State Politicians Find Fertile Turf in Federal Land Dispute (NYT via Texas Tribune)
By JIM MALEWITZ
MAY 1, 2014
State Representative James Frank has been hearing from constituents since February about goings-on along the Red River: The United States Bureau of Land Management, citing a series of court rulings dating to the 1920s, had decided that a 116-mile stretch of land belonged to the federal government.
The roughly 90,000 acres included property long ago deeded to residents who had raised crops and cattle and paid taxes on it ...
Some statements from Texas officials have included misinterpretations of the border’s history. Mr. Abbott, for instance, suggested that a 2000 compact, which clarified the jurisdictional and political boundaries between Texas and Oklahoma, should have nixed the bureau’s claim. The compact, however, does not address property lines. The attorney general’s office blamed any missing facts on the bureau, saying it has “not been forthcoming.”
Tommy Henderson, a Clay County rancher who lost 140 acres when an Oklahoma court ruled in 1984 that the land belonged to the federal government, said that not everyone talking fully grasped the issue. “You can’t understand it until you see it,” he said, adding that he was pleased with the growing attention on the dispute ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/us/state-politicians-find-fertile-turf-in-federal-land-dispute.html
