Etc., etc., etc. …...

Coming in future issues…..

Toy Soldiers, the Collecting Wars

Government  Challenges
Lower Court on Wilderness

Hunting Fossils in Nebraska

Nebraska Barns          Kid Korner

The Bush administration has signaled that it is preparing to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a lower court ruling which found the public has a right to enforce wilderness protections on public lands.

The original case - Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. Gale Norton and Bureau of Land Management - centered on whether the federal government should be held accountable for destruction that has occurred in Wilderness Study Areas from uncontrolled off road vehicle use. It sought to compel the Bureau of Land Management to regulate off road vehicle use and close some roads to all vehicles.

The Utah 10th District Court dismissed the suit, but an appeals court upheld the plaintiffs. In May, the Bush administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court explaining that the decision should be thrown out and requesting an extension until June 18 for filing a request for review.

Critics say that if the Supreme Court takes the case and decides in favor of the Bush administration, it would have an impact on public land management across the West.

"If the court sides with the Bush administration, it gives them the green light to hand over our last wild places to big business for their destructive activities," said Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign for America's Wilderness. "If the Bush administration gets its way, there will be no proverbial hen house to protect."

While admitting that uncontrolled off road vehicle use has impaired the Wilderness Study Areas, the government argues the public cannot hold the Bureau of Land Management accountable for such a violation or enforce promises to prevent such harm in Resource Management Plans.

The state of Utah and several counties also intervened in the suit, asking the court not to close any area to off road vehicle use, no matter how much damage the vehicles cause, claiming the trails at issue rightfully belong to the state or counties.

More WPA stories about Nebraska by Nebraskans

official-British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they were not mobile germ warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist….Rep. Doug Bereuter, (R-NE 1) broke ranks with his party and Tom DeLay and voted to restore credits to the working poor on their tax forms and help the children of the lower class...Sources in Hollywood and Washington tell Time magazine "that  Al Gore has been quietly sounding out potential financial backers for a cable television network that would feature 'progressive' viewpoints...radio ranter Michael Savage advocates boycotting Disneyworld, French products, movies by liberal Hollywood stars. Now he is suing 3 websites that are critical of him which advocate people boycotting his show...Nebraska has 7 of the poorest 12 counties in the country, including the poorest, Arthur County with a per capita income of slightly over $6,000...

Former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles (D) "confirmed years of speculation and rumor: He is considering a run for the U.S. Senate," the Anchorage Daily News reports. The New York Times says Knowles "sounds like a certain candidate." …."It turns out that Fox News Channel anchor Bill O'Reilly and liberal commentator Al Franken nearly came to blows in the green room just minutes before they had a verbal sparring match in front of C-SPAN2 cameras at the Los Angeles Book Fair this past weekend," Roll Call's Heard on the Hill reports. Ex-Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-CO), "who emceed the event, told HOH that the fur started flying when O'Reilly discovered that his visage appears on the cover of Franken's new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."...Democrat Mike Miles, an Army veteran and middle school principal, officially announced his candidacy for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, (R-CO)..."The first day of sales for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoir was a record for a nonfiction book sold at Barnes and Noble," the AP reports….Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself Dept: Washington Whispers says Republican operatives are going to start sending a "mascot" dressed as Gilligan's Island character Thurston Howell III, "the lock-jawed dim bulb who inherited his wealth," to campaign rallies for Sen. John Kerry. The goal is to "heckle and unnerve the candidates." Other plans by GOP strategists are to focus on Kerry, Rep. Dick Gephardt, Sen. John Edwards, and Sen. Joe Lieberman. "Just this weekend, Edwards will be met in his home state with a Welcome Wagon, a dig at how much time he has been away campaigning." When you have $200 million to spend you can do silly things like this. What ever happened to issues? Speaking of lock-jawed dim bulbs inheriting their wealth, well, those who live in glass houses…..It's

U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson: Phone: (202) 224-6551  Fax: (202) 228-001240, Suite 5 Dirksen Basement (Temp)
Washington, DC 20510
senator@bennelson.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel: Phone: (202) 224-4224  Fax: (202) 224-5213
346 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
chuck_hagel@hagel.senate.gov
Rep. Doug Bereuter: Phone:(202) 225-4806 Fax (202) 225-5686
2184 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Lee Terry:Phone: (202) 225-4155  Fax: (202) 226-5452  1513 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
talk2lee@mail.house.gov
Rep. Tom Osborne:Phone: (202) 225-6435  Fax: (202) 236-1385
507 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
PLEASE NOTE: Congressmen Bereuter and Osborne do not have email

SEC. B, p2
Senate Moments

NEW!
SEC. B, p3
HISTORY
SCRAMBLE