title: Federal Showdown Looms in Oregon After BLM Abuse of Local Ranching Family – Bundys Lead Protest
text: 21st Century Wire says A new front has just opened up in the long battle between America s small farmers and the US federal government. DOUBLE JEOPARDY: Ranching family members Dwight Hammond (left) and his son Steven Hammond were sentenced twice for the same crime by federal officials.Late last week, approximately 150 people marched to the Harney County, Oregon, Sheriffs office in a peaceful protest of the unlawful jailing of two Oregon ranchers, father, Dwight Hammond, 73, and son, Steven Hammond, 46, over accusations of arson for carrying out prescribed burnings on their family-owned cattle ranch in 2001 and 2006. The family and their supporters accuse the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of carrying out a decades-long pattern of abuse and persecution against the Hammonds in a coordinated effort to drive them out of the family ranching business.The scene in Burns, Oregon, Saturday morning as protestors gather in support of 2 ranchers going to prison. pic.twitter.com/ec6tmdeTik  Les Zaitz (@LesZaitz) January 2, 2016After a protest convened, a large group of supporters, including members of the Bundy family from Bunkerville, Nevada, left the public gathering and headed 50 miles outside of Burns, Oregon, (Burns is  located approximately 4 hours southeast of Portland), to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Center, run by the BLM. The protesters have stated that their plan is to occupy the federal facility.Malheur National Wildlife building.Because of the venue s remote location, only a few journalists were able to report on the story over the weekend, but that was set to change on today, with dozens of new national media outlets arriving and setting up camp this morning. Law enforcement has already issued warnings for people to stay away, and the Sheriff s office has also informed media to expect  multiple agencies  (state and federal law enforcement) to be there on Monday morning.Below is a video statement (recorded on Jan 1st) from the protest s spokesman, Ammon Bundy, making an impassioned appeal for public support in a campaign for justice and redress of grievances for the Hammond family and also for additional support to help occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge facility. Since the call went out through social media, a number of supporters and militia members from around the country have started to arrive on-site, with many more expected to arrive in the coming days and weeks.Watch: A video update from protesters and militia members as they arrive on location at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge site:  The United States Justice Department has NO jurisdiction or authority within the State of Oregon, County of Harney over this type of ranch management. These lands are not under U.S. treaties or commerce, they are not article 4 territories, and Congress does not have unlimited power. These lands have been admitted into statehood and are part of the great State of Oregon and the citizens of Harney County enjoy the fullness of the protections of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution limits United States government.  (see the full letter here) As expected, the media coverage on this story has been extremely partisan, with many left-leaning outlets like CNN already characterizing this story as a  Militia Takeover of Federal Building  by a  anti-government gang with guns , without giving any real background commentary to the protracted legal controversy that had preceded events this week. One local affiliate KOIN6, even used the term  militants  in the headline to describe protesters on site. The following report from Conservative Treehouse, tells an incredible story of corruption and abuse of power by the federal government, its agents and courts, in what can only be described as a federal vendetta against the local family. Here s the Hammond Ranch case timeline The short summary is:  in an effort to draw attention to a ridiculous arrest of a father and son pair of Oregon Ranchers ( Dwight Lincoln Hammond, Jr., 73, and his son, Steven Dwight Hammond, 46,) who are scheduled to begin five year prison sentences (turning themselves in tomorrow January 4th 2016), three brothers from the Cliven Bundy family and approximately 100/150 (and growing) heavily armed militia (former U.S. service members) have taken control of Malheur Wildlife Refuge Headquarters in the wildlife reserve.  They are prepared to stay there indefinitely.Here s the long version: including history, details, links video(s) and explanations: PHOTO: The Hammond FamilyHISTORY: (aa) The Harney Basin (where the Hammond ranch is established) was settled in the 1870 s. The valley was settled by multiple ranchers and was known to have run over 300,000 head of cattle. These ranchers developed a state of the art irrigated system to water the meadows, and it soon became a favorite stopping place for migrating birds on their annual trek north.(ab) In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt, in a political scheme, create an  Indian reservation  around the Malheur, Mud & Harney Lakes and declared it  as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds . Later this  Indian reservation  (without Indians) became the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.(a) In 1964 the Hammonds purchased their ranch in the Harney Basin. The purchase included approximately 6000 acres of private property, 4 grazing rights on public land, a small ranch house and 3 water rights. The ranch is around 53 miles South of Burns, Oregon.(a1) By the 1970 s nearly all the ranches adjacent to the Blitzen Valley were purchased by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and added to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge covers over 187,000 acres and stretches over 45 miles long and 37 miles wide. The expansion of the refuge grew and surrounds the Hammond s ranch. Being approached many times by the FWS, the Hammonds refused to sell. Other ranchers also choose not to sell.(a2) During the 1970 s the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), took a different approach to get the ranchers to sell. Ranchers were told that,  grazing was detrimental to wildlife and must be reduced . 32 out of 53 permits were revoked and many ranchers were forced to leave. Grazing fees were raised significantly for those who were allowed to remain. Refuge personnel took over the irrigation system claiming it as their own.(a3) By 1980 a conflict was well on its way over water allocations on the adjacent privately owned Silvies Plain. The FWS wanted to acquire the ranch lands on the Silvies Plain to add to their already vast holdings. Refuge personnel intentionally diverted the water to bypass the vast meadowlands, directing the water into the rising Malheur Lakes. Within a few short years the surface area of the lakes doubled. Thirty-one ranches on the Silvies plains were flooded. Homes, corrals, barns and graze-land were washed away and destroyed. The ranchers that once fought to keep the FWS from taking their land, now broke and destroyed, begged the FWS to acquire their useless ranches. In 1989 the waters began to recede and the once thriving privately owned Silvies pains became a proud part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge claimed by the FWS.(a4) By the 1990 s the Hammonds were one of the very few ranchers that still owned private property adjacent to the refuge. Susie Hammond in an effort to make sense of what was going on began compiling fact about the refuge. In a hidden public record she found a study that was done by the FWS in 1975. The study showed that the  no use  policies of the FWS on the refuge were causing the wildlife to leave the refuge and move to private property. The study showed that the private property adjacent to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge produced 4 times more ducks and geese than the refuge did. It also showed that the migrating birds were 13 times more likely to land on private property than on the refuge. When Susie brought this to the attention of the FWS and refuge personnel, she and her family became the subjects of a long train of abuses and corruptions.(b) In the early 1990 s the Hammonds filed on a livestock water source and obtained a deed for the water right from the State of Oregon. When the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) found out that the Hammonds obtained new water rights near the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge, they were agitated and became belligerent and vindictive towards the Hammonds. The US Fish and Wildlife Service challenged the Hammonds right to the water in an Oregon State Circuit Court. The court found that the Hammonds legally obtained rights to the water in accordance to State law and therefore the use of the water belongs to the Hammonds.*(c) In August 1994 the BLM & FWS illegally began building a fence around the Hammonds water source. Owning the water rights and knowing that their cattle relied on that water source daily, the Hammonds tried to stop the building of the fence. The BLM & FWS called the Harney County Sheriff department and had Dwight Hammond (Father) arrested and charged with  disturbing and interfering with  federal officials or federal contractors (two counts, each a felony). He spent one night in the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, and a second night behind bars in Portland before he was hauled before a federal magistrate and released without bail. A hearing on the charges was postponed and the federal judge never set another date.(d) The FWS also began restricting access to upper pieces of the Hammond s private property. In order to get to the upper part of the Hammond s ranch they had to go on a road that went through the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge. The FWS began barricading the road and threatening the Hammonds if they drove through it. The Hammonds removed the barricades and gates and continued to use their right of access. The road was proven later to be owned by the County of Harney. This further enraged the BLM & FWS.(e) Shortly after the road & water disputes, the BLM & FWS arbitrarily revoked the Hammond s upper grazing permit without any given cause, court proceeding or court ruling. As a traditional  fence out state , Oregon requires no obligation on the part of an owner to keep his or her livestock within a fence or to maintain control over the movement of the livestock. The Hammonds intended to still use their private property for grazing. However, they were informed that a federal judge ruled, in a federal court, that the federal government did not have to observe the Oregon fence out law.  Those laws are for the people, not for them .(f) The Hammonds were forced to either build and maintain miles of fences or be restricted from the use of their private property. Cutting their ranch almost in half, they could not afford to fence the land, so the cattle were removed.(g) The Hammonds experienced many years of financial hardship due to the ranch being diminished. The Hammonds had to sell their ranch and home in order to purchase another property that had enough grass to feed their cattle. This property included two grazing rights on public land. Those were also arbitrarily revoked later.(h) The owner of the Hammond s original ranch passed away from a heart attack and the Hammonds made a trade for the ranch back.(i) In the early fall of 2001, Steven Hammond (son) called the fire department, informing them that he was going to be performing a routine prescribed burn on their ranch. Later that day he started a prescribed fire on their private property. The fire spread to public land and burned 127 acres of grass. The Hammonds put the fire out themselves. There was no communication about the burn from the federal government to the Hammonds at that time. Prescribed fires are a common method that Native Americans and ranchers have used in the area to increase the health & productivity of the land for many centuries.(j) In 2006 a massive lightning storm started multiple fires that joined together inflaming the countryside. To prevent the fire from destroying their winter range and possibly their home, Steven Hammond (son) started a backfire on their private property. The backfire was successful in putting out the lightning fires that had covered thousands of acres within a short period of time. The backfire saved much of the range and vegetation needed to feed the cattle through the winter. Steven s mother, Susan Hammond said:  The backfire worked perfectly, it put out the fire, saved the range and possibly our home .(j1) The next day federal agents went to the Harney County Sheriff s office and filled a police report making accusing Dwight and Steven Hammond of starting the backfire. A few days after the backfire a Range-Con from the Burns District BLM office asked Steven if he would meet him in town (Frenchglen) for coffee. Steven accepted. When leaving he was arrested by Harney County Sheriff Dave Glerup and BLM Ranger Orr. the Sheriff  then ordered him to go to the ranch and bring back his father. Both Dwight and Steven were booked on multiple Oregon State charges. The Harney County District Attorney reviewed the accusation, evidence and charges, and determined that the accusations against Dwight & Steven Hammond did not warrant prosecution and dropped all the charges.(k) In 2011, 5 years after the police report was taken, the U.S. Attorney s Office accused Dwight and Steven Hammond of completely different charges, they accused them of being  Terrorist  under the Federal Antiterrorism Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. This act carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of death. Dwight & Steven s mug shots were all over the news the next week posing them as  Arsonists . Susan Hammond (Wife & Mother) said:  I would walk down the street or go in a store, people I had known for years would take extreme measures to avoid me .(l) Shortly after the sentencing, Capital Press ran a story about the Hammonds. A person who identified as Greg Allum posted three comments on the article, calling the ranchers  clowns  who endangered firefighters and other people in the area while burning valuable rangeland. Greg Allum, a retired BLM heavy equipment operator, soon called Capital Press to complain that he had not made those comments and request that they be taken down from the website. Capital Press removed the comments. A search of the Internet Protocol address associated with the comments revealed it is owned by the BLM s office in Denver, Colorado. Allum said, he is friends with the Hammonds and was alerted to the comments by neighbors who knew he wouldn t have written them.  I feel bad for them. They lost a lot and they re going to lose more,  Allum said of the ranchers.  They re not terrorists. There s this hatred in the BLM for them, and I don t get it,  The retired BLM employee said. Jody Weil, deputy state director for communications at BLM s Oregon office, indicated to reporters that if one of their agents falsified the comments, they would keep it private and not inform the public.(m) In September 2006, Dwight & Susan Hammond s home was raided. The agents informed the Hammonds that they were looking for evidence that would connect them to the fires. The Hammonds later found out that a boot print and a tire tracks were found near one of the many fires. No matching boots or tires were found in the Hammonds home or on their property. Susan Hammond (Wife) later said;   I have never felt so violated in my life. We are ranchers not criminals . Steven Hammond openly maintains his testimony that he started the backfire to save the winter grass from being destroyed and that the backfire ended up working so well it put out the fire entirely altogether.(n) During the trial proceedings, Federal Court Judge Michael Hogan did not allow time for certain testimonies and evidence into the trail that would have exonerated the Hammonds. Federal prosecuting attorney, Frank Papagni, was given full access for 6 days. He had ample time to use any evidence or testimony that strengthened the demonization of the Hammonds. The Hammonds attorney was only allowed 1 day. Much of the facts about the fires, land and why the Hammonds acted the way they did was not allowed into the proceedings and was not heard by the jury. For example, Judge Hogan did not allow time for the jury to hear or review certified scientific findings that the fires improved the health and productivity of the land. Or, that the Hammonds had been subject to vindictive behavior by multiple federal agencies for years.(o) Federal attorney, Frank Papagni, hunted down a witness that was not mentally capable of being a credible witness. Dusty Hammond (grandson and nephew) testified that Steven told him to start a fire. He was 13 at the time and 24 when he testified (11 years later). At 24 Dusty had been suffering with mental problems for many years. He had estranged his family including his mother. Judge Hogan noted that Dusty s memories as a 13-year-old boy were not clear or credible. He allowed the prosecution to continually use Dusty s testimony anyway. When speaking to the Hammonds about this testimony, they understood that Dusty was manipulated and expressed nothing but love for their troubled grandson.(p) Judge Michael Hogan & Frank Papagni tampered with the jury many times throughout the proceedings, including during the selection process. Hogan & Papagni only allowed people on the jury who did not understand the customs and culture of the ranchers or how the land is used and cared for in the Diamond Valley. All of the jurors had to drive back and forth to Pendleton everyday. Some drove more than two hours each way. By day 8 they were exhausted and expressed desires to be home.On the final day, Judge Hogan kept pushing them to make a verdict. Several times during deliberation, Judge Hogan pushed them to make a decision. Judge Hogan also would not allow the jury to hear what punishment could be imposed upon an individual that has convicted as a terrorist under the 1996 act. The jury, not understanding the customs and cultures of the area, influenced by the prosecutors for 6 straight days, very exhausted, pushed for a verdict by the judge, unaware of the ramification of convicting someone as a terrorist, made a verdict and went home.(q) June 22, 2012, Dwight and Steven were found guilty of starting both the 2001 and the 2006 fires by the jury. However, the federal courts convicted them both as  Terrorist  under the 1996 Antiterrorism Act. Judge Hogan sentenced Dwight (Father) to 3 months in prison and Steven (son) to 12 months in federal prison. They were also stipulated to pay $400,000 to the BLM. Hogan overruling the minimum terrorist sentence, commenting that if the full five years were required it would be a violation of the 8th amendment (cruel and unusual punishment). The day of the sentencing Judge Hogan retired as a federal judge. In his honor the staff served chocolate cake in the courtroom.(r) On January 4, 2013, Dwight and Steven reported to prison. They fulfilled their sentences, (Dwight 3 months, Steven 12 months). Dwight was released in March 2013 and Steven, January 2014.(s) Sometime in June 2014, Rhonda Karges, Field Manager for the BLM, and her husband Chad Karges, Refuge Manager for the Malheur Wildlife Refuge (which surrounds the Hammond ranch), along with attorney Frank Papagni exemplifying further vindictive behavior filed an appeal with the 9th District Federal Court seeking Dwight s and Steven s return to federal prison for the entire 5 years.*(t) In October 2015, the 9th District Court  resentenced  Dwight and Steven, requiring them to return to prison for several more years. Steven (46) has a wife and 3 children. Dwight (74) will leave Susan (74) to be alone after 55 years of marriage. If he survives, he will be 79 when he is released.(u) During the court preceding the Hammonds were forced to grant the BLM first right of refusal. If the Hammonds ever sold their ranch they would have to sell it to the BLM.(v) Dwight and Steven are ordered to report to federal prison again on January 4th, 2016 to begin their re-sentencing. Both their wives will have to manage the ranch for several years without them.To date they have paid $200,000 to the BLM, and the remainder $200,000 must be paid before the end of this year (2015). If the Hammonds cannot pay the fines to the BLM, they will be forced to sell the ranch to the BLM or face further prosecution. (more citations here) See updates at Conservative TreehouseHere is another video update from Ammon Bundy: SUPPORT 21WIRE  SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV