A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Mandatory
minimums
imprisoned
Hammonds
N
ow that the Hammonds
are coming home,
how about an effort
to curtail the mandatory
minimum sentences that kept
them behind bars?
After President Trump
pardoned the Hammonds
yesterday, freeing them from
the remainder of the five-year
mandatory minimum sentence
for burning federal land, we
hope new discussions will
emerge about the efficacy of
removing judicial discretion
with mandated sentences.
The Hammond case is the
perfect example of how these
laws with noble intentions
— ensuring justice for the
worst offenders — may sound
great but fail to provide actual
justice.
The Hammonds were
convicted by a jury of their
peers for a federal crime after
a fire they ignited on their
rangeland burned onto public
land.
The federal crime carried a
mandatory minimum sentence
of five years in prison.
The original judge did not
believe a five-year sentence
was proportionate with the
crime committed. He declined
to enforce the mandatory
sentence and issued lesser
sentences.
The problem was that the
sentence was mandatory, which
meant the judge lacked the
discretion to alter it, regardless
of the circumstances.
If mandatory minimums did
not exist, the Hammonds’ story
could have ended when the
judge handed down a sentence
he believed fit the crime.
Instead, the lesser
sentence was appealed by the
prosecutors, and the appellate
court ruled that mandatory
sentences are indeed
mandatory.
That’s how the law is
written. The original judge,
despite his conscience, had
no authority to issue a lesser
sentence. The law removes this
discretion.
So the Hammonds were
ordered back to prison, where
they have been incarcerated for
another two and a half years,
after serving their original
sentences.
The presidential pardon will
allow these two men to return
home to their families, but it
will not prevent the problem
from occurring again. As
long as mandatory minimum
sentences are on the books,
judges will lack discretion
to dispense sentences
commensurate with the crimes.
We are glad the Hammonds
have finally been freed. We
agree the five-year mandatory
minimum sentence did not fit
the crime for which they were
charged.
We hope lawmakers will
learn from this example and
end mandatory minimum
sentences.
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityoflong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313.
• Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario – 900
Court St. NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone:
503-986-1730. Website: www.oregonlegis-
lature.gov/Bentz. Email: Sen.CliffBentz@
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale – 900 Court
St. NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-
986-1460. Website: www.oregonlegislature.
gov/findley. Email: Rep.LynnFindley@
oregonlegislature.gov.
G UEST C OMMENT
Our communities
and quality of life
By Jim Bahrenburg
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
I hear and read that most or
all of rural America is in trou-
ble. I feel rural communities are
the backbone of this country, and
every rural community faces eco-
nomic, family and personal chal-
lenges.
Most rural communities still
provide us with a quality of life
we can’t find anywhere else, even
if making ends meet is sometimes
or always tough.
There’s a lot
of national news
about the country’s
infrastructure that’s
in poor condi-
tion. Here in Grant
County and each of
our local commu-
nities, every one
of us are the infra-
structure that holds
things together and
makes things happen.
For the past 45 years, this
county has given me a quality of
life, and I wouldn’t be here today
if I hadn’t had the help, support
and guidance from all my neigh-
bors, friends and even people who
have always thought I was a little
odd.
Looking back, I realize how
much in my life here I’ve taken
for granted, including the sacrific-
es my parents made for me back
when I knew I was always right.
It’s easy to take for granted what
we have until a hurricane like Ka-
trina hits New Orleans and Puerto
Rico or a fire on Canyon Creek
and cancer changing Cheryl Hub-
bird’s life after years of dedication
to the Dayville community.
We are all capable of putting
our differences aside and working
together to make our communi-
ties, Grant County and our person-
al lives better.
“A house that is divided can-
not survive” in this present world
of nations warring with them-
selves and with their neighbors.
For many years, I have felt Grant
County is one of the few counties
that could become self-sufficient.
We have a small population in
a large county with the right cli-
mate, the headwaters of the John
Day, ranches, local business, a
forest, Malheur Lumber, banks,
churches, schools, hospital, or-
chards and now a few greenhouses
that are storing water every time
it rains.
Whether we like it or not,
We cannot do this if we are di-
vided. We cannot lose our local
businesses, like the dollar store,
Naturally Yours or Boyd Britton
Welding.
I have been criticized for get-
ting too many grants: a small one
for bird houses, a $90,000 OWEB
grant for underground drip irri-
gation on 18 acres that can save
about 1 million gallons of wa-
ter in the six-month irrigation
season and a BPA grant to re-
place a 100-horse power pump
with a variable
speed pump and
a 75-horse pow-
er booster pump
that can save up
to 77,000 kilo-
watt-hours of op-
erating costs and
reducing mosqui-
toes.
I know there is
criticism of Gor-
don Larson’s irri-
gation project to combine his dif-
ferent irrigation diversions on his
land on Canyon Creek to a single,
more efficient location.
I feel that soil and water are
the foundation of our economy,
and protecting our water and soils,
especially after the Canyon Creek
fire, is essential.
Soil and water conservation
districts, the National Resources
Conservation Service, the tribe
and the Oregon Watershed En-
hancement Board are a vital part
of our local agriculture.
None of us are perfect. I make
dozens of mistakes every day, and
as frustrating as it is, I keep learn-
ing.
My hope is for Grant County,
our communities and for the qual-
ity of life we have here, for each
one of us to work toward being a
self-sufficient county, setting our
differences aside to work togeth-
er and not be part of the national
news.
Jim Bahrenburg is with the
North Fork Ranch in Kimberly.
We are all capable of putting
our differences aside and
working together to make our
communities, Grant County
and our personal lives better.
we’re all in this together. None of
us need to go hungry in the best or
worst of times or be out of work.
To try to have an outside busi-
ness come to Grant County to im-
prove the local economy would
be great, but a Grant Union High
School graduate started a compa-
ny he was passionate about called
Winners Choice that became a
success and hired at least eight or
10 people.
Paula Berry was one of five
graduating students in Dayville
and went to the Olympics in Bar-
celona. Our students, our children,
are the future of this county, and
we need to leave them a county
with the same quality of life or
better.
We need a new library with
books and technology where
a child, a high school student,
graduate or single parent can get
a college degree or start a busi-
ness. This library can be the first
solar-powered library in the state,
even if we have to build it our-
selves.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Commissioner
race still open
To the Editor:
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s town
hall meeting was held in the John
Day Senior Center on Friday, July
6. Sam Palmer introduced himself
and said that he had won the prima-
ry election for county commission-
er. That is incorrect.
If no candidate gets at least 50
percent of the votes plus one more,
then the two top contenders go to
the general election in November.
The race is still open.
Gordon Larson and Sam Palm-
er were the two top contenders and
will be on the ballot in November.
Eva Harris
Canyon City
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