Bundy Says Clark County Violated His Daughter’s Rights
Ryan Bundy, son of Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy, says he’s had it with Clark County Schools’ efforts to control the students, which he calls ‘unconstitutional.’ As a result, he’s pulled his five children out of the Virgin Valley School District.
Bundy takes issue with, among other things, the district’s policy of allowing teachers and administrators to have access to student lockers. But the final straw came when the district told his daughter she couldn’t carry a pocket knife to school.
Bundy says he’s always taught his children that a pocketknife is a necessary tool for life on the ranch.
“It’s not the knife, it’s the mentality,” he told the Desert Valley Times. “The school wants everybody to conform and it’s just not right. Although they haven’t started it here (in Virgin Valley), the elementary in Logandale and other schools in Las Vegas march the kids around like a bunch of little Nazis. The kids are not allowed any free time because they’re (school officials) afraid of fights. Well, if the schools are that bad, if that’s where the schools are, I don’t want my children involved.”
Both Nevada state law and CCSD policy define a pocketknife as a weapon.
Bundy hasn’t yet where he will send his children to school.
Nevada Chief Prosecutor Denies ‘Sitting On’ Bundy Charges
The watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility ( PEER) says the Nevada U.S. attorney’s office has failed to bring criminal charges in 35 cases filed relating to the April standoff at the Bundy Ranch.
Further, the group says that failure to bring charges has potentially endangered federal employees including those at the BLM, and especially in Western states where an anti-government stance can prevail.
Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden says these charges are false.
"There were 36 cases opened by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada on April 30, 2014, but they were citations issued at the 2013 Burning Man festival for things such as violating closure orders, driving with obstructed license plates, littering, possession of controlled substances, and creating a hazard or nuisance, all of which have been resolved and closed," Bogden said in a prepared statement.
But according to PEER, not only has the attorney’s office failed in its duty to prosecute the Bundy-related charges, it won’t even release the names of those charged.
"Cloaking these cases only adds to the impression that this is a stall, not a deliberative pause," PEER executive director Jeff Ruch told the Salt Lake City Tribute. "Tolerating flagrant lawbreaking for years is how the present situation festered to fruition."
In June, PEER filed a lawsuit against the BLM, seeking documents and details on the Bureau’s action in the Bundy standoff.
At that time Ruch told KNPR that his group had fielded complaints from BLM employees including one from an officer who said he was “unhappy to be used as a human shield.”
Are You A Bundy Buddy? Are You Represented By One?
Certain elected representatives around the country are embracing the notion that states should have the right to seize public lands, a view that was in national focus during the Cliven Bundy standoff in April.
The left-leaning Center for American Progress has created a map identifying these “Bundy Buddies” in each state. Nevada’s lone “Buddy” is Sen. Dean Heller. The policy group notes that “Heller supported Cliven Bundy during his standoff, calling it a “a pretty good example of why we might be better off if the state ran this property not the federal government.”
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