>From: "Peter McWilliams" <peter@mcwilliams.com>
>Subject: Ya Hoo, Wyoming!
>Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 12:13:16 -0800
>X-Mozilla-Status: 8001
>X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
>
>WYOMING SHERIFFS PUT FEDERAL OFFICERS ON CHOKE CHAINS
>01/13/2000
>
>
>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
>
>
>
>
>
>================================================================
>
>This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
>   the mailing list <LIST@mcwilliams.com>.
>To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <LIST-off@mcwilliams.com>