Liberty
Matters News Service
August 25, 2005
Illegals Awarded Arizona Ranch
Two illegal aliens from El Salvador who accused an Arizona man of pistol whipping them, have been awarded the man's ranch as payment for their suffering. The alleged incident occurred in March 2003, when the two illegal aliens were caught by a group of private citizens trying to protect the private property of Joe Sutton near Hebbronville, Texas. Casey Nethercott, then-leader of the Ranch Rescue group, was accused of hitting Edwin Alfredo Mancia Gonzales with a pistol, but it is unclear what complaint was made by Fatima del Socorro Leiva Medina. Both illegals are from El Salvador, the country where the MS-13 gang (termed the most dangerous gang in America) has a strong-hold. A Texas jury failed to convict Mr. Nethercott on the pistol-whipping charge, but because he had done time in California for assault, he was sentenced to five-years in prison for felony gun possession. The illegals, under the direction of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), then filed suit against Nethercott, Jack Foote, founder of Ranch Rescue, and Joe Sutton. The two claimed "post-traumatic stress" as a result of the incident that could only be alleviated by financial compensation. Sutton settled for $100,000, but Nethercott and Foote didn't defend themselves so the judge issued default judgments of $850,000 against Nethercott and $500,000 against Foote. Foote didn't have any assets, but Nethercott signed his 70-acre Arizona property over to his sister, Robin Albitz of Prescott, AZ. Morris Dees Jr. the mouthpiece and founder of the Montgomery, Alabama based SPLC, found out about the land transfer and sued both siblings, charging it was fraudulent and meant only to avoid the judgment. Dees said the judgment would "send a pretty important message to those who come to the border to use violence." Now all immigrants know all they have to do is come to America illegally, claim injury and become instant American landowners.2 Illegal Immigrants Win Arizona Ranch in Court
Northeasterners Get Wolves
A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to restore the gray wolf to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled that the Department of Interior violated federal law when it decided that since there were so many wolves in the upper Midwest states it was unnecessary to re-introduce them into the northeastern states. Patrick Parenteau, director of the environmental law clinic at the Vermont Law School said; "The wolves are howlin"[in celebration]. "They're predators. The question I have is, how would they interact with the deer herd, which is already under stress here?" said Stan Holz, a hunter and owner of a gun store. Jasen Stock, executive director of New Hampshire Timberland Owners' Association, expressed concern that timber harvests could be curtailed on national forest lands and private lands that are burdened with conservation easements. Those easements generally have clauses mandating threatened or endangered species be given the highest priority in land management plans. Anthony Tur, endangered species specialist with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is skeptical that wolves would be accepted by local residents. Tur said a 1992 federal study indicated northern Maine and the Adirondacks would be good habitats for wolf re-introduction, but "[T]hat would take tremendous support from states and residents for that to occur." Why would New Hampshire residents be allowed a say in the matter? Residents of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming didn't want them either, but that didn't matter to the tyrants in the federal government.
Judge Orders Feds to Promote Wolf Restoration in Northeast
NH Hunters Wary of Wolves' Return to Region
Lions and Tigers, Oh My
Heartened by the recent "re-discovery" of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas, a group of Cornell University ecologists have come up with a plan to transplant African animals into America's heartland. The proposal's authors believe that it is the only chance to save Africa's endangered elephants and lions and other large, dangerous predators. The little ecologists admit that the African varieties never lived on this continent, although their ancestors like mastodons, camels, and saber-toothed tigers once did. Things were pretty good in North America, they claim, until those pesky humans arrived and hunted the animals into extinction. "Relocating large animals to vast ecological parks and private reserves would begin to repair the damage," they say, "while offering new ecotourism opportunities to a withering region." At last report, the Midwestern states were not "withering." "It is not restoration to introduce animals that were never here," said University of Washington anthropologist Donald K. Grayson. "Just when you think the world has gotten as weird as it can get, something like this comes along," said Steve Pilcher, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association. "I wonder how many calves or lambs it would take to feed a family of lions for a month, he said. "We sort of know what it takes for wolves, but something tells me we would be in a whole new ballgame." Promoters of the bizarre scheme are not deterred by criticism, though. "We are not saying this is going to be easy," said Cornell's Josh Donlan. "Lions eat people. There has to be a pretty serious attitude shift on how you view predators," he continued. Not surprisingly, the plan was hatched during a retreat at Ted Turner's New Mexico ranch.