Speaking at the Farm Bureau's annual midyear conference in Cedar City on Thursday, Utah Assistant Attorney General Mark Ward likened Kane County's defiance of Bureau of Land Management regulations to a fight against tyranny, while Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, called the county's rebellious road signs the "shot heard 'round the world."

Ward praised the county for asserting its rights in its conflict with the BLM, which he says are guaranteed by a 19th century law that provides public rights of way across federal land.

"I picture a man standing against a line of tanks when those brave Kane County officials hammer signs saying the roads are open," Ward told a group of 175 farmers and ranchers. "I think of Tiananmen Square."

The statute, known as RS2477, was repealed in 1976, but existing claims were grandfathered in.

Ward also harkened back to an earlier act of defiance, when county protesters removed a group of federal road closure signs and deposited them on the front step of a BLM manager's home.

"It was like my cat coming home and laying dead mice on my porch," Ward said, drawing chuckles from the audience.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. backed away from Ward's comments on Friday.

"If Mark Ward did say those things, it's very fair to say that he is not speaking for the governor or the state," said Huntsman spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi. "It would appear to be his opinion, and would probably have to be qualified as such."

But Ward said Friday that his comments were intended to show Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's support of the county in its battle with the BLM, which commenced earlier this year when Kane officials began placing off-highway-vehicle signs in the monument and a wilderness study area - often next to road closure signs posted by the federal agency.

And Noel, who compared the county's road fight with the federal government to the struggle of the American colonies rebelling against British rule, cited state support for Kane officials with House Bill 264, which Huntsman signed in Kanab as a tool to force federal land management officials to give counties a say in road access and livestock grazing on public lands.

The bill, which Noel sponsored and Ward wrote, also asserts the state's interest in other areas, such as wildlife management, water, energy development and mining.

"We are literally in the fight of our lives with the federal government," Noel said. "We have the federal government believing they are the supreme power."

The legislator, who is a rancher and private consultant, wondered if, "when Utah became a state in 1896, did we give up too much?"

State BLM officials, who have asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to begin legal proceedings against the county for what they call illegal sign postings, declined to directly respond to the Utah officials' salvos.

"We weren't there. But they sound like such inappropriate remarks that they're really out of the scope of the dialogue we'd like to have with the state and the Governor's Office," said Kate Kitchell, the BLM's deputy state director for natural resources.

Ward insists his Cedar City comments were being misinterpreted.

"The Tiananmen Square remark was not meant in any way to equate the BLM with communist China," he said. "It was my way of talking about the odds Kane County faces on this issue. That was the image that came to mind." With his "dead mice" comment, he claimed he was actually chiding county officials for removing federal signs.

Noel also appeared to take a swipe at environmentalists, saying that "there's an entity out there that doesn't want any use of public land. I call that rural cleansing."

Said Sierra Club representative Lawson LeGate: "One of the greatest responsibilities that everyone has is to moderate their tone and treat their fellow citizens with respect. Particularly when passions might already be high, it is important for public officials to set a high standard when they communicate their views to the public."