Dear HCN,
I know Jon Marvel, and
he’s no Slobodan Milosevic. While Steve Stuebner’s profile of
anti-grazing activist Jon Marvel in the Aug. 2, 1999 issue of HCN
revealed a man rightly deserving of the title maverick or gadfly,
he certainly is no Slobodan Milosevic. In that article, editor
Betsy Marston mistakenly cited an anonymous friend who allegedly
called him “Slobodan Marvel.” That (no longer) anonymous friend was
me, and I never said that. What I told Marston was that an Owyhee
County rancher had written into a Boise newspaper comparing Marvel
to the Serbian dictator.
Whatever one thinks of
Jon, no one can deny that he has shattered the premise that public
rangelands are the exclusive fiefdom of ranchers whose livestock
often destroy critically important fish and wildlife habitat. Those
who know Jon also know he is not a misanthrope. A big part of what
drives him is the realization that Idaho’s schoolchildren are the
real victims when the state leases its school endowment lands to
livestock ranchers for a pittance.
I don’t
necessarily agree with all of Jon’s tactics – sometimes he is
“brazen” and “in your face.” But he tells the truth as few dare to;
he’s restoring a sense of balance to the landscape, and most
importantly, he’s my
friend.
Scott
Bosse
Boise,
Idaho
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline He’s no Milosevic.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
