Joseph Alan Sanchez
Defeating Cognitive Dissonance
GCN Live.com
The first in a series of stories about the uncovered and under-reported stories throughout the US.
TRINIDAD, Colo. – Colorado Senator Mark Udall hadn’t been to town for a couple of years, and yet it is clear to him and his staff that one thing hasn’t changed: A vocal contingent of Las Animas County citizens are sick and tired of being threatened by the Pentagon.
“It is crushing us,” says Not One More Acre! Spokesperson Stan White, who was cogent in expressing his concern and frustration over the Pentagon’s continued desire for more land at the Army Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site which sits between the towns of Trinidad and LaJunta Colorado.
White was echoing the sentiment expressed by Not One More Acre! spokesperson Jean Aguirre. “Why can’t you use your power in the Senate to stop this,” Aguirre pleaded. Aguirre also asked Udall if he would sign a statement that would aid in quashing the persistence of the Pentagon. The rancher asked to know why Udall would not agree to the sentencing her group had presented to the Congressman in advance.
To those unfamiliar, the 238,000 acre army practice site, has supplanted the cattle industry in this neck of the woods. Or from another perspective, private property with ample grass and canyon lands where the mountains meet the prairie, have been usurped through tyrannical tactics. The Pinon Canyon area is a majestic piece of land that bears ancient dinosaur tracks and native hieroglyphics and more importantly to cattle people great grazing territory. Besides, the ranchers, environmentalists and states rights groups and others have joined in the conflict.
With the initial army acquisition of land in 1982, the Army and other government agencies including Las Animas County, agreed that the Army would not acquire or even seek to obtain land in Las Animas or any of the other nearby counties including Baca and Huerfano Counties. Of course the army broke this promise in addition to violating an agreement not to fire live ammunition. As regarding the environment, toxic depleted uranium is increasingly a component of munitions, which veterans are sickened by daily.
The empirical evidence says the drive to expand the military’s war games playground really hasn’t stopped despite successful battles won by local ranchers, concerned citizens and politicos from the counties involved.
The natives have managed to force a stalemate, by pushing for and achieving funding bans relative to Pinon Canyon Expansion over the past five consecutive years. But residents from multiple counties believe they have reason for continued concern.
Constantly wary, those in opposition to the expansion do not believe a simple funding ban is sufficient. Of note is Senator Udall’s remark that it’s important to “remain vigilant,” relative to the Army’s pursuit of more land. Udall and his staff insist that he has helped the county.
The issue blew up regionally about seven years ago, when an official Ft. Carson map was made public. The map plainly showed a proposed military conquest stateside. See History on Not One More Acre!. The desired takeover would be tantamount to sealing off parts of three state borders and enveloping almost half of the Southeastern quadrant of the state of Colorado.
The Pentagon, which already possesses huge swaths of land throughout the Western states, has at least temporarily met it’s match in this grasslands struggle. In addition,The Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition and other smaller groups of citizens, county commissioners, and individuals have all joined together to take on the behemoth economy and influence of perhaps the world’s largest government entity.
The U.S. Army used imminent domain and other steamrolling techniques to get a hold of the ranch land and has as of late tried a more “friendly” approach in attempting to obtain land with the consent of affected land owners, but thus far the takers have been few and far between despite constantly changing map proposals.
“We don’t want you here,” is a statement often heard at the numerous meetings of various import.
And as of late, a new battle is on the literal horizon as the Air Force and Army are planning for low altitude flight training.
While addressing Udall, Aguirre talked about how low altitude flight patterns over ranching air space would be both unpleasant to the natural environment and detrimental. Aguirre and others have said it feels as if the military has taken the ranchers hostage.
For some, it almost seems as if the U.S. citizens, and in particular land owners, in the area, are under attack. In one of the plethora of meetings with army officials at the same Trinidad venue, rancher and expansion opposer Abel Benavidez summed up the eerie experience. The distinguished military veteran said, “I never thought in all my years that I would come to see the day when the very nation I served and laid my life on the line for, is the same government I have to fight against to keep my own land.”
But Benavidez and others such as Aguirre keep up the good fight. “I’m surprised this hasn’t received more national attention over the years,” laments a determined Aguirre.
A determined coalition of groups and individuals have kept expansion from occurring and citizens are hopeful that others across the country will come to realize the intensity of the fight. If not for the persistence of The Pueblo Chieftain news editor Steve Henson and writers such as Anthony Mestas, the story might have faded away and in broad daylight even more land might have been grabbed. Although legislative and judicial victories have been won, tension remains, given the status quo’s pro-military stance and the nearby multi-tiered Pentagon presence that overshadows the central Colorado city of Colorado Springs, home to The Air Force Academy, Ft. Carson, Shriver Air Force Base, Peterson Air Force Base, and NORAD, which is now part of the far reaching strategic headquarters called CENTCOM.
This story is part of a exercise by GCN Live and Joseph Alan Sanchez to report the unreported. Find out how you can participate by reading “Defeating Cognitive Dissonance and GCN Live Invite Readers to Participate in Fighting the Infowars”
Joseph Alan Sanchez is a veteran journalist and activist who resides in Southern Colorado. Earlier this year, he founded Defeating Cognitive Dissonance, an effort to dispel mainstream news myths and expose a more researched brand of information regarding current events both locally and globally.
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Southeast Colorado is a beautiful area, most otr truck drivers head from Limon to Lamar into KS thataway toward Dodge City and Liberal for beef. Always loved the area, and the people there. My prayers are with you, fight the good fight!