Posted on 11/11/2005 6:48:30 AM PST by george76
The former commander of an elite wildfire team that battled the largest blaze in Arizona history and aided in recovery efforts at the World Trade Center is accused of starting two fires last year, federal prosecutors said.
Van Bateman, 55, was indicted Wednesday for allegedly setting the fires in the Coconino National Forest in 2004.
He faces two federal counts of setting timber afire and two counts of arson on public lands. The first charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, while arson is punishable by up to 20 years, prosecutors said Thursday.
Bateman was a Type I incident commander, the head of a wildfire management crew that is called in for the biggest and most severe wildfires.
Bateman, a 34-year veteran, commanded a Forest Service team sent to the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Bateman is not the first firefighter to be accused of starting a wildfire in Arizona.
In 2002, part-time firefighter Leonard Gregg was accused of starting part of a blaze that destroyed hundreds of homes in northeast Arizona. Gregg pleaded guilty in 2004 to two counts of intentionally setting a fire and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Geez......Wonder what sort of groups he belongs to or was it job security or "HERO" drive. You don't do this without a LOT of thought.
Strip his pension (if he has one).
A few, VERY few of these wildland fire fighters set blazes to get back on the "job", earning money.
Throw him in a fire.
I disagree. I think most wildland or forest fire fighters who set blazes do it soley for income, rather than for some psychological reason.
These firefighters don't get a monthly salary like city fire fighters, they only make money when somethings burning.
If you've got million dollar equipment doing nothing and payments to make, the temptation to "make work" might become overwelming.
Course in the bad old days of logging, these guys made their living cutting trees and fought fire in order to protect their livelihood.
Now fighting fire is their livelihood........so what's a few trees, they ain't going to let 'em be cut anyhow.
Firefighters setting fires is actually shockingly common.
It would be interesting to see what occultic ties and possible freemasonic relations there are to his rise to power. In various offshoots in advanced masonry, this type of behaior is actually glorified.
Don't think one has to put on that much tinfoil to explain the behavior.
Actually this sort of thing is so common one could easily see why Richard Jewell was a suspect early on in the Atlanta Olympic bombing.
Looking at my post, I see it could have been read two ways. We don't disagree at all.
Um... before we go too far off the "accused = guilty" deep end, let's recall that Richard Jewell was accused of something similar.
Note, also, that the mention of another firefighter who pled guilty to a similar crime is clearly prejudicial.
If you doubt the sentiments expressed above, consider how our government is "protecting" our borders at a time when we are being infiltrated by terrorists? If government can't catch and keep criminals in jail, if government can't keep largely unskilled and under-educated common laborers on the correct side of the border, why is it that people believe government should be trusted with anything, let alone trying to manage the economy, your retirement plan, your health care, your children's education or all the countless little things that used to be important to people.
"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men." -Samuel Adams
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." -Samuel Adams
"For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate...If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!..They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?..Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! Patrick Henry
If you want the security that is made possible by individual freedom and you believe that you are better able to protect yourself and your property than government, if you want the protection of the Constitution for your property from a government that issues judgments like Kelo vs New London, if the quotes above bring tears to your eyes while filling your mind with disgust, then you should be following our articles and should consider taking The Pledge.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.