AmericanThinkers: Ranchers in the West are engaged in 21st-century range wars, but their adversaries are not the rustlers and cattle barons of lore. Federal land management agencies, overzealous officers, and self-righteous judges are the foes western ranchers fear the most.
On October 7, father and son ranchers from Oregon, Dwight, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, were labeled as terrorists and sentenced to five years in federal prison under anti-terrorism laws. In 2001, a fire set by the Hammonds to eliminate overgrown sagebrush on their own property inadvertently spread to adjacent BLM land. The two were convicted of arson when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) accused them of using fire to destroy federal property. In 2006 Steven Hammond was again convicted of arson when he set several “backfires” on his ranch which burned nearby public acreage. Without seeking permission from the BLM, Hammond was attempting to save the ranch’s winter feed by setting prescriptive fires. read more
These guys sure seem to set a lot of public land on fire (to save there ranch). And when it spreads into National Forrest my oldest son and my son in law are called in to risk there asses to put it out. There’s something wrong with this story.
So how many federal employees are looking at serious jail time for wrecking a dam that did far more damage? What is good for the goose….
Brad, winds shift and I am satisfied there was no criminal intent. Underbrush has to be burned off if we are to eat like human beings.
Guilty or not, to sentence someone to a specific prison term, have them serve their time, and then go back and say, “Whoops – we should have given them a longer sentence”, and throw them back in prison just seems WRONG, particularly after a plea bargain has been made. Almost seems like a form of double jeopardy, but without a retrial.
Damn good point about the EPA. Winds do shift, usually fairly predictable. Especially in the mountains. My son in laws hot shot team was the last team to tell the Forestry Department your fing nuts before the sent the local Prescott hot shot team in that died. Inversion, hot, cold air, fairly predictable. Some of those widows in Prescott are still fighting for money. That’s Bull Shit.
What do these 3 agencies have in common: Bad Land Managers, Uncle Sam’s Fire Starters, and the Economic Plundering Association? CONTROL over citizens and usurpation of the Constitution.
The first two that have personnel on the front lines of fire have my ‘limited’ respect. The remainder, well…
I remember not all that long ago until a couple of fires that went awry and were set by BLM and USFS, that the BLM and USFS (until then) called them, “Controlled Burns.” Not the case nowadays. They are now, “Prescribed Burns.” Give you three guesses and the first two don’t count as to how many homes ‘they’ burned to the ground. All predictable due to projected conditions if they listened to the local folks and local employees.
These guys were not found guilty of terrorism. But they were re-charged with that crime after sentencing. That is government corruption that has 0bama’s stamp of approval on it.
The biggest problem is that people submit to these government tyrants, when it is the government that is supposed to submit to the people. They don’t even listen to the people! They don’t give a shit about you or me. It’s the Just-Us dept. You disagree, you get the gulag. The government’s main message to the people is “Fuck You!”
Government employees who abuse power and overstep authority should be reassigned to a chain gang. Barry Hussein on point.
That is ridiculous that these people were treated this way. I know it is because of racist fascist Obama who hates Americans. I hope the rancher can sue the snot out of the government and the judge. This makes my blood boil.
And yet blacks can riot, loot, shoot police and no arrests! O….M….G!
In Arizona where I live there is a White rancher who harasses the Bureau of Land Management and nothing happens to him…..nothing. He points loaded weapons at BLM employees, puts lien on employees homes, makes threats. And another rancher, Hispanic female, closed off public land, payrolled with loaded rifles, and negotiations went on for over one year. This was before Obama. Nothing happened to her.
And farmers and ranchers, where I live, are always burning brush and weeds, without a proper permit, and the fire gets away and destroys public and state lands and protected animal habitat and only fines are imposed.
I worked on wildland fired for a few years, and I can tell some stories. Some of the people that are in command of some of the fires are idiots. That Prescott Hot Shot Team should not have died. So tragic.
I feel for that Oregon family. I hope they get justice.
Sorry for another typo. The female rancher patrolled the land with loaded rifles.
Typing on phone…..stupid spell check and tiny keyboard letters.
Glory hounds. Every fire fighter I’ve met is either a fornicator, an adulterer or a piece of shit but I’m sure yours are upstanding model citizens.
The fed gov owns DC. They have charter to own land for military installations. That’s it.
“Federal Public Land” is an oxymoron and pure bullshit.
I’ve lived in my community for over 30 years. We are surrounded by USFS and BLM land. In that time, there have been several “controlled/prescribed burns that have gotten out of control and destroyed private property. They have paid NO compensation to the victims of their incompetence.
And as an added bonus, the Co2 and particulates released in these “prescribed” burns eclipses all the Co2 and pollution produced by all the vehicles and industries in our county, by hundreds of times.
You cannot appeal the sentence of the GESTAPO …
When the rule of Law is dead, the Republic is dead.