Vol. 80/No. 4 February 1, 2016
(front page)
Oregon ranchers demand ‘Free the
Hammonds,’ debate occupation
Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven, fellow cattle ranchers, returned to federal prison in California Jan. 4 to serve additional time on frame-up charges of “maliciously damaging” U.S. property by fire, which the government prosecuted under the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. They had set two backfires on their ranch, one to protect against an approaching wildfire and the other to destroy invasive juniper growth. They burned a total of 140 acres of federal land.
The fires took place in 2001 and 2006, but federal officials didn’t file charges until June 2010. In previous decades, the government had bought up land around the Hammonds to expand the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, but the Hammonds refused to sell their ranch.
Their case gained national attention after a small group of armed protesters led by Ammon Bundy occupied buildings at the nearby wildlife refuge following a peaceful demonstration of 300 Jan. 2. Bundy, the owner of a truck maintenance business in Arizona who has been involved in other land fights with the federal government, calls his group Citizens for Constitutional Freedom. He says the occupation supports the Hammonds and opposes federal control of land.
Forcing the Hammonds to prison a second time for the same charges is seen as grossly unfair by ranchers and workers in the area, increasing anger over the conduct of federal government agencies that control more than half the land in Oregon and 75 percent in Harney County. Grazing cattle and getting water on federal land is critical for area ranchers, large and small, but they face bureaucratic rules and fees every step of the way, including pressure to give up their land.
Government officials have tried to whip up sentiment against the occupation. At the Jan. 6 meeting, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward asked for a straw poll on who wants “to work this out peacefully and would like these folks to go home.” Most at the meeting raised their hands, according to the Burns Times-Herald. At the same time, many said they were sympathetic to the occupiers’ demands.
“Whether you agree or disagree with Bundy’s movement, he has given Harney County our biggest and best platform to get our message out,” rancher Mitch Siegner told the meeting.
Trial judge Michael Hogan sentenced Steven Hammond to two concurrent one-year sentences and his father to three months of imprisonment. The judge rejected imposing the five-year minimum sentence set in the terrorism statute, saying it would be grossly disproportionate to the severity of charges and “would shock the conscience.”
The Hammonds reached a verbal agreement with prosecutors not to appeal the case, and also agreed to pay fines for the fires and to give the federal government first opportunity to buy their ranch if they put it up for sale. But prosecutors appealed anyway and the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in their favor. The Hammonds were ordered back to prison to complete the five-year sentence minus time served.
As the occupation continues, tensions and disputes have escalated. Some rightist armed “patriot” groups who offered to help were turned away by Bundy, but remain in the area.
After LaVoy Finicum, a spokesperson for the occupiers, addressed a Jan. 16 press conference at the wildlife refuge, Kieran Suckling grabbed the microphone to demand they leave “public land.” Suckling is the executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Arizona, which focuses on preserving endangered species.
Various groups who said they spoke for animals, birds and the environment held protests against the occupation Jan. 19 in Seattle and Spokane, Washington; Boise, Idaho; Portland, Oregon; and other Northwest cities. Signs at the rallies included “Bird Lives Matter” and “Arrest the Occupiers,” but not a word about the problems facing ranchers, working farmers and workers in eastern Oregon. Residents who support the Hammonds or express sympathy with the demands of the occupation report they have been followed by police or FBI agents, who have set up a command post in town.
Bundy had said he would hold a community meeting Jan. 15 and announce his “exit plans,” but local officials denied him use of the county fairgrounds or other public buildings in Burns.
Vanessa Leathers-King, a hairstylist who is active in efforts to defend the Hammonds, organized a protest of more than a dozen people in Burns Jan. 18, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to protest denial of the right of local residents to hold meetings in public buildings. Signs quoted King, including “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent.”
The protest would have been bigger, she said in a video posted on the web, but “A lot of people here are afraid to stand up and put their names in. They’re worried about job loss.” She added that some local businesses told workers not to say anything about the dispute.
On Jan. 19 local officials organized another community meeting. Bundy and others involved in the occupation attended but did not speak. County Judge Steve Grasty looked at Bundy and said, “It is time for you to go home.” Some in the gymnasium chanted, “Go, go, go.”
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