The high-profile theft of bronze plaques from the National Monument to the Basque Sheepherder in 2011 has helped prompt a new bill by Nevada lawmakers that would stiffen penalties for stealing scrap metal.

Bronze plaques engraved with the names of hundreds of herders were stolen in January 2011

Bronze plaques with the names of hundreds of herders were stolen last year

Donations being accepted from Basques whose family members were not listed on original plaques.

Several people were involved the crime, authorities say

Detectives have no leads in the in the grand-larceny case.

Lured by opportunities in a new land, Basques arrived in the American West during the 1800s and 1900s. The vast majority worked as sheepherders, living a lonely lifestyle with their flocks in the mountain meadows and harsh desert plains of the Great Basin. Forty years ago, 90 percent of the sheepherders in the Great Basin were of Basque heritage. But [...]

The battered statue on the scrub-covered plain in Reno has seen better days. The abstract work of art — a shepherd carrying a lamb over his shoulders under a full moon –