Anytime you get lawsuits stirred up we do fine. But it's tough for you folks 

 if you find yourself as private individuals owning private land having to de- 

 fend what you do in court because somebody who happens to have a rather remote 

 interest in your practices could bring suit to require you to do otherwise. 



One of the terms that you find in dealing in the law relating to Environ- 

 mental Impact Statements is aesthetics or aesthetic values. Beauty is in the 

 eye of the beholder. May somebody someday sue me because I want to paint my 

 house purple and they feel that the color is not acceptable? 



Well, that may seem like a remote possibility. Even though I'v been re- 

 ading the U.S. Constitution since I was in grade school and as a lawyer I 

 have had to deal with it through the years, if somebody had tole me three years 

 ago that the U.S. Supreme Court would have been able to read through that doc- 

 ument and find the word abortion, I would have laughed at them. They did find 

 the word abortion in it. If you don't believe me you might write Jimmy Carter 

 and ask him. Who knows what the courts may do in the future, but the example 

 in the Gallatin Valley really gives me concern. To know that somebody with a 

 remote interest can get into Court to dictate what somebody else might do who 

 has a very close personal interest seems to be a matter of great concern. 



Sometime ago Robert Ross and Pete Jackson and some others came to my office 

 to discuss with me the problems that arise when a landowner leases land or when 

 he sells the land on contract. I think many of you that have been in the ran- 

 ching business very long have seen what happens to leased groimd over a long 

 period of time — it tends to be overgrazed. That is a modest phrase — it be- 

 comes abused. They have used the hell out of it generally! The guy that goes 

 in there and leases land wants to get all he can out of it and he's not really 

 concerned about the preservation of the grass growing there. 



These gentlemen who are interested in the range condition of our State were 

 wondering what might be done to correct this situation in a legal sense. What 

 could lawyers do to help? Well, we came up with some language. ' Actually, 

 Bob wrote it and I changed a few words around to make them thirik that I 

 had done my job. When I got here today, I realized I had forgotten my copy 



1 - Language is on page 113 



109 



