EUGENE A. TAFOYA INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

(Reproduced With Permission)

In the last month of December 1993, Gene Tafoya surprised me with a long letter and an

enclosure of an article he had written entitled "Department of the Interior's Bureau of

Land Management, What Is The Story? What If..........." The story appeared on the

front page of a New Mexico newspaper called "The Courier" identified further as "Your

Regional Independent Newspaper serving Dona Ana, Grant, Luna, Sierra, Socorro and

Cantron Counties". Apparently this newspaper no longer exists. That is unfortunate

because these local newspapers perform a great service for their reading public. Luckily

Tafoya sent the four part series to this author; the issues he addressed are still current and

the stories should be posted to the net for all to read.

The comments of the editor of the Courier, Gene Ballinger, explain the paper's concerns

that resulted in reporter "Gene" Tafoya's four-part series. On January 20, 1994 Ballinger

wrote:

WE'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT BLM [BUREAU OF LAND

MANAGEMENT] EXCESSES....

So said Bill Porter, our local state representative last week when he

stopped at the office.

Bill is particularly disturbed over allegations that BLM employees of

BLM volunteers were caught digging up Buffalo Soldiers graves at a U.S.

Army Cemetery active during territorial days and the Indian Wars.

"The BLM has changed a lot in the last 10-years, all for the worse, and

we must take steps to correct it," Bill said.

WHEN A FIGHT IS A REAL FIGHT..........

THE COURIER has always supported, to the fullest, our regional

agricultural rural lifestyle. Our farmers, ranchers, rural communities,

our history, youth and schools.

We have also always supported the historic usage of the lands of our

state including being farming, cattle and sheep, mining, logging, hunting,

fishing and multiple use of the public lands.

As we all know U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and BLM Director

Jim Baca, want to change all that and effectively have the government

take over those public lands, much to the determent of the people who

make their livelihood from the land or enjoy that land with their

families.

Well they have a fight on their hands, and maybe by now they are

starting to realize that.

Not only are ranchers, farmers, hunters, fisherman, loggers, miners and

prospectors, to name a few, fighting to preserve our way of life, even the

Navajo Nation has joined the battle.

This has to be a first in our western history, when even our Native

Americans, as a solidified political force, have joined with everyone else

who has an interest in our public lands, to fight against more and more

federal encroachment on the rights, privileges and historic use of our

lands.

And are they going to know that come election 1994!

Babbitt and Baca are appointed officials who serve at the pleasure of

President Clinton. But what happens when both the U.S. Senate and the

U.S. House of Representatives switch majorities and minorities on

January 1, 1995?

That could well happen unless Bill Clinton puts a leash and a muzzle on

both Babbitt and Baca.

"Gene" Tafoya grew up in his beloved New Mexico while his warrior/patriot life took him

to the far corners of the world, his heart remained in New Mexico. Following his years in

prison, he returned to New Mexico, went to college majoring in computer science and

became a fine investigative reporter. The following is the first part of a four-part series

he wrote as his life was ebbing.

There are many people that work for our federal government that

perform their duties honorably and with efficiency. Thanks to such

employees in our government The Courier can bring to you, the citizens

of our country, you who pay taxes and want our country to be a leader

of nations, and most of all for the Red White and Blue to be respected

and not trampled upon, information regarding BLM employees who

apparently have chosen to use our tax dollars for their own private

projects and entertainment.

Our nation is trillions of dollars in debt and the Cold War is over. As a

nation we are trying to get back on our feet and establish what is called a

new world order. One in which nations can enter the global market and

become part of Export Oriented Industrialization (OEI) and we, the

United States, as a super power are the nation that other nations look to

for leadership. Our public servants ought to set an example, or so it

would seem.

In the December 2, 1993 issue of The Courier an article dealing in part,

about a dedicated BLM employee (meaning a legitimate public servant)

who caught BLM employees and others associated with the BLM,

digging up graves at a United States Army Cemetery abandoned in

1891. These were graves of Buffalo Soldiers (Black cavalry troopers) and

other Americans, including families that helped make our country one to

be admired and respected. The Buffalo Soldiers, according to a BLM

employee were identified by the hair on their skulls. At the very

minimum these soldiers, their families and other citizens, deserve a place

to rest and never be disturbed.

They already have a place in our history that is well deserved. General

Colin Powell, retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

commemorated a statue to the heroism of the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort

Sill, Oklahoma this last summer.

Reportedly the grave robbers were cutting off buttons from uniforms still

clinging to skeletal remains and ghoulishly removing rings and anything

of value from the graves of those honored dead. Among them was a

child in a red velvet dress. It is said the grave robbers were kind enough

to cover up the remains and not take the ring from her finger. Conduct

such as this shocks the conscience of any decent citizen, or should.

Just for the record, all of the information presented in this series is well

documented and many sources inside the BLM have come forward in an

effort to expose and eliminate what they perceive to be outrageous

conduct on the part of fellow civil servants.

According to one source, an Arizona BLM employee had Native

American artifacts displayed in his office. Those artifacts, including

pottery, were identified as possibly being Anasazi or Hopi. The

employee was also caught during a sting operation on camera with illegal

artifacts. It is not clear at this time if the sting operation was carried out

by the Justice Department or the Department of the Interior. The

bottom line is that the employee was given what the source called a "free

pass." This is what it is called in the BLM when you get caught violating

law or regulations and nothing is done about it.

The only corrective action is taken, according to my source, is when

there is intense media interest or pressure from a higher level. And the

source also claimed that the employee had an interest in an antique shop

in Arizona that carried Native American artifacts. I wonder if the shop

carried buttons off of United States Calvary troopers uniforms and other

such items pilfered from graves? As a matter of fact, were the artifacts

displayed in his office funerary items too?

This raises a very interesting question, which I am looking into. Were

these grave robbers doing their robbing on our tax dollars when they

were supposed to be performing some duty? Or was it in their spare

time? If they had nothing better to do than pilfer graves....then would

this not be a good time to think about cutbacks in government?

Speaking of spare time. Two dedicated BLM employees over the course

of two years (according to documentation) and in their spare time,

created a computer graphics program for the entertainment of other

Bureau of Land Management employees at their offices in Washington,

D.C. According to documentation "The game is played and distributed

in BLM Headquarters."

The game for our overworked public servants is meant to be used on a

program called "Print Master". According to my source, this program is

on several computers in BLM headquarters, including some of its most

sensitive offices, namely Personnel, EEO, Budget, Management

Research, Minerals, and others.

Tax payers! I introduce to you ASTROTIT! A computer program that

took two years to create by BLM employees, and if you believe that it

was done in the creators spare time...I know where there is some ocean

front property in Arizona you can pick up real cheap.

The computer program consists of detailed explicit sex and a wide

selection of pornographic material that is interactive. No newspaper

would print the contents of that kind of material.

However, it is apparently suitable material to be downloaded on

computers within the offices of the Department of the Interior, and more

specifically, the Bureau of Land Management in D.C. for the

entertainment of some of our more jaded public servants.

According to my source, there are some employees in BLM who consider

a 4 day work month very taxing...and maybe they need their remaining

days to relax and play ASTROTIT on their computer terminals...on your

tax dollars, of course.

And they have another computer program that no doubt was created in

their spare time as well by employees of the BLM in their D.C. offices. It

is called "Dr. Ruth's Computer Game of Good Sex." This program

consists of more trash, sexist filth, and graphic representations for the

screens of the over-worked few that consider a 4 day work month a

burden.

There are many more issues to present in this series and hopefully there

are readers out there who will contact their Congressmen and Senators

and get some answers as to why this is allowed. The .29 cent protest [a

letter to your Congressmen] will soon cost .32 cents so get yours in the

mail and beat the rush!

Gene Tafoya would not have been the least bit surprised to learn that former CIA

Director John Deutch reportedly had an addiction to porn and that government computers

contain the most degrading type of trash victimizing the mind, children, women and men

alike. What are our taxpayer dollars being used for today?

Tomorrow NewsMakingNews will publish the second part of reporter Tafoya's series on

"The BLM, What If?"

Copyright 2000

Virginia McCullough

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/