In the Nov. 4 early Sunday edition, an article about the U.S. Army's bid to expand its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in Colorado incorrectly identified a rancher as Bob Harris. He is Bob Hill.
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Colorado Ranchers Angry Over Army Site Expansion
Kennie Gyurman, above, was forced to sell 5,000 acres to the Army in the 1980s and is fighting to not lose more. The Army says it needs this Colorado land for maneuvers.
(Photos By Peter Slevin -- The Washington Post)
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"My family came here in 1872, so we're not Johnnies-come-lately. My wife and I have a brand-new house, 2,000 square feet. I have 800 acres of good grass, 40 acres irrigated, two miles of pipeline," said Abel Benevides, a 35-year Army veteran. "I was in the military. So was my sister, my aunt, my cousin. I'm doing my part. I salute the flag."
Benevides had spent time as the command sergeant major at Piñon Canyon. He sees no good reason for expansion, feels deeply suspicious of the military's approach and fears the worst. Many ranchers cite military maps that reflect talk of much greater expansion.
"They're going to lie. They're going to come up with a reason," Benevides predicted. "That's when I get my chains and tie myself to a lamppost. They're going to have to take me off my land."
Jim Montoya, a Democrat who chairs Las Animas's county commission, treats with skepticism assurances that the military will bring new prosperity to the windblown corner of the state, whose elevation is about 6,000 feet.
Montoya said he believes that lost ranches would not be replaced by a reliable economic generator, causing shops and businesses that serve the ranching community to wither. Taking land off the property rolls would also hurt public schools and hospitals, he said.
"In 1982, they promised . . . business would improve. It has affected the city, but the other way," said Montoya, who ranches and runs a family hair salon. "You throw a rock into the water, and it keeps rippling on down."
There is a nearly universal feeling among ranchers that the Pentagon would not pay top dollar and might force landowners to sell their property using the power of eminent domain, a dirty phrase in these parts.
Kennie Gyurman, forced to sell 5,000 acres north of Trinidad in the 1980s, moved into a new house he built on the remains of a parcel assembled by his grandfather, uncle and father beginning in 1915. He and his wife intend to keep it out of federal hands.
"We're a small band of landholders, and they think they can walk all over us," Gyurman said. "It won't be so easy for them this time."
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