John Whitehead's Commentary

"There is no such thing as civil liberties if you do not have property rights."
--Wayne Hage

It was once believed that a man's home was his castle. Yet as our government continues to exercise its right to obtain private property for public use in sometimes questionable circumstances, the domains of hardworking Americans are increasingly coming under siege. Consider the case of Wayne Hage.

Wayne Hage is a self-made man. He started supporting himself at age 15 and paid his way through undergraduate and graduate school, earning a masters degree in organic chemistry. After working several cattle ranches in Nevada as a young teenager, Hage knew that he wanted a place of his own. In 1978, Hage realized his dream when he purchased Pine Creek Ranch in Nye County, Nev., which adjoins the federally administered Toiyabe and Humbolt National Forests and Monitor Valley.

A couple of months after Hage purchased the 752,000 acre ranch, which he and his wife Jean manage, along with their five children, two agents from the National Park Service appeared and informed Hage that they were going to buy his ranch. However, they only offered him about half of what he had just paid. When Hage made it clear that he was not willing to sell, the harassment began.

It started with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filing a claim on the water rights to Hage's ranch after Forest Service rangers fenced in a critical spring to pipe water into the ranger's cabin. Since Pine Creek Ranch is comprised of mostly desert terrain, access to water for cattle and wildlife is crucial. Hage's only recourse was to petition the Nevada State Engineer for a determination of who owned what. This was in October 1981. Adjudication stretched out for 10 years because of numerous delaying tactics used by the Forest Service. The ranger's fence still stands today.

In the meantime, harassment, taking of cattle and government interference in the daily operations of Hage's property were driving the ranch to the brink of collapse--not to mention the personal drain of time, money and lost income incurred during the three administrative appeals Hage filed and won. His wife and children were run off the road. His pickup was shot at while Hage was nearby. The Forest Service and BLM, along with various environmentalist groups, were formulating constant changes in regulations, making it increasingly expensive to operate Pine Creek Ranch--the primary reason the well-respected previous owners sold it.

Indeed, over a period of 105 days, Hage received 40 certified letters and more than 70 personal visits, each citing him in violation of a creatively "new" bureaucratic regulation. In one instance, Hage sent a horse and rider to ride a 20-mile fence line to verify a violation, only to find there was one staple missing in the entire fence line, dutifully earmarked with a bright blue flag. Then there were the 45 counts of trespass, charging that Hage's cattle were grazing in the wrong locations. Yet, on more than one occasion, more than one eyewitness watched the Forest Service move the cattle into a trespass area and then cite Hage for the violation.

Things became even more serious in 1991 when the Forest Service, armed with semi-automatic weapons and wearing bulletproof vests, confiscated some of Hage's cattle. Hage had previously worked for the Forest Service and BLM and knew that part of their unwritten procedure in dealing with people is to provoke confrontation. In preparing to confiscate Hage's cattle, the Forest Service repeatedly sent out emails and made phone calls, portraying Hage as one "who can only be dealt with in very extreme measures."

An aggravated confrontation becomes an easy and lawful way for a federal agency to come after an individual if that citizen reacts and physically threatens the federal agents involved. This was the scenario with the infamous 1992 Ruby Ridge incident where federal agents shot and killed Randy Weaver's wife and son after Weaver engaged federal agents. In the end, Weaver was found innocent of any charges after standing trial and was eventually awarded a $3.1 million settlement against the federal government.

Amazingly, Hage kept his composure during this ordeal. When he drove to the site where his cattle had been confiscated, he found 30 Forest Service riders, armed with semi-automatic weapons and bulletproof vests. Some were stationed on high points, clearly expecting confrontation. But much to their dismay, Hage had done his homework, was aware of his rights and knew to avoid the mistakes of others. Hage refused to be provoked to violence. Instead, he pulled out a 35-mm camera and said to the agents, "Smile pretty, boys." After confiscating more than 100 head of Hage's cattle, the Forest Service handed him a bill for their costs in gathering the cattle. They took the cattle to a sale yard that adamantly refused to auction off stolen cattle and then held their own sale and kept the profits.

Heavily armed agents also came out to his ranch on several occasions, but Hage again refused to let the confrontations turn violent. Instead, he took the federal government to court, filing a landmark case that placed the practices of federal land management and adjoining agencies set to drive landowners "off the range" on trial. Hage v. United States stands for seeking justice and compensation against the Forest Service under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Hage cited the taking of private land and cattle, water rights and irrigation ditch right-of-ways by the federal government.

At trial, the court concluded that Hage indeed owned the water on his grazing allotment, ditch right-of-ways and other property rights. However, the federal government continues to argue that this case is not really about personal property rights but responsible grazing. To this day, government agents continue to attempt to enforce rules and regulations they claim Hage broke.

Yet the principles in Hage's case go far beyond the issue of a man keeping his ranch. "There are no such things as civil liberties if you do not have property rights," Hage said. "If a person's cattle, ditches and water, on his own ranch, aren't safe, any other property you have is not safe--they can take anything they want."

One of the more alarming developments in recent years is the alignment of the federal government with aggressive environmental groups. Roy Elicker, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation, revealed their strategy at a seminar designed to teach participants how to eliminate people such as Hage and his livestock from federal lands. It is to make "it so expensive in his operation and mak[e] so many changes for him to continue to run his cattle on the public lands that he goes broke." Then Elicker continues: "How to win is one at a time, one at a time, he goes out of business, he dies, you wait him out, and you win."

Wayne Hage understands what he is up against. That is why he argues that property owners need to know their rights and stand up for them, especially as it concerns the attainment of property under the guise of environmentalism. "You either exercise your right to own property, or you yourself are the property of a coercive or tyrannic government."

Passionate about getting the government "back under control," Hage has continued his fight over the years, despite pressure from the federal government to drop the case. Moreover, Hage views it as yet another set of circumstances determining the future of our freedom in America. "The broad issue is whether me, my children, my friends, my fellow countrymen are going to be able to see a free society in the future."

For Hage, the Fifth Amendment, including its relevant clause stating "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation," was placed in the Constitution because history taught our founders that government, left unchecked, will always become a thief. "But all thieves lose their zeal for stealing when they are required to pay full value for what has been stolen." No one else, he argues, is going to protect your rights if you are unwilling to defend them yourself.

In August 2004, in the midst of finalizing post-trial briefs of the 13-year-old lawsuit and in a move of apparent direct defiance of all court decisions, the Forest Service and BLM indicated that they were preparing to confiscate the remaining cattle on Hage's ranch. The federal government claims that BLM can move forward with the confiscation unless they receive a cease and desist order from a federal court.

In a move of desperation on the part of the agencies, the Forest Service and other agencies continue their efforts to create a "confrontation" with Hage. "The government refuses to recognize that I am not a trespasser on my own ranch," says Hage. Still, Hage remains determined and dedicated to his principles in the fight--that is, the cornerstone of a truly free society is the ownership of private property by the people.

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

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