LETTER: Cliven Bundy and crew deserve jail time

I have held my tongue for months now regarding Cliven Bundy and his band of crooks. But after the Review-Journal carried a Sunday front-page article on the issue of Bundy and federal lands, I want to weigh in.

First, I am a tad older the Cliven Bundy but, unlike him and his siblings, I grew up using federal grazing leases in Colorado. The reason I say “unlike him” is that we could not have survived without the leases and the opportunity to “share” the public lands we all own. “Share” is the operative word here, and we were grateful for the land leases and drove straight to the federal building to gratefully acknowledge the use of “our land” and gladly paid our annual lease fee.

We are blessed in this country that we have so much public land, and that the motto of the U.S. Forest Service is “land of many uses.” It is important that we protect the federal lands from state usurpation, as many advocate. This would deprive all U.S. residents of the enjoyment of this wondrous bounty we own.

Second, it is important that we prosecute the abusers of this right, and that includes the Bundy bunch. I say lock ‘em up, and throw away the keys.