That appears to be the strategy behind The Tribune's July 16 article and July 19 editorial, which mischaracterized and maligned Rep. Mike Noel and Assistant Attorney General Mark Ward for telling a statewide Utah Farm Bureau audience in Cedar City last week that Kane County faced stiff opposition for signing some roads in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

Aside from blurring the difference between placing county "road open" signs, which Ward approved on valid roads, and removing federal signs, which Ward clearly disapproved in his comments, The Tribune claims Noel's and Ward's comments undermine a Kane/BLM peace talk brokered by Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert in June.

That claim would be offensive if it weren't so silly. The Tribune's July 19 editorial said Noel and Ward undermined the peace talk. The Tribune earlier, on July 5, editorialized that the very same Herbert peace talk meeting may not yield a settlement so it's high time the U.S. attorney hauled Kane County into court! Oh please. What's the impact of The Tribune's comments on the Herbert peace talks?

In contrast, Noel and Ward merely observed what stiff opposition Kane County faces. Yes, comparisons likened the odds to those faced by early American patriots and the man facing those Chinese tanks at Tiananmen Square (not the students silenced by tanks and bullets - that's The Tribune's own concoction).

Could the "flame throwing" be coming from The Tribune's own viewpoint in an effort of silencing two core realities:

1. There are scores of valid Kane County RS 2477 roads inside the Monument.

2. For each such road, Kane County has the right to keep and to sign them as open.

Often referred by The Tribune as "the Civil War-era" law, RS 2477 was a congressional commitment made directly to the people. Is our First Amendment protecting free speech any less relevant to the people because it's over 200 years old?

Farm Bureau believes access, in a state dominated by federal land ownership, is vital to our nation's energy, food and fiber needs, including the Monument.

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Leland Hogan is president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation.