PIUTE COUNTY, Utah -- It's the second smallest county by population in Utah, but Piute County is making a lot of noise in the Western Land Movement these days.
Longtime rancher Stanton Gleave is at the center of a conflict that includes the County Sheriff on one side and the U.S. Forest Service on the other.
Gleave wore his cowboy hat and held up a pocket edition of the U.S. Constitution as he spoke with the Rural Caucus of the Utah State legislature on Feb. 12.
"These federal people have no right to be here if you follow (the Constitution)," Gleave said.
The Piute County Sheriff, Marty Gleave, (We're told Marty is Stanton's nephew) also talked with the Rural Caucus.
"We're not taking no more cuts on the Mountain. I'll deputize every man, woman and child in the county to stop what's going on," Sheriff Gleave said, referring to Monroe Mountain, where the Forest Service has taken grazing permits from Stanton Gleave and another rancher, Keith Anderton.
The Forest Service is working to revitalize aspen growth on Monroe Mountain.
Seventy-four percent of the land in Piute County is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service.
Piute County is located in central Utah about 157 miles south of Provo.
