Governor Ritter tours ranch land near Pinon Canyon
Source: KOAA.com
October 10, 2007
On Wednesday, Governor Bill Ritter saddled up and went for a horseback tour of privately-owned ranch land near the Pinon Canyon Maneuver site. The ranch was located near the town of Thatcher in Las Animas County. With the governor were ranchers, many from families who have spent generations on living in that area, who strongly oppose the Army's proposed expansion. "There's no reason for us to sell it or want to sell it," said Kenny Gyurman, a local rancher. Gyurman's family and a few others were forced to give up some their land in the early 1980s to the army. "My dad was 85, my uncle was 78. It wasn't in them to go somewhere else and buy more land and start over, that was their pride and joy," said Gyurman. They fear the army could now force them to sell again.
The army wants their land to expand its Pinon Canyon Maneuver site in preparation for the thousands of additional troops headed to Ft. Carson over the next two years. Specifically the army wants to take over some of the land to expand the training site from 235-thousand acres to 400-thousand acres. "If this was absolutely the only place they had and it would save a life or two of one of our soldiers, you wouldn't get much of a kick from anybody here, but we don't see it as a necessity. They have too many other alternatives," said Gyurman. It's an opinion Governor Ritter seems to agree with. "I want a well trained U.S. Army, but the question is really one of justification, and I think what the ranchers would say, I think what our legislators would say is they have not met that burden," said Gov. Ritter. Ranchers are hoping the Governor's support will be a major help in their efforts to protect their land, but they know this issue isn't over.
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