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
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 * Origin: Mad Dog North  Manson, WA USA (976:1772/4)