Posted on 01/03/2016 8:38:35 PM PST by Jan_Sobieski
How did an armed takeover of a federal nature reserve in Oregon come about? It dates back to when Eastern Oregon father-son ranchers, Dwight Hammond and his son Steve, were convicted of lighting fires on federal land. The Hammond Ranch story began in 1991, when Steven Hammond started a fire on his own land for noxious weed control. The fire escaped and burned an acre of BLM land that was leased by the Hammond family for cattle grazing. Then in 2001, the Hammonds started another fire on their property that ran off the Hammond land and consumed 139 acres of BLM acreage, also leased by the Hammond Ranch.
In 2006, the Hammond family set a back fire to stop a lightning-caused wildfire. The back fire burned about an acre of public land. Dwight Hammond and his son, Steve, were taken to federal court for the 2001 fire. Steve was also charged for the 2006 back fire. The father and son were tried and convicted under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, created by Congress in response to the Oklahoma City bombing. Under the Actâs minimum sentencing requirements, both Hammonds faced a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall stated: âThe verdict sends an important message to those who think that they are above the law.â
But in the October, 2012 sentencing, U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan reduced Dwightâs sentence to three months and Steve Hammonds sentence to one year, based on his belief that such a harsh sentence was not what Congress intended in creating the statute. âIt just would not be â would not meet any idea I have of justice, proportionality,â Judge Hogan stated.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
I’m not the problem or the solution and neither are the militia there. They have drawn attention from the real issues that should be better communicated to the public. Chances for that went to pot once the story is about armed militia occupying a federal building. They have made it too easy to throw the issue to fringe radicals and domestic terrorism. The day may come we fight for freedom, family and lives but it certainly isn’t today and certainly not for this.
They aren’t being punished twice. The government appealed the sentence, as was it’s right. The appeal took longer than the trial judge’s initial sentence. That’s litigation in today’s world. The Hammond are doing the right thing in submitting to the sentence, as I’m sure their lawyers told them to do. Why others got involved in a rather stupid move is beyond me.
Can you not discern what you read? Reread what I wrote. Address it in a mature and thoughtful way...then respond in a proper manner if you wish to continue this. Calling those patriots “Gestapo” is just plain ludicrous. Just rehashing the same lame points over and over isn’t going to convince me or anyone else who supports liberty that you are right.
You really do not get it do you? Sorry, but if you cannot understand what is going on we are not going to be able to have a good discussion. This will turn out however it turns out with or without you and I and our opinions.
But, out of decency I hope you will at least say a prayer for those brave souls who have gone before us to at least try to restrain an evil government.
You will never find enough reason to fight for the freedom that is gone...gone now. You do not live in America buddy, they killed it.
I didn't call any patriots "Gestapo".
READ MY STATEMENT, numbnuts.
When this is over, the BLM and every other militarized pissant with a wildlife management degree will have been justified by the actions of fools in acting like the Gestapo, and likely some people will be needlessly dead.
How much do you get paid to come here and post this dreck, anyway?
If you can't understand what I wrote any better than that, why would anyone want to follow you into battle?
LOL, you really are a fool. Discussion finished...learn to read, learn to think, then come to this site and espouse reasonable views. Maybe quit smokin’ that stuff you are smoking eh...
Good. Then shut up and listen.
You, as in all else have no clue about the nickname, which goes back to my firefighting days.
Everything you say I need to do, you, yourself clearly need to do.
Then you bray about this website and can't even sort out a sentence, nOOb.
You still haven't told me what objective would be accomplished by continuing a standoff which could degrade into violent confrontation.
Oh, you have spewed insults at me, you have misquoted and misrepresented my statements, but you never answered a fundamental question.
I asked for rational objectives and your response is that I should espouse "reasonable" views.
You sound like a liberal arguing for their pet cause.
I have been up against far tougher than some keyboard warrior wannabe with a liberal mien, and I'm not going anywhere.
See ya in the funnies.
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.