Pardon me.

Two articles from Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian

https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2018/07/president_trump_xxxxx...

Excerpts from the first: Trump pardons Oregon ranchers whose case sparked Bundy takeover of refuge

Dwight Hammond set a prescribed burn on about 300 acres of his own land that then traveled onto Bureau of Land Management property and burned an additional 139 acres, his lawyer wrote. The elder Hammond said he was trying to fend off invasive species.

Prosecutors argued the fire also was to cover up illegal deer poaching and got out of control, placing firefighters who had to be airlifted out of the area in grave danger.

The federal pursuit of the Hammonds followed years of permit violations and unauthorized fires, and they never accepted responsibility, Marshall said.  The Hammonds could have faced less than a year in prison under a plea offer they declined, she said.

The Hammonds' lawyers pointed out in their clemency petitions that the father and son faced other sanctions. They paid $400,000 in 2015 to settle a civil suit brought by the government and are having a hard time sustaining the cattle operation because of the grazing permit denial.

They cited the opinion of the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan, who found the five-year sentences "grossly disproportionate to the severity of the offenses here'' and noted that the fires didn't endanger any people or property.

Prosecutors argued the fires did endanger others. When the government won the appeal of the Hammonds' lower sentences, Acting U.S. Attorney Billy Williams issued a release, saying that the fires illegally set on public lands, even in remote areas, endanger firefighters called to respond. Marshall said "firefighters were in grave danger and had to be dramatically evacuated'' after the fires set by the Hammonds.

Steven Grasty, a former Harney County commissioner, said he's glad the Hammond saga has come to an end. He said he disagreed with Hogan's sentence, but didn't see the value of sending the Hammonds back to prison after they had served their initial term.

"I'm really proud of the efforts of our community, Greg Walden, the Oregon Cattlemen's Association,'' Grasty said.

But he said the pardons shouldn't be considered a win for the Bundys. "The Bundys complicated this. They made it worse. The Bundys didn't know the Hammonds. They used them.''

"This case was thrust into the national spotlight when, for lack of a better term, anti-government extremists exploited the Hammond family and began attempting to use their unfortunate circumstance to gain support for their own agendas,'' Ward wrote.

He noted that Dwight and Steven Hammond rejected pressure they faced from Ammon Bundy and others to defy federal orders and instead turned themselves in to prison.

"It is my humble opinion that justice would be better served if these gentlemen were afforded the opportunity to return home,'' Ward wrote. "For Dwight to spend his remaining years with his wife. For Steven to return to his family ... and to set an example that along with being a nation of laws, we are a nation of compassion and forgiveness.'' 

Excerpts from the second: Oregon rancher pardon draws swift praise, condemnation 

Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity: "The Hammonds are dangerous people with a history of arson, illegal grazing and threatening federal officials. Trump's pardon abandons human decency and will encourage more violence and extremism among his base."

Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities: "President Trump, at the urging of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, has once again sided with lawless extremists who believe that public land does not belong to all Americans."

Forrest Lucas, founder of Lucas Oil and Protect the Harvest: "Thank you to President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Oregon Congressman Greg Walden as well as many others within President Trump's administration that worked with us to help obtain the pardons for Dwight and Steven Hammond. We sincerely appreciate Congressman Walden for helping us to bring the Hammonds' story to Washington, D.C. and the American public."

Dwight Holton, a former Oregon U.S. attorney: "President Trump is playing to his political base. I do think it's disappointing that folks want to play politics with the criminal justice system. I'm disappointed in this terrible precedent to pardon two serial arsonists who spent years trying to avoid being brought into compliance with the law.'' 

^^^ Not sure what your post(s) actually mean. Traffic lights, someone "had it rough as a kid". Maybe you could try to be relevant.

Huff Po reported they threatened to kill BLM officials. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-pardons-hammond-ranchers_us_5...

The Hammonds had previously been accused of making death threats against federal officials and were arrested in 1994 after trying to stop federal workers from fencing off a canal at Malheur. Dwight Hammond had reportedly “threatened to kill” the manager of the refuge that the Hammonds had used for their cows. 

This lunacy of prioritizing subsidized grazing on our public lands needs to end. Without the federal tax subsidies, many of these marginal operations would dry up and go away.

And oddly, these ranchers want to bitch and moan about the people who subsidize them and who's land they use. Don't like the rules, don't expand your operations past what your land can support.

In Utah, state grazing fees are in the neighborhood of $8-9 an animal unit month (AUM). The feds? $1.61 for a cow and a calf for a month. About $20 a year for two animals being fed.    

Back later. I'm off to go grab a beef burrito.   

>>>i mean when your last name is Suckling it must suck

Got it now, Zebra. Didn't pick that up before.

Well it's not good news, Judit. But it may lead to an important discussion of the best uses for our public lands.

The amount of beef they provide to the country off public lands in pretty miniscule. 

These welfare ranchers have had it good. Then again, when a ranch gets sold, do condos go up instead? What would you rather see? No easy answers. 

"Keep hope alive."

Here's a letter I wrote to the SL Tribune a couple of years ago to try an illustrate a point. They wouldn't publish it. Isn't this what the Bundy's and their followers are saying? 

My landlord employs a management company to take care of and rent the home I live in. It’s a rental they subsidize and I only have to pay about 15-20% of market rates for my rent. I wrote them a letter the other day. I told them I was ripping up the contract I had with them and won’t be paying them any more rent. I further told them that from now on, I’ll be the one maintaining the property and making all decisions in that regard. Their property is mine now and they can just go away.

They responded by telling me to be out within 30 days and said they would evict me if I wasn’t. If they had to bring law enforcement along to do it, they would.

I protested. “But I’m a rancher”, I said. “Even got a cow in the backyard eating up all the grass and pooping all over the backyard.”  

I’m really surprised and angry about all this resistance I’m getting from them. Don’t they recognize a patriotic American when they see one? So now I’m off to the gun show so I can be prepared if they decide to enforce the laws of this country I love.

This stupidity has got to stop.