Trump Pardons Oregon Ranchers Who Inspired Refuge Standoff
BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 5 months ago
Via WRSA, pardons for the ranchers.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned two imprisoned Oregon ranchers whose sentencing on arson convictions sparked the 2016 occupation of a wildlife refuge, part of a long-simmering dispute over federal land policies in the U.S. West.
The armed standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon followed a judge’s ruling that sent Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven, back to prison to serve more time after their initial release. Police shot one of the occupiers dead during the 41-day midwinter protest.
The takeover was another flare-up in a decades-old conflict over federal control of millions of acres of public land in the Western United States. In Oregon, about half of all land is controlled by the federal government.
Right. “Arson.”
It’s really important to remember what these charges are all about, and it isn’t arson. Here it is.
Dwight and Steven admitted to having started two fires, for which the court found them guilty. One of the fires was a prescribed burn in 2001 that, according the court record, accidentally spread onto 139 acres of BLM land. Those 139 acres happened to be located on one of the family’s federal grazing allotments. The other fire, from 2006, was a back-burn. Steven had set the fire on the family’s private property in order to protect their winter feed from a lightening fire that had started on adjacent BLM land. That fire accidentally spread to one acre of BLM land.
They were going to have to sell their ranch in order to pay fines and legal fees. Sell their ranch. Folks were interested in buying it.
But for what purpose? Uranium and gold. That’s right, the Clinton Foundation / Clinton Global Initiative and deals cut with the BLM were behind all of this. These men weren’t guilty of arson. It was an accident, and a small amount of land was burned anyway, and for good reason.
On July 10, 2018 at 10:31 pm, Longbow said:
God bless this President!
On July 11, 2018 at 7:33 am, Duke Norfolk said:
This is a very good thing. Too bad it took as long as it did. They suffered the tyrant’s hand for much too long.
On July 11, 2018 at 9:23 am, Fred said:
Whoever said Trump doesn’t have political acumen is the idiot. This is a brilliant move.
Let’s review a little further; The Secretary of State sold a national strategic asset to a foreign power while lining her own pockets. Nobody will ever get in trouble for this, ever.
The Hammond men are fortunate to still be alive. Had the ruckus at Malheur not occurred, raising attention to these men, they might have shot themselves in the back of the head 3 times and stuffed themselves in the trunk of their cars and wrecked. And nobody would have ever gotten in trouble for that either.
On July 11, 2018 at 10:24 am, Gryphon said:
This is just a Start – there are a Number of other individuals being Persecuted for the original “Bundy Ranch” Incident, Trump needs to Pardon Anyone who was involved in that, regardless if they have even been Charged. THAT would send a Message to the Swamp that would be Unambiguous.
AND order the ‘just us’ department to Find and Prosecute the FBI thugpigs who Murdered Lavoy Fincum.