own admission, as to which agency will be the Monument manager, thereby invalidating their basic premise upon which is predicated all 31 recommendations, and 3.] has distributed for public consumption an absolute falsehood as to the likelihood of state mismanagement of public lands replete with intended malicious false motives as to the movement for increased state trust land management?

Are the political belief-systems of the proponents of the Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument predicated upon the unfathomable continued runaway federalism of socialist doctrine until all public lands are owned by the federal government in utter contravention of the United States Constitution and the principles of our Founding Fathers whose beliefs were consonant with those of the settlers of the American West?

4.] The second implied premise: The list of antiquities to be protected have been inventoried.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. The National Register of Historic Places Registry Database, at http://www.nps.gov/nr/research/, does not show any submissions under the title “Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument” and no such list submission on the proper government form has been revealed in any of KSB’s NM presentations.

CONSERVATION ALTERNATIVES YOU’VE PURPOSELY NOT BEEN TOLD ABOUT such as CONSERVATION FIDUCIARY LAND TRUSTS as an alternative to a National Monument Proclamation

And, finally, the KSB-SC-DORR National Monument Workgroup’s proposal suffers from the egregious error of deliberate failure to mention other options that could accomplish, or improve upon, their own Workgroup’s 31 NM management recommendations. For instance, they never mentioned a transfer of federal public lands to state control by virtue of implementation or either federal, or better yet, state CONSERVATION FIDUCIARY TRUSTS with land distribution/sale constraints documented in the corpus of the trust(s). In other words, it is perfectly possible to legally transfer, in the event of a mutually agreed upon transfer of public lands currently under title control of federal land management agencies, most public lands to trusts that will document prohibitions of the very concerns expressed as the only valid reasons to create a Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument Proclamation. Why hasn’t the KSB-SC-DORR National Monument Workgroup mentioned a word of this possibility to the public to whom they are trying to sell their NM proposal concept?

question markIn conclusion, and in light of the misguided, misleading and deficient KSB-SC-DORR National Monument Workgroup Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument Proclamation request, there is one last question that we, the collective 80,000 residents of the Verde Valley and their respective cities, townships, and unincorporated citizens have to ask:

WHAT GIVES THE CITY of SEDONA and ITS MONUMENT WORKGROUP, ONLY, THE RIGHT TO DICTATE TO THE ENTIRE VERDE VALLEY THEIR FATE AND THAT OF GENERATIONS TO FOLLOW?

Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!

Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!

36 Comments

  1. Gomer says:

    Sandy read a republican’s words? Nothing bipartisan about mayor Sandy. Nice work , keep at it. People are talking.

  2. To the Writer,

    WOW…talk about seeing through all the BS. Why does KSB keep taking this pounding without responding? Maybe they just can’t refute much of anything.

  3. KSB has sent a notice to ask for support. Please plan to show in opposition.

    Big Park Council voted for the National Monument in June with no knowledge of the community because they are bogus and that is how they do business. Just a few people with nothing to do pretending they have authority.
    They need to be sued.
    This group does NOT represent our Big Park but rather a tightly held small secret group that runs with the County.
    They are comprised of non existent business associations, dissolved homeowners associations and groups of three people with votes equal to 4000 residents of VOCA. Some are not even stakeholders. Some are the same lawyers that write for KSB.
    VOCA has not once informed or held dialogue with the homeowners, they simply allowed KSB to come into our ballroom and probably did not charge a fee.
    Opposition should ask for the same space and fee.
    BIG PARK COUNCIL needs to be disbanded before the new Supervisor comes in.
    When they all gather this Thursday at the VOC firehouse to vote(many are KSB members and board members)on amending the June vote, they will be sealing their fate of being sued. They will likely have had the member/lawyer whip up some legalese to insert to try and prevent future litigation, but the damage was already done in the first vote. They set a wheel in motion and the train has already left the station.
    Its high time they lie in the bed they have made.

    BIG PARK REGIONAL COORDINATING COUNCIL, INC.
    REGULAR MEETING
    9:00 AM, Thursday, October 8, 2015
    Sedona Fire District Station #3,
    125 Slide Rock Road, Sedona, AZ 86351

  4. AGENDA
    BIG PARK REGIONAL COORDINATING COUNCIL, INC. REGULAR MEETING
    9:00 AM, Thursday, October 8, 2015 Sedona Fire District Station #3, 125 Slide Rock Road, Sedona, AZ 86351

    Chip Davis, Yavapai County Supervisor, will be our guest at the November Council meeting.(NOTICE HE WILL NOT BE AT NATIONAL MONUMENT MEETING?) gotta keep distance from this group in a public setting, good politics for upcoming election……remember this.

    RULES OF ORDER FOR NATIONAL MONUMENT DISCUSSION

    WOW they are starting to make rules!!!!!!! Congrats. Please review before the meeting although we fully expect long winded pontification to the point of fall asleep, this is a big moment to show everyone how important they think they are. It will be quite a show.
    Enjoy.
     
    http://www.bigparkcouncil.org/VOC/agenda/agenda2015-10-8.pdf

  5. Susan Amon says:

    The KSB-SC-DORR SVVRRNM effort may be a blessing in disguise. Now we are hearing more details about the Transfer of Public Lands movement presented here. When I first heard about this projects at a Republican Woman’s lunch in 2013, presented by Allen, I thought she was crazy. But now, juxtaposed with this ill conceived NM issue, I see the wisdom of it. I hope that Mr. Normand will research this old-but-new project and report back on Sedona Eye.

  6. IMPORTANT BUT EASY ACTION NEEDED. 3 SIMPLE THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW. Feel free to forward these action steps to your club members or neighbors and friends.

    1. Please send an email today to BIG PARK RCC (include your name and address and VOTE NO) which will be considered at this THURSDAY’s meeting (and please attend the meeting!) EMAIL ADDRESS IS: info@bigparkcouncil.org

    2.Please send an email today (include your name and address and VOTE NO) to the Sedona Chamber of Commerce expressing your position on the national monument. Again, this is important because the Chamber is being courted by the KSB Coalition/SVVRRNM

    EMAIL ADDRESS IS: admin@sedonachamber.com

    3.Same goes for the Sedona Village Business Association (include your name and address and VOTE NO).
    EMAIL ADDRESS IS:

    info@sedonavillagebusinessassociation.com

    Again, the KSB Coalition strategy is to be able to show the federal executive branch that it has the local community on board. Make sure the three organizations above know what you think!

    VOTE NO!

    The proponents are counting on us fading away…let’s not give them what they want! WE NEED EVERYONE to help! THANKS everyone!

    FIGHT THIS; IT IS IN OUR OWN BACKYARDS!!!!!
    There is more information on our website and your comments on our Facebook page would also be helpful. Stop the Federal Government from Taking Over More of Our Land Rights.

  7. To All Readers @ The Eye:

    You may want to check out this site where there are no environmental opinions based on a federalist political belief system, just the facts of cold hard decades-long studies and gut-wrenching comparative photographs. This site illuminates the debate between scholarly conservationists and. liberal environmental theoreticians:

    http://www.dandagget.com/

  8. Frank Ryal says:

    Great effort to inform again.

  9. Big Park Council withdrew support of the National Monument. What a bunch of yahoos.
    I imagine they saw the writing on the wall for trying to run with the big dogs.
    This group is not authorized to speak for BIG PARK. They have ZERO credibility.
    They went to communities and spoke in favor of the original National Scenic Area a few years ago with no knowledge of the community at large.
    VOCA has a population of 6000 and this is a very powerful tool. It is also a dangerous tool when placed in the hands of grown children.

  10. J. J. says:

    I just got a call from our AZ Representative Ann Kirkpatrick. (phone number 202-226-9928). She “will not be going forward with the Sedona Verde Valley National Monument.” Apparently the voice of the Verde Valley has echoed a strong NO within the halls of justice. (or “Just Us” depending, of course, on the golden rule – he who has the most gold rules.)

  11. To All Readers at The Eye:

    KSB’s Sedona-Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument designation proposal to the Sedona City Council was voted down tonight, 6-1. The only “nay” vote was Councilor Angela LeFevre.

    JRN

  12. I find it almost laughable, if wasn’t so serious, that Ms. Brown claims, “Never underestimate the power of big money and misinformation.” So, who paid for your monument full page ad in the Red Rock News, your fancy color monument marketing brochures, your fancy monument website development, etc.? And unlike the opposition groups, who have identified all the individuals involved by name, The “Monument WorkGroup” and/or “The Coalition” continue to be secretive. Got something to hide? And KSB, who started all of this monument talk and worked secretly until springing it on an unsuspecting community in mid-July, continues to operate without a leader. What gives? It’s time to put a fork in this monument because “IT’S DONE!” CITIZENS OF THE VERDE VALLEY HAVE SPOKEN!

  13. Gene says:

    Somewhere on the Eye I keep hearing words like Tea Party and Conspiracy? I’m going to address that here, maybe it will get noticed.

    There is no Tea Party or Conspiracy about opposition to this Sedona monument plan. There is no need for a single group to jump on any bandwagon by themselves. Nearly everybody but a few diehards and malcontents and superior holier than thous took the time to get the facts and not believe what people were peddling without questioning what they were hearing.

    What’s wrong with that? Why is that a Tea Party or Conspiracy person slam? Aren’t we SUPPOSED to do that with everything from this soup is good for you to our red rocks need protecting? Are you complimenting the Tea Party and Conspiracy people?

    Ask if you believe there really are 80 plus percent of Tea Party and Conspiracy people here? That’s the numbers that don’t support a monument. Remember the polls? That includes our Congresswoman, our Congressmen, and both sides of the aisle politically.

    Doesn’t that mean that only 20 percent are telling the rest to remain silent while they decide what’s best for us in Sedona? Sort of like the people that tell us trust us we will represent you in Washington DC? Sort of like Mrs. Clinton with her lies and Mr. Trump with his?

    I’d like to point out that it’s people screaming Tea Party and Conspiracy who vote for fools and foolish ideas. They will vote how the group think do. Now that’s a partier or conspiracist, eh?

    If you can’t think without Political Mass Indoctrination Prequisite 101 from a Democrat or Republican or Independent party or cause, aren’t worth the salt put on your tables. You bring Sedona and this country down and that’s aimed at Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Independents, nonpartisans and all the rest of you who vote based on an affiliation and self interests whether it’s good for you or others. You don’t take the time to find out. You have a belief but you don’t know.

    I’m sure you won’t understand, can’t understand that many of us don’t have agendas. We have brains.

    Didn’t mean to be so lengthy. Thank you for allowing me to express this opinion.

  14. @arizonaliberty:

    Just to clarify, a KSB Agent, by the name of Nancy Brown, wrote a truly unprincipled “sour grapes” letter about Arizona Liberty’s success with numerous Verde Valley Council votes in the Verde Independent newspaper in Cottonwood.

    JRN

  15. CinCin says:

    Who paid for the ad and materials? If it was the city, then ask for a FOIA. If the city contributed, ask and it will be discovered. KSBers that don’t support this last monument hoedown ought to demand an answer and publish the results. Or you ARE complicit, all of you. Boycotts are effective means of getting messages across. Ask Warren Woodward of smart meter fame, he’s damn good at finding needles in haystacks politically because Robert Pickels doesn’t represent you the taxpayer, remember his job is to pull the wool over everybody else’s eyes and protect the city at all costs, his client, and that now means the chamber, his client by proxy.

  16. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has my vote, ex-military, good sheriff, done miracles enforcing law in a godforsaken armpit of AZ county that nobody politically gives a crap about, tick that box for him. @Gene = THIS DEMOCRAT votes w/brain! NO HILLARY. NO BERNIE. YES JIM WEBB.

  17. Hey Rick…

    Thanks for the spelling and grammar lesson…I appreciate that.

    Hey dying to know what’s your take on on Chemtrails and Bigfoot ..
    How’s does the government use these to mislead us in a conscripacy..

  18. magickj says:

    @WSR
    You say that like it’s a BAD thing – to have an open mind and to question what is happening to our planet is a GOOD thing.
    Rick has proven to be a conspiracy FACTIST, not theorist, while you have proven yourself to be one of those folks who can’t dispute the facts, so you attack the person. Your “facts” are nothing but OPINIONS.
    There is a lot of evidence about how chemtrails are affecting our planet, but you CHOOSE not to be enlightened. You choose to remain in your closed-minded little world. Good for you.
    Karma is a bitch when you are.

  19. Magick

    Depends on where you get your facts from……

    If you get them from a Pariond tea party guy then I’m sure you and Rick will agree .
    You are correct.
    Karma is a bitch

  20. Jess Lookin says:

    FYI calling someone a “conspiracy theorist” has been used to silence dissent. Most “conspiracy nuts” have been proven to be correct, but those in power behind the real conspiracy wish to silence and discredit them.

    Unfortunately , chemtrails are real as is agenda 21. The US Air force holds many patents on dispersing aerosols, ie: chemtrails. Do your own research.

    May all get what they give in more than equal measure.

    God bless.

  21. sooz says:

    Sedona has been built to death! Enough already!! Hurry up and DO SOMETHING about this out of control grab of developing Sedona before it is way too late. Greed. Pure and simple greed.

  22. steve Segner says:

    Why is it greed? You live in Sedona and someone sold you a lot or a house, but it is greedy for someone else to sell his or her lot!
    Dam the old timers that sold off there farms, it is their fault.
    Steve

  23. Let’s see how you feel when TLLAQ turns the employee parking lot in to a busy public well lit parking lot for the shopping across the street, El Portal won’t be so relaxing and quiet and dark anymore will it? hahahahahahahahahaha

  24. THOMAS O,CONNELL says:

    Good Evening,
    Thank PRESIDENT OBAMA and GOD for ou 3 new CALIFORNIA NTL MONUMENTS!
    Why are you ARIZONA people so upset ???
    I love SEDONA ,GRAND CANYON ,,and lots of ARIZ!…..
    BUT why are you so BITTER?????

    Are not the nut cases in OREGON STANDOFF,,,,,40 DAYS… ALL stemming from ARIZONA ?????
    AS I believe YOU ALL HATE the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ,,AS well as PUBLIC LANDS ..LIKE NATIONAL PARKS, MONUMENTS …AND THE BLM!!!

    ,As you drive in your pick up trucks with rifles going to the CIRCLE K for beer??????REMEMBER… you can.t have your cake and eat it too!!!

    IF you care about the ENVIRONMENT!!!,,,,BE HAPPY about CALIFORNIA’S 3 NEW NTL MONUMENTS!

    Keep trying on SEDONA …

  25. magickj says:

    I am more than upset about the federal outreach and land grab in the deserts of California. It had been my pleasure to grow up in Southern California and enjoy the mojave, which was less than a 2 hour drive. It has been a favorite spot for camping, fishing, and sky watching since I was a kid. I learned to drive on a dry lake bed out there, and so did my daughter. Those activities will be greatly curtailed for my children and grandchildren because National Monuments have a “no use” policy. Residents and in-holders in the area will likely be bought out, as the selling of private property to the feds is happening on a daily basis in and around recently made National Monuments.

    The National Monument is not beneficial to the communities. It is to restore the LAND, not the PEOPLE. Long term residents in and around National Monuments have had to sell their property. Holdouts find schools and stores closing, and therefore, end up moving eventually.

    And what does the swipe of a president’s pen say for our democratic process in this republic? No public comment wanted or needed. The National Monument takes over private property, takes senior water rights, and ends cattle ranching in the area, which has been a staple of our country since it’s inception.

    Where in the Constitution does it say that the Feds must be property holders? How much land must they have in their jurisdiction?

    We need open accountability for the lands and the destruction of lands by the BLM. At the recent peaceful protest at Bundy Ranch, there were SNIPERS trained on United States citizens. Posse Comitatus anyone?

    Not to mention the MURDER of a peaceful protester in Oregon. That man was an outstanding citizen, foster father to 50 boys, a minister in his church. He never had a parking ticket – and they say he had a stolen gun? BS. There was NO gun. Witnesses with video say there was no gun.

    So Look up AGENDA 21 Mr OConnell, and weep for what used to be America.

  26. Steve Segner says:

    America stole the lands of the west fair and square from the Mexicans in 1847, That land became the property of the u.s. government to be used for all the people not just the few.
    The ranchers want the public lands with out any restrictions so they can run cattle and open mines for coal we do not need, Governments job is to protect the land for all of us.

  27. Jess Lookin says:

    @Steve Segner, you said you would never post on the Sedona Eye again.

    Another lie.

    Steve, you are a LIAR.

  28. Pat says:

    OMG is that Jess lookin for an argument ? Smackdown!

  29. Fred Garcia Martinez says:

    Southern AZ was purchased from Mexico in the Gadsen Purchase. Natives to the valley had left by earlier centuries because of prolonged droughts. Spaniards came around, didn’t like it & left & mostly stayed way south of Phoenix. Other settlers came and some stayed and some left. Stop being a racist hate baiter.

  30. J. J. says:

    Not only that, Jess Lookin – Steve Segner is sadly ill-informed about the issue. If he is appointed to city council, there will be blow back — mostly from this very website. He is emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually bankrupt.

  31. Disharoon, VA says:

    @Fred you’re a great role model. I went to the State Department office of the Historian and here’s what it says (short version, first paragraph below*). Your state is about 35% federal land, leaving Arizona with a small percentage of private taxable land for the taxes to support schools, fire departments, municipalities, state government, highways, and more. You have a depreciating water supply and over development and agriculture that relies on irrigation, a vicious unsustainable circle of need. All that is left to say is your state is wished the best in a terrible situation.

    *Gadsden Purchase, 1853–1854

    The Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. Gadsden’s Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War…

  32. Just Sayin' says:

    @ J.J.

    OOOOh. I bet Segner’s going to running afraid when he hears that this web site will give blow back if he’s appointed. I can see him shaking in his boots.

    In all seriousness, he needs to be afraid because the 6 of you who post under numerous names?!?! GET A LIFE!

  33. J. J. says:

    Hm. I post under my own name only. I’m sure there’s more than 6 reading/posting here. Just saying.

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