Tensions between federal agents and states’ rights activists nearly came to violence Saturday, but by Sunday afternoon the Southern Nevada ranch at the heart of a clash over cattle and grazing rights looked more like a campground than an armed standoff.
Cliven Bundy’s fight with the Bureau of Land Management over the federal agency’s roundup of his cattle attracted a diverse group of foot soldiers: fellow ranchers, Las Vegans and militia and patriot groups were among them.
Some First Amendment supporters say “free speech zones” like those created but now dismantled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management near a controversial Southern Nevada cattle roundup are intended to stifle rather than encourage debate. Regardless of the purpose, advocates say such zones are an inappropriate infringement of free speech.
More than 130 family members of missing military personnel from four states met in Las Vegas on Saturday to remember their loved ones and meet with Department of Defense staff to discuss finding and recovering remains from battlefields going back to World War II.
