Wyoming Sheriffs Put
Federal Officers on Choke Chains
From http://lyghtforce.com/survival-ark/
County sheriffs in Wyoming are insisting that all federal law enforcement
officers and personnel from federal regulatory agencies must clear all their
activities in a Wyoming county with the Sheriff's Office. Speaking at a press
conference following the recent US District Court decision (case No
2:96-cv-099-J) Bighorn County Sheriff Dave Mattis stated that all federal
officials are forbidden to enter his county without his prior approval.
"If a sheriff doesn't want the Feds in his county he has the
constitutional power and right to keep them out or ask them to leave or retain
them in custody."
The court decision came about after Mattis & other members of the
Wyoming Sheriffs' Association brought a suit against both the BATF and the IRS
in the Wyoming federal court district seeking restoration of the protections
enshrined in the United States Constitution and the Wyoming Constitution. The
District Court ruled in favor of the sheriffs, stating that,
"Wyoming is a sovereign state and the duly elected sheriff of a county
is the highest law enforcement official within a county and has law
enforcement powers exceeding that of any other state or federal
official."
The Wyoming sheriffs are demanding access to all BATF files to verify that
the agency is not violating provisions of Wyoming law that prohibit the
registration of firearms or the keeping of a registry of firearm owners. The
sheriffs are also demanding that federal agencies immediately cease the
seizure of private property and the impoundment of private bank accounts
without regard to due process in state courts. Sheriff Mattis stated,
"I am reacting to the actions of federal employees who have attempted
to deprive citizens of my county of their privacy, their liberty, and their
property without regard to constitutional safeguards. I hope that more
sheriffs all across America will join us in protecting their citizens from the
illegal activities of the IRS, EPA, BATF, FBI, or any other federal agency
that is operating outside the confines of constitutional law. Employees of the
IRS and the EPA are no longer welcome in Bighorn County unless they intend to
operate in conformance to constitutional law."
This case is evidence that the Tenth Amendment is not yet dead in the
United States. It may also be interpreted to mean that political subdivisions
of a State are included within the meaning of the amendment, or that the
powers exercised by a sheriff are an extension of those common law powers
which the Tenth Amendment explicitly reserves to the People, if they are not
granted to the federal government and specifically prohibited to the States.
Case Notes:
Case: Castaneda v. USA
Filed: 10th May 1996
Closed: 29th April 1997
Case No: 2:1996cv00099 Wyoming District Court, Casper
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights
