By Sarah Foster
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
July 2, 2011
© 2011 NewsWithViews.com
 

When Gil Gilbertson was sworn is as Sheriff of Josephine County, a rural county in southwest Oregon, in 2007, he had 30 years of law enforcement experience behind him, both in the United States and with various military missions overseas.

So when citizens of the county began coming to him complaining of “harassment” by U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers (LEO), he said he’d investigate their concerns, figuring he could work things out with the local ranger district. After all, as the county’s chief law enforcement officer he was in the “club” and moreover had gotten along with the “feds” -- though he disagreed with their road closing policies and other efforts to keep the public off public lands which cover 68 percent of the rural county. 

“You know, until about a year ago this wasn’t even on my radar,” Gilbertson told NewsWithViews. “It was the miners that were coming to me saying they were being harassed. I said I’d look into it.”

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