A Classic Story of the Abuse of Government Power

By Dan Schroeder

I'd encouarage everyone to read this article from today's Standard-Examiner about Box Elder County's ongoing attempt to force the Selman family to open their ranch to ATV recreationists. It's a classic story of abuse of government power, with a good measure of incompetence mixed in. In this case, all levels of government (including the State Parks Department and the Forest Service) are lined up against the private land owners.

I got involved in this issue because of the Sierra Club's interest in the adjacent Forest Service land. Bret Selman called me when he saw my name in the paper a few years ago, and we've become good friends. The Selmans have been terrific stewards of the land and have been extremely generous in giving permission for interested groups to enter their property for nonmotorized recreation and wildlife viewing. They just don't want it to become a motorized thoroughfare.

The disputed route is on property that the Selmans have owned since 1952. The county is claiming a prescriptive right-of-way along the route, but I think this claim is unlikely to hold up in court because the route has been gated and posted closed to the public for several decades. In fall 2005 the county brought criminal charges against Bret Selman for placing a lock on one of the gates that block the route. Those charges were finally dropped in January of this year when a new County Attorney took office and apparently decided to try the different tactic of simply sending the bulldozers up and ripping out the gates. Meanwhile, the Selmans have incurred thousands of dollars of attorney's fees.

As the article says, the county passed a resolution a couple of weeks ago and informed the Selmans that it would be removing their gates. However, the map that's part of the resolution actually shows a different route that's blocked where it enters a parcel of Forest Service land before crossing onto the Selman property. So the Selmans weren't even given any notice that the county would be bulldozing this particular route.

Reader comments are welcome, as always.

Update 5/14/07 8:33 a.m. MT: We link here a supplementary web article, fleshing out more of the background facts concerning the Selman situation. It would appear from a reading of this article that the various federal and state government agencies mentioned are actively driving a perverted modern version of manifest destiny from the political backstage, with absolutely zero regard for the law of real property as it pertains to property owners like the Selman Family.

Why are these government entities seemingly hell-bent to build a road through the Selmans' land?

Surely it can't be all about ATV access.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.