BIA worker admits setting Rodeo fire.

Arizona Republic ^ | Mark Shaeffer

[per loin]

FLAGSTAFF - A U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs worker admitted starting the "Rodeo'' fire during a preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court Sunday morning.

At one point, Leonard Grigg, 29, said, "Can I say I'm sorry for what I did?'' when being questioned by federal Magistrate Stephen Verkamp about details of his personal life.

[gcruse]

I'm getting confused now.  Are there three arson-related fires?

We know about Barton and this guy.  But what
about the guy who was surveying for the Mexican
spotted owl thingy, who worked for a govt agency
and also started a fire?

[per loin]

Don't forget the goverment workers in Alaska who set the 90,000 acre (and still counting) fire by trying to scare a moose.

[katya8]

This is the result of unchecked hate. This is the result of international support of Arab terrorism. This is the result of the UN's idiot notion to call terrorists "freedom fighters".

No doubt, this Apache fellow thought of himself as a freedom fighter taking back his country by burning the white man out of it.

No doubt, that woman in Colorado (who I think is out on bail!!!) thought of herself as liberating all women from the oppression of all white males.

No doubt, the California fires originated in a desire to watch whitey burn.

I think it's only starting.... and I'm afraid.

[Thorondir]

The BIA guy was probably white. Most are. But, nevertheless, what's up with these federal goons trying to burn up the country?

[nicmarlo]

The Arizona fires that merged into one were both started by humans, one by this guy, and the other by a hiker as a signal when he got lost. I haven't heard about charges being pressed against him, as I believe it was not intentional. And the one in Glenwood Springs, CO, was the coal seam fire, not human set. The one in Durango, I'm not sure, but I thought that might have been human started (but that could have been from lightening.)

[per loin]

I've not heard if he was Indian or white, and do not see how it matters which he is. Certainly, both Indians and whites have been harmed by his actions.

Have you heard any info on who the lady was that started the Chediski fire? Was she also from some branch of the government? I've only heard that she was a lost hiker, nothing more.

[per loin]

That hiker was a she.

The big Durango fire was most likely human caused. It started in a roadside ditch. The smaller Durango fire (called the Valley fire) was apparently started by an electric weed-zapping fence.

[CedarDave]

So far three government workers have been charged with setting fires. The biggest two were set by the Terry Barton in Colorado, and now Leonard Grigg for the Arizona Rodeo fire. The third person arrested was Paul Valdez, an Apache tribe worker who did spotted owl surveys and may have set multiple fires on the Mescalareo Apache Reservation. According to the FBI, additional arrests are expected in the latter case.

(Tinfoil hat in place: The Apaches do logging, because Forest Service restrictions do not apply to them. It would be ironic if a conspiracy could be proved that pointed back to environmental groups who wanted the forest burned so that they could go to court asking for increased protection for the remaining population in that area by banning reservation logging. What do'ya think??) .

[Lockbox]

So far three government workers have been charged with setting fires.

. (Tinfoil hat in place: The Apaches do logging, because Forest Service restrictions do not apply to them. It would be ironic if a conspiracy could be proved that pointed back to environmental groups who wanted the forest burned so that they could go to court asking for increased protection for the remaining population in that area by banning reservation logging. What do'ya think??) .

Very hard to understand why three different government workers have set these fires. You may have a point. I notice that the main stream press just says that someone has been arrested, and forget to announce that they are ‘government employees’.

Imagine if a ‘member’ of the Vast Right Wing had started a fire, how would the Libs lead the story??????????????

[Lockbox]

Yes the Arizona media has, but the national media has not.

[Jack Black]

Well govt. workers are not real loved deep in the red zone as it is. Maybe the hostility is turning mutual. If they burn enough down it will be depopulated and then can be turned over to the UN to manage as the "Buffalo Commons" which is their declared goal.

[csvset]

Him in heap big trouble.

[CedarDave]

Lead story on ABC radio news at 3:00 p.m. MDT, with his name and the agency he worked for.

[per loin]

SHOW LOW, Ariz. — A part-time firefighter charged Sunday with starting one of the two wildfires that merged into the largest in Arizona's history told investigators he did it to make money fighting it, according to court papers.

Leonard Gregg, 29, said he was also angry because of his parents' drinking problem, according to a statement filed by in federal court by a Bureau of Indian Affairs investigator.

"This fire was started with a profit motive behind it," U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton added at a news conference in Show Low.

Gregg, who has worked under contract with the BIA, was arrested Saturday after he admitted to setting the massive Rodeo fire and a one-acre fire on June 18 near the Fort Apache Indian Reservation town of Cibeque, the documents say. The smaller fire was put out, but the Rodeo fire exploded up steep terrain, threatened the small city of Show Low and overran two towns just to the west.

The fire then merged with another started by a lost hiker signaling a helicopter. By Sunday, the 452,000-acre fire had destroyed at least 423 homes and was about 35 percent contained by fire lines near Show Low. It continued burning out of control elsewhere.

The criminal complaint said a pair of Gregg's boots match prints found at the scene of the Rodeo fire and the one-acre fire.

	AP
	Firefighters maintain fire line during back burn near Cibucue, Ariz.

He admitted he was wearing the boots at the time he set both fires, according to the statement filed by Daniel Hawkins, a special agent for the BIA.

Gregg said that he had set the fires by using stick matches to set grass aflame, according to the statement. He said he didn't expect the Rodeo fire to get so big.

At a hearing in federal court in Flagstaff, a tired-looking Gregg said: ""I'm sorry for what I did."

But U.S. Magistrate Stephen Verkamp cut him off, saying Gregg shouldn't make any admission of guilt at the hearing.

Gregg asked how much his bond would be. Verkamp told him it was up to the court.

The judge said an attorney would be appointed for Gregg and set a preliminary hearing for Wednesday. Gregg, a resident of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, is being held in the Coconino County Jail.

If convicted of both counts, Gregg could face 10 years in prison and be fined $500,000.

Firefighters continued to focus Sunday on keeping flames from bursting out of steep canyons and into the 600 homes of Forest Lakes, about 40 miles west of Show Low.

The fire remained active but there was no significant activity overnight in the area immediately threatening the Forest Lakes community, said fire spokesman Dave Killebrew.

In Show Low, a town fire officials had thought just a week ago was doomed, cars and motor homes filled the streets again Saturday as many of the 7,700 residents returned to still-standing homes. They had been ordered out on June 22.

More than 25,000 people were allowed back home on Saturday, out of the 30,000 evacuated from nine communities.

People were back in the streets of neighboring Pinetop-Lakeside and Hon-Dah, both of which were saved from the fire. But in nearby Linden, residents were still kept out of the heavily damaged subdivision of Timberland Acres, a square mile that had been dotted with log cabins, trailers and ranch-style homes.

Residents of areas farther west of Show Low, including Heber-Overgaard, where more than 200 homes burned, were still under orders to stay out, among 3,500 to 4,000 people still kept from their homes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[FITZ]

I think the government knows full well that the forest fires are caused by it's own ineptness, it's going to try to convince us to believe that individuals are stepping up to take the blame for the devastation they caused ---but there are many bonfires, cigarettes thrown out of car windows, sparks from engines, etc all the time in these forests. The reason the fires were so huge is because they managed the forests wrong and listened to environmentalists. The debris in the forests was so high it was bound to happen.

[FITZ]

The government will convince us that people can't be trusted in the forests.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

The state governments have been promising all kinds of hellfire and damnation to citizens that set forest fires, intentional or not. Now that we're finding out that these fires are being intentionally set by government people, are they going to face the same harsh punishments?

My biggest worry is that the state governments will move in for harsh prosecutions only to be somehow trumped by the federal government for political reasons. The feds are not above getting offended by state and local governments punishing their people because they (the feds) feel that they are superior to local governments. History has shown that these kind of turf wars go on a lot.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

They showed the BIA guy in handcuffs on FoxNews a couple of hours ago. He looked kind of dark, but I didn't get a good look. He had dark hair and a somewhat dark complexion, but I couldn't tell if he was an Indian or white guy or something else.