Imperial Valley Press

Branding the statements made by United Press wire stories from Yuma yesterday quoting State Veterinarian Stam of Arizona, as lies and declaring that he had no intentions of seeking to crawl to cover as long as there was need for interference in the attempted program of Arizona officials to stop tourists from traveling on Imperial County highways, Sheriff Gillett said this morning that Dr. Stam had not crossed into California after his apology to the sheriff, until Sunday when the tourists had all gone and the sheriff and district attorney had returned to El Centro.

"So far as the three federal department of justice men are concerned, I haven't any reason to be interested in what they do," the sheriff said.

"My duty was to assist in opening the county roads. I have seen to it that they are open and I shall see to it that they remain open to travel to the very edge of the county. If there were to be a resurvey which would run the east county boundary line through the middle of Yuma, I would see to it that the roads were kept open to traffic that far. Outside the county, I am not concerned."

In a formal resolution passed at an adjourned meeting of the county board of supervisors yesterday afternoon, hearty approval and endorsement of the action taken by the sheriff and district attorney was voted. The resolution reads as follows:

COMMEND UTLEY, GILLETT

"Whereas, it has come to the attention of the board of supervisors of the county of Imperial that certain officials of the state of Arizona have established a quarantine station upon the public highway of the county of Imperial without the consent of any one of authority in the said county of Imperial, and have blocked said highway and prevented any persons from travelling thereon east of said quarantine station and have with the assistance of the superintendent of the Yuma Indian Reservation prevented any travel upon the state and county highways through said Indian reservation;

Therefore be it resolved, that after thorough investigation of the above matter, the board of supervisors of the county of Imperial heartily approve the action of the sheriff and district attorney of the county of Imperial in opening said highways to the travelling public, and hereby ratify their action in that respect.

"And it is further ordered, that said highway shall be kept open to the travelling public at all reasonable times and the sheriff is hereby authorized and instructed to do whatever may be reasonably necessary to enforce this order.

"Be it further resolved, that the county of Imperial has no objection to the maintenance by the state of Arizona of a fumigating and disinfecting plant within the boundaries of Imperial county for the purpose of carrying out protective measures against the foot and mouth disease, providing the same is handled in a manner which does not quarantine tourists on the desert for an unreasonable period of time, and, providing further that a deputy sheriff of the county of Imperial be maintained at the said station as a peace officer, the salary of said deputy sheriff to be paid by the state of Arizona."

The stream of eastbound tourists still continues to trickle across the desert to Yuma bridge, where camps have been built and plans made to remain indefinitely awaiting modification of Arizona rules. The sheriff has kept in touch with officials at Yuma bridge to see whether the traffic has been interfered with inside Imperial county. Up to noon today no attempt to stop travel had been reported.

BARD MAN LAUDS ACTION

That Yuma papers have misrepresented the opinions of Bard people, who have been stopped from trading in Yuma as a result of the action of the sheriff and district attorney last week, is shown in a letter from William Stuthman, a resident of the Bard district. The letter was received by the sheriff today. It follows:

"Sheriff Gillett

"I thought I would write a few lines to thank you for your kindness in relieving those poor suffering people out on the desert last Friday.

"I live in the Bard district. According to the Yuma paper they lay all blame on you for closing the line to the Bard people.

"We do not want to benefit through some one suffering. I think that the Yuma officials are unreasonable against automobile travel when stock and everything else goes by on the trains. My neighbors join me in thanking you for your kindness."