04/23/08 Cowboys take on Uncle Sam and win

Tim Lowry and Paul Nettleton have carried on the 140 year old ranching traditions set down by their pioneering ancestors who settled in Owyhee County. There were fires and floods, hard winters, scorching hot summers, changing rules and regulations but ten years ago Lowry and Nettleton had their biggest challenge; the federal government and its claim to water rights. NETTLETON "Just to see if they could break us, see at what point we'd give up." They hired San Francisco attorney Michael Van Zant who says most people know the federal government has deep pockets. VAN ZANT "And I have to commend the courage of the two ranchers we're talking about here who really fought courageously against the United States government to secure their rights." And the ranchers won, even on appeals from the federal government, appeals all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court. NETTLETON "The Supreme Court agreed with us that the water belongs to the private individual that puts it to beneficial use. They denied in the Joyce case the federal government's claims because the federal government owns now cows, can not possibly have a stock water right." But Nettleton and Lowry lost on one front. That backbreaker story tomorrow. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott