Entangled in a spat with the government over the practice of prescribed burning on their family ranch, the Hammond family has evidentially been labeled terrorists, and sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Prescribed burning is a preemptive move made to curtail the threat of forest fires. By thinning out the amount of vegetation on land in a controlled way, ranchers have been able to reduce the risk of serious, uncontrollable fires on their land.
While the Hammond Family has admitted to certain fires initially becoming larger than intended, all fires were privately put out, and no federal money was spent on the endeavors.
Regardless, they were still arrested.
The government’s actions here are not without precedent. Truth and Action has previously reported that the Bundy family, who own land adjacent to none other than Harry Reid, have been the subject to severe federal harassment. Other ranches have similarly complained of constant, federal oversight and harassment as well.
The Bundy family have had enough, and penned an open letter detailing the injustice of the Hammond family that you can read on the next page:
The article really does not say much about the case. To receive a 5 year sentence, there is something we do not know.
How about a bit of real research here kids. The laws and regulations were in affect long before the Obama administration and they were convicted be a jury of their peers and neighbors.
http://www.thefencepost.com/news/18847695-113/two-members-of-oregons-hammond-family-to-serve
I love the way that the right wing tells young black men to ‘just obey the law’ and you won;t have a problem with the law. Well, it works both ways: obey federal law, pay your taxes and you won;t be “harassed”. Get lost
Grant Houston What the “UntruthInAction” folks neglected to mention was: The jury convicted both of the Hammonds of using fire to destroy federal property for a 2001 arson known as the Hardie-Hammond Fire, located in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area.
Witnesses at trial, including a relative of the Hammonds, testified the arson occurred shortly after Steven Hammond and his hunting party illegally slaughtered several deer on BLM property.
Jurors were told that Steven Hammond handed out “Strike Anywhere” matches with instructions that they be lit and dropped on the ground because they were going to “light up the whole country on fire.”
One witness testified that he barely escaped the eight to ten foot high flames caused by the arson. The fire consumed 139 acres of public land and destroyed all evidence of the game violations.
The jury also convicted Steven Hammond of using fire to destroy federal property regarding a 2006 arson known as the Krumbo Butte Fire located in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and Steen Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area.
The headline is a lie, not sentenced to 5 years and not convicted of being a terrorist.