Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Have you ever just stared up into a snowstorm? Well today, I think I spent too much time doing it. I have always known that each snowflake has its own pattern and is different from all the others. Today I concentrated on how each one's flight is also unique. Some come down straight, some sway, some come sideways, some start down then go up and then back down, expressing their own freedom of flight. There is no controlling the freedom of a snowflake. Unfortunately, if you have four hooves and you leave an arbitrary manmade boundary your freedom is limited.

Some of us two leggeds do not have much freedom either, and local law enforcement officials here in West Yellowstone Montana make sure of it. In our efforts to document the slaughter of the only free ranging buffalo with continuously wild ancestry, our rights seem to be nonexistent. This week marked the third time in recent months that an illegally arrested BFC volunteer had his charges thrown out of court. Vince Godby, arrested in May for trying to document the buffalo slaughter, had to waste six months of his life dealing with this illegal arrest before his charges were dropped. Meanwhile the guilty sheriff still walks the streets and continues his unlawful ways.

On the front lines the DOL gave the taxpayers a break this week, they only had one agent down here in West Yellowstone most of the week. The weather kept him indoors and in front of his TV for most of the time, with a couple of recons to justify his presence. On Thursday another agent showed up, disturbing the taxpayer funded vacation of the other agent. Today, once again a lone bull buffalo was pushed by DOL back towards the Park from Horse Butte. BFC volunteers followed the operation until the agents trespassed onto one of our supporters' yards. When we told them they were trespassing on a "buffalo safe zone" and that the owner did not want them there, the DOL lied and said that they had permission.

This marks the second straight week in which DOL agents have violated private property rights and trespassed where they are not welcome. The local police have been informed and still have done nothing. The word justice around here seems to mean "just us." The good news is that once again the wise old bull buffalo outsmarted the DOL and disappeared into the woods.

Until the buffalo are once again free we will stand strong with them.