The Sheriff's Deputy told the federal agents that there would be no seizure or taking of cattle, per DeMeo's decision based on the Constitution. Shortly thereafter, the BLM arrived at Hage's ranch to perform a seizure.

Subsequently, when Sheriff DeMeo took office in 2003, he told his deputies that illegal cattle seizures were prohibited and that any federal agents attempting to confiscate cattle would be arrested. The sheriff at that time left town on a fishing trip.

In the late 1990's, before Sheriff DeMeo took office, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency of the Department of Interior, seized more of Hage's cattle off of his ranch, using armed federal agents. Water is scarce in Nevada and unless the landowner can prove he is using the water rights for 'beneficial use', the rights are removed. Hage believed that his cattle were confiscated so that he would be unable to show that he was using his water rights for 'beneficial use' in order to shut down his ranch.

The first video covers Wayne Hage's discovery that the US Department of Forestry, an agency of the USDA, filed a claim for his water rights and later seized his cattle the USDA Forestry Service used armed agents to accomplish the seizure. Hage wrote that the northern core financiers were aware that there are two ways to monopolize any resource, 'One, get all of it for yourself that you can two, keep anybody else from getting what you can't.' Public Lands and National Forests were created along with restrictive regulations, using environmental protection as the excuse. Wayne Hage wrote his book after suffering illegal cattle seizures by armed federal agents and chronicled the history of how the robber baron bankers and railroad magnates monopolized the western states over 100 years ago. Wayne Hage, the author of 'Storm Over Rangelands, Private Rights in Federal Lands' owned the Pine Creek cattle ranch in Nye County. While Wayne Hage's case centered around property rights in federally managed lands, Sheriff Tony DeMeo's example is relevant for everyone to understand the power of local government, the importance of following the Constitution and upholding the Tenth Amendment (states' rights and sovereignty). He tells the story about how he used the Constitution as his foundation in the saga of Nye County rancher Wayne Hage's disputes over encroachments by the federal government. NyesheriffbadgeIn this 3-part video interview with Tony DeMeo, Sheriff of Nye County, Nevada, he explains that he is a Constitutional Sheriff and that authority for public office holders is derived from the people.

Sheriff tony demeo