States’ Rights Extremists Blamed In Bombing Of Van

Investigators have no idea who bombed a van outside the home of a Forest Ranger, but Sen. Harry Reid on Saturday blamed the attack on “extremist elements” within the states’ rights movement.

The explosion Friday night destroyed District Ranger Guy Pence’s van parked in his driveway. Pence was on a horseback trip in central Nevada at the time, but his wife and children were home. They were not hurt.

Reid blamed the incident on “the ugly underbelly of the county supremacy movement in Nevada,” referring to those who are trying to wrest control of public lands in the West from the federal government.

“The perpetrators of this act are purely and simply, would-be killers,” the Democrat said.

“Certainly, there is room for disagreement among various interest groups over the use of public lands in our state,” he said. “This case demonstrates the very real danger of extremist elements within the county supremacy movement.”

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett agreed, attributing the bombing to “vigilante behavior.”

The attack comes four months after a pipe bomb exploded outside Pence’s office, along the city’s main street. No one was hurt. No arrests have been made.

Three weeks earlier, on March 8, the Justice Department, citing threats against federal workers, sued Nye County, the state’s largest county covering a vast tract of south-central Nevada, including Carson City.

The court action was taken in an effort to quell the states’ rights rebellion, also called the “Sagebrush Rebellion,” under way in Nevada and four other Western States.

Officials of 35 counties in Nevada, California, New Mexico, Idaho and Oregon have passed measures claiming the right to federal land.