Things looked ruined at that point, ten years of activism, trying to destroy the status quo, and the entertainment industry being apart of that, I was odd man out. Hopefully my political past would be forgotten and maybe there was a chance to slide into a career in theatre or film. Film the long shot, I had taken meetings in my twenties, but did not have a credit. One hit play though—one world premier and a run—and you have a property—and suddenly all kinds of opportunities appear. At the least I had to get a play produced. I had already published poetry and prose in university presses and on-line, but I’d yet to write a drama that said things about life worth hearing, validated by people wanting to produce and act it. I wanted professional status in all the arts. That was the only thing that mattered, and that’s what I was attempting to attempt, but then it got blown up.
I was in a coffee shop getting notes together for a script when I see an email. I read that a county sheriff up north had notified neighboring sheriffs, detailing how federal agents had entered his county and set up operations without contacting his office. The disregard was unprecedented and unconstitutional. He got replies from sheriffs in neighboring counties and called for an open meeting, anyone who thought they had a solution was welcome to attend. I drop everything, print copies of information and PDF files from congressional records, put a pillow and blanket in the back of my station wagon, and get on the road to northern California.
Driving up it seemed like this might finally be it—that but of course—it’s the office of the county sheriff that initiates the convention! If I could get them to point out the situation in a video, that the legal requirement for a convention had been satisfied, and send it out, that should be the tipping-point of awareness on the politicians purposefully ignoring the Constitution.
It was a small banquet hall in rural California, near the border with Oregon. The sheriff who put out the alarm was a Vietnam Vet, known and respected far and wide for his development of SWAT systems and tactics, who looked the stereotypical general—full head of short gray hair, gray mustache, square jaw, could have been in the movies. He gets up there, thanks everyone for showing up, and goes into how much things have changed since the planes flew into the buildings in New York City, and that we have to protect our freedoms.
“Now, most of us here know that in the 1990s a sheriff filed a suit in the federal court about an unconstitutional gun law, and they won. The US Supreme Court struck down the notion that sheriffs are subordinate to federal agents in the county where they were elected. The Chief Justice wrote the majority ruling, explaining how our system of government was a great innovation of design where citizens have two political capacities, one state and one federal, each protected from the other, each with its own relationship, its own set of rights and obligations to the people consenting to it. They quote Federalist 39, by Madison, father of the Constitution, that the local authority forms a distinct and independent portion from the federal, no more subject to federal authority than federal authority is subject to local authority. Someone said if men were angels we wouldn’t need government, but men are not angels, so we do need protection, and two distinct governments, a local and a federal, creates a double security of our rights.
“The reason we call a chief justice a chief justice, is to designate who is highest in rank within the judiciary. In law enforcement we call it the CLEO, chief law enforcement officer, and in the county elected, the sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer, directly accountable to the people. If some local police force began harassing people in a county, the sheriff would be there to protect them. If some federal agency began harassing people in a county, the sheriff would be there to protect and defend their rights. It all makes such perfect sense that that is how it ought to be, but it seems like decade after decade since the Supreme Court ruling, we have to remind not only the public, but the federal agencies themselves.
“Everyone knows that two years ago Sheriff Mattis from Bighorn County, Wyoming, lead the state sheriffs in a lawsuit demanding federal agents abide by the Constitution, or face arrest, and the Federal District Court agreed and ruled in favor of the sheriffs. And again ruled that in the states the duly elected sheriff of a county is the chief law enforcement official in that county and has law enforcement powers exceeding that of any other local, state, or federal official, including the President of the United States. For more than two years, all federal agents entering Bighorn County have been required to check in with Sheriff Mattis and state their intentions.
“And about the same time we had the incident where Sheriff House in Otero County, New Mexico, had to threaten federal agents with arrest in the so-called chainsaw rebellion. So what it looks like, is that federal agencies will attempt to get away with whatever they can, hoping the sheriff they’re dealing with doesn’t understand their powers.
“Last year, two of my deputies were tipped-off by a resident that federal agents had blocked off a county road. The deputies went out to the location, contacted them, and two agents came up holding their badges. The lead deputy checked ID but said they had no notice, which made the road block illegal. One agent started up with attitude, saying the deputies had no idea who or what they were dealing with, to which the other deputy informed them that their authority was higher. The moment escalated, almost to the point of drawing guns, but our lead deputy talked fast and neutralized the situation.
“The public lands out here, out west, were considered problem lands until the passage of the Resolutions Act of 1780, from then on the federal government held the lands in trust. Upon a state being admitted to the Union, the federal government had the authority and obligation to dispose of the lands for expansion, occupancy, and production by the people.
“Slowly, over the years many remote public lands still held in trust became more desirable to retain, rather than let go for the purpose they were held in the first place. Over the decades newly formed federal agencies worked their way into existence, each taking an expanding role—what we called Mission Creep back in Viet Nam. By the 1980s it became policy of the federal government that public lands be retained under federal control and ownership.
“And so now here are all of us sheriffs in rural counties and remote forested areas and our region is ground zero for the US Forest Service. Forest reserves are not federal enclaves, local peace officers were to exercise civil and criminal process over these lands. Forest Service rangers are not law enforcement officers unless designated as such by state authority. The Tenth Amendment clearly reserves police rights to the states.
“I had never encountered a situation where information was withheld from my office, the uncooperative manner presents a challenge of authority.
“As the chief law enforcement of the county, elected by the citizens, saddled with the expectation and responsibility to safeguard their rights, I fully intend to uphold the laws against any threat, inappropriate or unlawful actions against them. The citizens of the county are complaining about unfair treatment and harassment by agents of the federal government.
“The issues of illegal road closures, grazing, logging, minerals, taking land under the auspices of ‘monument’ status, citizen complaints against federal agents, high unemployment and other socio-economic issues we all face today; coupled with the uncooperative nature, are causing me great concern about our relationship and future cooperation.”
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