These local DA's are afraid of her plus the small counties only have small legal budgets.
Posted on 11/03/2008 12:09:53 PM PST by george76
The man accused of arranging for the killing of 32 bison on a neighbor's property struck a deal this morning in which he'll face minimal or no jail time but will have to open his wallet wide.
Jeffrey Scott Hawn, CEO of Seattle-based software firm Attachmate, pleaded guilty to a class 3 felony of criminal mischief and to a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals in Park County Court.
At his Jan. 28 sentencing he could get up to two years of probation and up to 10 days in Park County Jail.
Four generations of the Downare family, in cowboy hats and ranching clothes, were also in the courtroom, including head of the family, Monte, and infant Jared.
Prosecutor Katherine O'Brien said the Downares were "very reluctant to accept a plea, not because they are vindictive or have hatred or ill will."
Rather, they didn't want to accept a deal because killing livestock is such a serious crime in a ranching community
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
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What a scumbucket.
Git a rope.
Shooting herbivores who wander on your property is not the way to deal with them. If the bison had been breaking down his fences and trampling his property, then all he needed was a camera and a few pics of the animals and the and a quick damage trip to the sheriff’s office.
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Nine days before, Hawn had filed a lawsuit against his neighbor, Monte Downare, charging that Downare allowed the bison to trample his property and destroy his fences.
Not sure I'd want bison on my property either. Bison are the second most dangerous North American animal.
apparently letting your dangerous animals loose on your neighbor's property is OK - just protecting your property gets you in trouble
Where open-range laws are in effect, ranchers don’t have to fence in their livestock. If the neighbors want to keep cows off their land, they have to fence the beasts out.
The principle dates back to the 1800s.
Thirteen Western states still have some kind of open-range law.
POS
Good luck fencing bison out of ANYWHERE they really want to go. It’s no wonder bison were not considered compatible with civilization in the ‘old days’ Sounds like another case of rich west coast meets Colorado rancher.
In an arrest warrant, investigators say the bulk of the bison — 14 of them — were killed on land owned by Catherine Pimm.
Eight were killed on Bureau of Land Management property,
four on U.S. Forest Service property,
three on property of Robert Lemm
three on Hawn’s ranch.
In a Feb. 25 letter addressed to Antonino Salcedo, Hawn gave permission to Salcedo and his “Atzlan Native Community” colleagues
Yep...he needs to be beat with it first.
Next : The ‘aztlan turtle tribe’
Domesticating wild animals by legislation is a fairly recent event . Reminds me of when the Utah legislature debated a legal limit for the elevation of the Great Salt Lake .
Not what I read earlier. They were on Hawn’s property according to another story I read. Bison are dangerous - only wild animal that kills and injures more people is grizzly/brown bear. Bison march through fences that hold in cattle without even slowing down. Regardless of open range laws from the 1800’s, turning bison loose on the countryside and then blaming the victim for defending himself against the critters is wrong. Those open range laws were written for cattle; at the time no one in their right mind wanted to raise bison.
The property Mr. Hawn owns isn’t used as a ranch; it’s just a vacation area. In the first place, a rancher doesn’t hate animals and KILL them!
There isn’t any one that knows that the buffalo did any damage to anything; they’re just guessing.
It could have been a herd of elk that stays in that area; or even Hawn’s horses rubbing on his solar panels and TV dishes could have been the problem.
Vaughn Downare
http://www.theflume.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=5474&TM=74279.37
Investigators allege that in a letter dated Feb. 25, Hawn authorized the slaughter by members of the Aztlan Native Community of Gardner.
He told the group he wanted them “to get started as quickly as possible.
In the arrest warrant, investigators say the bulk of the bison — 14 — were killed on the property of Catherine Primm.
Eight were killed on Bureau of Land Management property;
four on U.S. Forest Service property;
three on the property of Robert Lemm;
and three on Hawn’s ranch.
http://m.denverpost.com/topic/777-Top%20Stories/articles/147192084
It’s a shame the prosecution went for the plea. Hawn is an educated man and feels he is above the law, if he’d have handled the situation intelligently it would be different but he didn’t. People that complain of open range laws obviously know nothing about them, whether appropriate for an area or not their validity should be be questioned in a legal manner.
Jeff Hawn writes some small checks...for him.
If this is true, then the hunters who nailed the ones off Hawn's property would seem to be responsible for those, and only those that were killed on Hawn's property should be attributed to him. But you're ignoring the problem that the animals were bison, not cattle. People might raise them, but they're not anywhere close to being domestic animals like cattle. People raise bears, lions and wolves too. Should they be allowed to roam freely too? As far as posting that self serving bit from Downare, not a particularly objective viewpoint there.
***...and destroy his fences. ***
Oh, really? Most places have fence laws stating that the fence is to be bought and put up on the property line by BOTH owners. If one person puts up a fence he can go to court to force the other property owner to pay for half.
Many people just put up a fence one foot inside their own property and the law says the other property owner can not use that fence but must put up his own fence. Spite fences!
And this is relevant to anything I've posted how? I'd really like to know.
Hmmm! I wonder why MOST of those killed were on other peoples and US gov land then?
His attorney was Pamela Mackey, who successfully defended Kobe Bryant. Win some, lose some, always get paid handsomely.
1. It was 'open range', so it was HIS duty to fence them OUT; not the rancher's to fence them IN.
2. In the early stories, it also stated that the fences were buried in heavy snow.
3. The sheriff had already informed him of his rights and duties in response to his earlier complaints.
Since when do these outsiders get off violating the Open Range that’s been around for over a century just for their private lil’ petting zoos?
This criminal should be put under a dozen jails.
These Atzlan Native Community shooters were not hunters.
A real hunter would not let this happen.
Jeff Hawn never disproved that “the herd of elk that stays in that area or even Hawn’s horses rubbing on his solar panels and TV dishes “ were the cause.
Jeff Hawn pled quilty.
These are Vaughn Downare’s livestock.
” Part of the deal has him agreeing to pay $84,000 in restitution to the owners of the bison, the Downare family...”
These local DA's are afraid of her plus the small counties only have small legal budgets.
In any case, you don’t destroy another man’s property.
What sez Jeffrey Scott Hawn, CEO of Seattle-based software
firm Attachmate is supporting bambi for prez.He acts like a limousine liberal.
Exactly! - A hobby patch for rich, ignorant jerks.
In open range territory.
Its unlikely that the bison did the damage; the idiot probably did it himself.
There is a good sized bison farm right directly along side of I-79 in Edenboro, PA and I have never heard of them getting through that fence.
” I’m a native of Park County and get so sick and tired of poeple moving up there and then wanting it to be like the big city.
They cut up the country let their dogs run loose and this B!tch at you when you try to tell them that their breaking the law !!
If all those suburbia putz’s moved the h*ll out of there the county would be a better place to live!”
ht comments
Let me enlighten you then with a very obvious answer. The "hunters" he hired to get the ones on his property didn't bother staying on his property. Gotta do better than that.
Let me enlighten you then with a very obvious answer. The "hunters" he hired to get the ones on his property didn't bother staying on his property. Gotta do better than that.
I love unintentional irony (apparently it's OK if you let your ANIMALS destroy another man's property.
” I own livestock. And of course, I maintain my fencing in order to protect my own livestock. But Colorado law actually states that if you want someone else’s livestock to stay OFF your property, it’s YOUR responsibility to keep them out. I didn’t believe it when I read it, but it’s the truth.
If he didn’t want Bison on his land, he should have built better fencing (or bought different property) The fencing requirements to keep bison in (or out) are pretty tough - those animals can bust through a lot of serious fencing that would keep the average horse/cattle ranch contained.
He was in the wrong and should have maintained his own fencing. He certainly had no right to KILL them all. A good neighbor would call, and help round ‘em up and get them home. I’d be out of my mind if someone HIRED gunmen to kill all my sheep if they had managed to get out of my pasture. It’s one thing to get replacement value - but that doesn’t cover feed cost for the life of the animals you lost, or the genetics you were maintaining in your herd. That’s pretty rough to start over with a new set of genes, and animals who don’t know your land.”
ht comments
Next time you're there take a good look at the fence and guesstimate how much a Bison proof fence costs
I wonder if the animals are bison or a beef cattle-bison cross. The ‘beefalo’ are somewhat less rambunctious from what I hear. I still wouldn’t bet on the fence.
LOL! Give it up or show us where open range laws include cougars and wolves. Evidently the open range law in CO includes bison or the turkey wouldn’t have been charged.
“Aztlan Native Community”
Would you enlighten us as to the identity of these people?
You got that right!
Worse, IIRC, most if not all the carcasses were left to rot.
I was just pointing out that he already knew the legal situation; and he also insisted on running just a 2 or 3 wire fence that wouldn’t stop a cow, let alone a buffalo.
His reasoning for that was that if he was able to fence out the buffalo successfully, then he would also be effectively fencing out the local elk herd that he liked to look at.
And in any case, the fences were buried, which is a rather extenuating circumstance no matter whose duty it is to fence in or out.
About 2 months ago, there was a blurb in the local paper about our sheriff going out to a dispute. Some guy was holding a man & wife at gun point, because they had come to his property to retrieve some strayed cattle.
His excuse was that the cows had drank some of his pond water, and he wanted compensateed “RIGHT NOW, or you can’t leave!”
Didn’t matter they were neighbors, and that he knew who they were & how to find them, nor that the longer he held the owners, the more ‘water theft’ the cows would commit.
They had gone to his house, not just sneaked in to round them up by stealth.
Sheriff wasn’t to happy with our relatively new city transplant. He normally is able to get in a friendly introductory visit with newcomers to make sure they know the fence & range laws; and posting/trespass laws, since we do have some quirks that aren’t common.
“Aztlan Native Community”
Would you enlighten us as to the identity of these people?
XeniaSt knows more. Perhaps he can help, too.
According to the affidavit for an arrest warrant, Hawn allowed individuals to hunt bison on the Hawn property that belonged to rancher Monte Downare.
In a Feb. 25 letter addressed to Antonino Salcedo, Hawn gave permission to Salcedo and his “Atzlan Native Community” colleagues, based in Gardner, Colo., to “remove the buffalo from my ranch.”
“You may hunt them and remove them or you may remove them live and take them to the location of your choice,” the letter stated.
The letter included directions to Hawn’s property.
http://www.theflume.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=5198
Show me where they include bison. And BTW the forest service releases wolves on peoples' property (usually near lambing pens), but none of the ranchers who have the honor bestowed on "sshovel and shut up" mentioned on FR?
Occupied, you know that you are way off base here.
Range lands and wolves, and lions are not related. Raising bovines and ruminants is. This is what the west is about; its traditional America. We really hat it when big city libs like yourself pretend to know what American freedom and liberty is about. If you want to buy a ranch, do it, but don’t try to bring your inner city concepts of ‘neighbors’ and right and wrong; they won’t fit. OK?
We have been polite answering your questions.
We are not Obama supporters. You can check for yourself.
Throwing out personal insults shows that you losing on the facts and on the law.
Your “ point about someone raising wolves or mauntain lions and letting them run free...” would be treated differently under Colorado law.
If you or ( Jeff Hawn ) do not want to live under Colorado laws, then stay away.
You still ignore that facts of the case :
the bulk of the bison — 14 of them — were killed on land owned by Catherine Pimm.
Eight were killed on Bureau of Land Management property,
four on U.S. Forest Service property,
three on property of Robert Lemm
three on Hawn’s ranch.
Jeffrey Scott Hawn pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal mischief and animal cruelty .
I look down on condescension generally. Those "hunters" did just what they were told. I know some of this Downare family. You assume to much. The guilty plea to a felony supports my assertion.
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