Area : NIGHT_SHIFT_CP Date : Sep 16 '95, 00:22 From : Ed Fischang, 976:1772/4 To : All Subj : A Tale of Two Counties * Forwarded from area "Patriot.Net.WashDC" (PN_WASHDC) * Originally from: STEVE WASHAM (976:1777/1) * to: ALL * date: 14 Sep 95 03:31:00 BATTLE LINES CONTINUE OVER FEDERAL JURISDICTION The Citizen's News, Sequim, Washington September 9, 1995 OKANOGAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON and OWYHEE COUNTY, IDAHO - Two unrelated incidents reflect the growing dissatisfaction with federal government involvement in local affairs. In Okanogan County, Washington, county commissioners issued a resolution citing the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, invoking "the right of the people to be free from deprivations of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The resolution requires that if the FBI and other federal agents want to follow a case into that county, they'll have to get the sheriff's permission first. The resolution, passed unanimously on August 14 by Okanogan County's three commissioners, also grants the sheriff final jurisdiction over any federal police activity. According to a local paper, Commissioner Ed Thiele said in an interview that "We don't want another northern Idaho or Waco or even another smaller thing going on here." He was referring to the FBI's siege of the Branch Davidian complex at Waco, Texas, where 81 people died, and the agency's 1992 siege at the home of Randy Weaver on Ruby Ridge in Idaho, which cost the lives of Weaver's wife and 14-year-old son. County Sheriff Jim Weed laughed when told about the resolution, according to the Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle. He said the resolution is unconstitutional, so he won't enforce it. In Owyhee County, Idaho, however, the sheriff is taking an opposite stance. Tim Nettleton, with a reputation as "the dean of Idaho Sheriffs," a by-the-book lawman with little sympathy for the anti- government sentiment taking root in his rural community, has declared his county off-limits to federal law enforcement officers, serving notice to the Bureau of Land Management in Boise that he was no longer willing to extend them permission to act as armed peace officers. Nettleton's declaration on May 18 followed months of studying the question of federal jurisdiction, coupled with years of small but aggravating incidents involving a BLM agent. "I'm not a constitutionalist or anything," Nettleton said in a telephone interview with the Washington Times. "For 20 years, I cooperated with them. I deputized them. Then I looked them in the eye and said, "`What authority do you have to act as peace officers in the state of Idaho?'" He argues that both the U.S. Constitution and the Idaho Constitution reserve police power to the states. By toting guns and enforcing state and federal statutes federal rangers are violating the law, according to the sheriff and his supporters, who include a majority of the Owyhee County commissioners. Like other advocates of local control, the sheriff also objects to what he calls the BLM's "SWAT-team mentality," saying the agency's hard-core tactics have stirred resentment among his county's 3,000 residents, many of whom work in the ranching and mining industries. His position, according to the Times, has placed him at the forefront of the so-called "county movement," a cousin of the second Sagebrush Rebellion now sweeping the West. There is currently a congressional proposal, introduced by Rep. Helen Chenowith (R-Idaho), to forbid armed federal agents from entering a county without the sheriff's permission. "This [issue] belongs in court,' Nettleton said. "We've just got to find a vehicle." [end of Citizen's News article] ----------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE CITIZEN'S NEWS - The Citizen's News is a bi-weekly (every other Friday) newspaper reflecting traditional American values published at Sequim, Washington. Mail: P.O. Box 3157, Sequim, WA 98382. Phone: (206) 681-4981. Fax: (206) 681-7051. Managing Editor: Sue Forde. Distributed in various counties across Washington state. As of September 9, 1995 mail subscriptions outside Clallam County are: $10.50/3 months, $14.50/6 months, $26.50/1 year. E-mail news items, letters and commentary to Sue Forde at SueF681688@aol.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Know any county officials standing up for constitutional rights? Help spread the good news! Send your resolutions, news clippings and other documentation to: Steve Washam, P.O. Box 605, College Place, Washington 99324 E-Mail: Steve.Washam@wwwhbbs.com - This system is slow and unreliable. Please save your mail and resend if no reply after 10 days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "I could have complained, but nobody would have listened." - Dick Carver Initial distribution: 1OTH_AMD PN_READ PN_WASHDC PR_NET RIGHTS_RONGS SURV_NEWS SURV_POLITICS Please forward. --- * Origin: Mad Dog North Manson, WA USA (976:1772/4)