To the Editor:

Feb. 22 at the Mt. Vernon Grange, an interesting college-type class on range history and use was presented by Angus McIntosh, Ph.D., who is a professor and author at New Mexico State University. Sixty-five local people listened to one of the few individuals that is certified as an expert on range issues able to testify in federal court cases. It was an education class on early range use from Spanish land grants, through the first western states, up to the current (Bureau of Land Management) and (Forest Service) regulations concerning grazing. It was an enlightened evening only marred by Judy Schuette and several others that paraded on the shoulder of the highway with “protest” signs. Schuette’s sign said, “Militias Threaten, Intimidate,” and another placard declared, “Obey the Law.”

What the nonsensical signs had to do with the educational meeting was a mystery. Those attending concluded the people were just ignorant and morphed from being “protesters” with a cause to simply being “crackpots.”

Tad Houpt

Canyon City