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Wednesday, January 6, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Oregon ranching case sparks anti-government sentiment
By gosia Wozniacka
Associated Press
PORTLAND (AP) — The
father and son of a prominent
Oregon ranching family were
to surrender at a California
prison this week after a judge
ruled they served too little
time for setting fires that
spread to government lands
they leased to graze cattle.
Dwight Hammond, 73,
and Steven Hammond, 46,
said they lit the fires in 2001
and 2006 to reduce the growth
of invasive plants and protect
their property from wildfires.
The two were convicted
of the arsons three years ago
and served time — the father
three months, the son one
year. But a judge ruled their
terms were too short under
federal law and ordered them
back to prison for about four
years each.
The decision has gener-
ated controversy in a remote
part of the state where the
Hammonds are well-known
for their generosity and com-
munity contributions. It’s also
playing into a long-simmering
conflict between ranchers and
the U.S. government over the
use of federal land for cattle
grazing.
I n p a r t i c u l a r, t h e
Hammonds’ new sentences
touched a nerve with far-right
groups who repudiate federal
authority. The son of Nevada
rancher Cliven Bundy, who
was involved in a standoff
with the government over
grazing rights, organized
opposition (see related story,
page 17).
In 2014, after the Bureau
of Land Management sought
to remove Bundy’s cattle
from public rangeland, armed
militiamen confronted federal
officials. Bundy stopped pay-
ing grazing fees over 20 years
ago and owes more than $1
million.
This month, his son
Ammon Bundy and a hand-
ful of militiamen from other
states arrived in Burns, some
60 miles from the Hammond
ranch.
In an email to supporters,
Ammon Bundy criticized the
U.S. government for a failed
legal process. Federal lawyers
prosecuted the Hammonds
under an anti-terrorism law
that required a five-year mini-
mum sentence, though they
have declined to say why.
Ammon Bundy wrote that
the Hammonds are not terror-
ists and didn’t commit any
crimes. He also shamed the
Harney County sheriff for not
protecting the Hammonds.
The sheriff didn’t respond
to calls from The Associated
Press.
Ammon Bundy and other
right-wing leaders have called
on armed militia around the
country to come support the
Hammonds.
“If what is happening to
the Hammonds is allowed,
it will set a standard of what
these powerful people will do
to all of us,” Ammon Bundy
wrote in an email, referring to
the federal government.
The Hammonds have not
welcomed the Bundys’ help.
“Neither Ammon Bundy
nor anyone within his group/
organization speak for the
Hammond Family,” the
Hammonds’ lawyer W. Alan
Schroeder wrote to Sheriff
David Ward.
Dwight and Steven
Hammond were to peacefully
report to prison January 4 as
ordered by the judge.
“We gave our word that’s
what we would do, and we
intend to act on it,” he told the
AP.
Prosecutors said the
Hammonds’ grazing leases
didn’t give them exclusive
use of the land or permission
to burn public property. The
fire charred just under 140
acres.
Though the family doesn’t
want confrontation, Dwight
Hammond maintained their
case isn’t about fires: It’s the
climax of the government’s
efforts to take their land at
a time when saving endan-
gered species has gained in
importance.
Dwight Hammond said
he and his own father bought
the ranch in 1964; the pur-
chase price included several
federal grazing allotments —
the rights to lease public land
for cattle grazing. But as the
Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge came to surround the
Hammonds’ property, the
rancher said, the family had
to stave off pressure from the
federal government to sell the
ranch.
Over the years, the gov-
ernment chipped away at
their grazing allotments, tak-
ing some and increasing fees
on others, Dwight Hammond
said. New federal rules made
it harder to renew permits.
After father and son were
convicted of the arsons, the
government declined to renew
their grazing permit. The fam-
ily is appealing that decision.
“We paid hard dollars over
50 years ago for the right to
graze. It isn’t right for them
to take it away from us,”
Dwight Hammond said, add-
ing they’ve had to rent pas-
tures from other ranchers to
keep their cows fed.
An attorney for the
ranchers, Kendra Mathews,
declined to discuss the case.
The U.S. attorney’s office
also wouldn’t comment. But
in an opinion piece published
this month in the Burns Times
Herald, Oregon’s U.S. attor-
ney, Bill Williams, said the
Hammonds received a fair
trial and lawful sentences.
Williams said the govern-
ment has never called the
ranchers terrorists, and pros-
ecutors acknowledged they
were good people who con-
tributed to their community.
If what is happening
to the Hammonds is
allowed, it will set a
standard of what these
powerful people
[the federal government]
will do to all of us.
— Ammon Bundy
Referring to the militia,
Williams said: “Any crimi-
nal behavior contemplated by
those who may object to the
court’s mandate ... will not be
tolerated.”
As for the Hammonds,
they hope to keep the family
business going with help from
relatives. Maybe, Dwight
Hammond said, when his son
gets out of prison, “he can
still have a family and a ranch
to go back to.”