The county and the U.S. Attorney's Office remain in a stalemate over how to settle differences over who controls public access in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
"We need to either negotiate or admit we're unable to negotiate it and move on," said Kane County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw, who has been the subject of a federal grand jury investigation along with Sheriff Lamont Smith.
On Aug. 13, 2003, Habbeshaw and Smith delivered 31 "Carsonite" road signs to monument manager Dave Hunsaker that they had removed from the monument. They also gave him a letter defending their actions under state law and ordering Hunsaker to remove additional signs on the county's purported routes inside the monument.
Most of the signs indicated restrictions or prohibitions on off-highway vehicles (OHVs).
But, because federal officials do not recognize any Kane County roads in the monument and removing federal signs from federal public lands is a crime, Hunsaker turned the case over to law enforcement officers of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
The case later became the subject of a federal grand jury investigation, prompting the county to hire Ron Yengich, a high-profile criminal defense attorney in Salt Lake City.
Yengich and U.S. Attorney Paul Warner have been in negotiations for about eight months. Yengich's offer to settle the case has been rejected at least once by Warner, who has submitted a counteroffer to the county.
Kane County officials are seeking to extract a recognition from the federal government that the county owns numerous routes inside the monument.
The county has invoked a 19th-century law, RS 2477, that granted broad road rights of way across public lands. The law was revoked in 1976, with existing roads grandfathered. However, there was no official recording of those roads, a situation that has created considerable disagreement over who controls the myriad dirt roads and trails on federal lands.
Habbeshaw said that if the two sides do not reach an agreement in 30 days, he would favor an end to negotiations, a move that could force the U.S. Attorney's Office to file criminal or civil charges against Kane County.
