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Show THE ZEPHYR/JUNE-JULY 2003 and beer bottles to stock backyard spreads we called "bottle horse ranches." Whiskey flasks were the cattle, beer bottles the horses. We reveled in possession. And we wandered fields and meadows and mountains, knowing whose buck fence or barbed wire we climbed over or ducked under. There were times when we damaged someone’s oats or hay or barley, or tangled with their dogs or horses or cattle, and got called down for it, learning at first hand 4 ; about property rights. But there was that other right, the roaming right. Last year I talked with someone from those times. He reported that the big willow patch behind the old Skaggs grocery had been obliterated, replaced by upscale tourist traps. He has gained a calm acceptance, seems to be satisfied by nostalgia. I’m not. Big outfits taking charge of homelands, happens all the time, trespass on a grand scale. Is that the way it’s going to be? Peter Matthiessen, in his new book, /the Birds of Heaven/, claims to see a change. "The corporate world that dictates policies to the Western governments appears to be coming to its senses.” COLDWECLL Bg BANKCR © MM: fT, The REALTOR who knows what's REALLY going on in Moab. Zs JUDY IS IN THERE FOR THE LONG No, the corporate mentality coming to its senses would mean opting out of its role in the imperial reach of our country... Rescue will have to come from elsewhere. Sorry, that’s a wrong reading of the scene. Remember that single-hulled tanker that went down off the coast of Spain, various ownerships involved, not one of them claiming responsibility? Do you see Anaconda and its offspring moving bigtime into Butte, Montana to do something about that toxic lake, formerly the biggest open pit copper mine in the world? In Navaho country is someone from the corporate world taking a decisive lead in safe disposal of radioactive waste? No, the corporate mentality coming to its senses would mean opting out of its role in the imperial reach of our country. They're not about to do that, they’ve been in charge for generations; too late now, retreat is out of the question. Rescue will have to come from elsewhere. Where’s that? From the world’s other superpower, the people. Yes, I know, "the people” has been out of favor for quite some time, condemned on three counts, sentimentality, naivete, romanticism. And I know it tends to make some So . But there is a question that won’t go away: where else is the A RCHES PEA /abé 150 E. Center St. Moab. UT 84532 BUS: 435.259.5693 800.634.0770 RES: 259.5852 judypowers@moabutah.com (Each office is independently owned and operated) A little south by east of a certain sweep of western terrain there’s a rugged valley bottom that you have to cross to reach federal (public) land. The place is overgrazed, cattle dominate, but the cattle there are Longhorns, wild critters who and gather and stare with very thoughtful interest and long-legged lopes. Those rangy critters have a certain them dramatically apart from other breeds, the stolid, the like. But wait, these are matters of body shape and a narrow track. Let me explain. East of that longhorn stronghold, in sagebrush are prone to get up quickly then take off for higher ground in style, even standing still, that sets beef-bound Herefords, Angus and manner and too easy to get off on highlands, late in the day, I’m PLEASE A Ctorne DIVORCE Yy at 712 8 East Broadway Salt Lake City, UT 84111 : 801.994.6000 FAX: 801.994.6094 MOAB OFFICE: Moab, UT 84532 MURIE WIND SWEPT: siRDWATCHERS & A BIKER FROM MONTANA TANGLE WITH CORPORATION EXTREMISTS IN MEDICINE BOW, WYOMING. HOMESTEAD PUB... (AVAILABLE ON AMAZON) ENVIRONMENTALISTS LABELED "TERRORISTS," KEEP A CHUGGIN' QUEBEC/NEW YORK BORDER...PACKRAT BOOKS RED TREE MOUSE WHAT aw Judge Building LOSING SOLITUDE: A cONTEMPORARY WESTERN. DEVELOPERS INVADE A COWTOWN. HOMESTEAD PUBLISHING (AVAILABLE ON AMAZON) ON THE L ‘ERS ADOPTION : CRIMINAL DEFENSE (Adult & Juvenile) MEDIATION PERSONAL INJURY : BY MARTIN WAY: Or CUSTODY 94 East Grand Avenue BURT'S ADVERTISERS. MERRELL KRISTINE a while I ne Ss in a or — ge ae end a eee get a sense of where they come from and where they're headed. Once the of a moose, a rare trespass. Sometimes fishers pass through, and coyotes and live by scent and sight, hearing and touch, nerve and muscle. BOOKS ZEPHYR looking for a prairie dog town. I come to a gateway with a big sign that names a land-and-cattle corporation. "Violators prosecuted to the full extent..." I drive through, looking for a place where I can ask permission, but there are no headquarters buildings, no home base. Chartered sageland rolls on and on, high rises and deep falls of land. There’s a passing into that loneliness you meet in wide open, un-fenced country. I keep driving, needing that dog town. (Found one later, just off I-80). I meet a small herd of cattle, Herefords, blocky and branded, but they’re suspicious, been out here a long time on their own. They don’t have the dull, seemingly hopeless quietude that takes over in a meat-processing feedlot. They have attitude. They get up and turn to face my pickup. One of them decides to take off, the others follow in that quirky gambol that’s all their own, muscle action moving their hides that glow in sunset color, the sage in front of them seemingly endless, ownerships slipping away. 2 Once 2 ollow and tracks were foxes. They SUPPORT THEIR $ UPPOR r KEEPS THIS P a B L | CG All O N a L | VE 5 CHRONICLES: IS THE FUTURE OF THE (ILLUSTRATED) forest ANIMALS ON ASSIGNMENT; FORESTS? THEY TURN PACKRAT BOOKS ACTIVIST FOR QUICKEST RECEIPT OF ANY OF THE FOUR BOOKS, CONTACT PACKRAT BOOKS SAGEHEN WESTELCOM.COM PAGE7 | E 435.259.2547 |