Government, as George Washington pointed out, is like fire — a dangerous servant and a fearful master. //

Seriously, could no one have sat down with the Maudes, informed them of however it was they were misusing land to which the family had held a grazing allotment for generations, and tried to work something out without immediately and capriciously resorting to criminal charges? The Maudes do, after all, have a long history with the land in question. They have grazed cattle and, apparently, made hay on the land, which doesn't seem unreasonable.

A member of the Maude family has held a U. S. Forest Service National Grasslands grazing allotment in good standing since the inception of that agency, he said. //

In summary: The Maudes had every reason to believe that there was some misunderstanding, that the use they had made of the land to which the family had held a grazing allotment for generations was still acceptable, and that, following the survey in question, some accommodation would be worked out. That is what any reasonable person would expect — but we are dealing with the government, that dangerous servant and fearful master. The Maudes certainly thought some accommodation possible — right up until they were hit with the summons.

And theft of government property? Seriously? One would think this would rate, at most, a trespassing charge. //

Catmother
13 hours ago
They are willing to get into a fight with an American farming /ranching family over 25 acres of grassland but the government isn't willing to do anything about the Chinese government buying up thousands of acres of farmland here in the US, especially if its near US Military facilities. Makes a lot of sense. ///

Bikeshedding in the Bureaucracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality