Trump gives permit to ranchers whose case led to occupation

[Judi Lynn]

Jan. 21, 2021
Updated: Jan. 21, 2021 9:32 p.m.


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management in the final days of the Trump administration issued a grazing permit to Oregon ranchers whose imprisonment sparked the 2016 armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge by right-wing extremists.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s restored Dwight and Steven Hammond’s grazing permit earlier this week, which lasts for 10 years, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

The father and son had their permit revoked after a jury convicted them in 2012 of arson on public lands a decade earlier. The men went to prison, served time and were released, but the U.S. Department of Justice later ordered them back to prison to finish the mandatory minimum five-year sentence.

That kicked off the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which is 300 miles (483 kilometers) southeast of Portland. The Oregon State Police fatally shot one occupier, saying he reached for a pistol at a roadblock.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Trump-gives-permit-to-ranchers-whose-case-led-to-15889083.php

[Ford_Prefect]

1. Revoke it on review. They committed arson knowingly and were correctly found guilty.

No one who lives in the shadow of the Malheur occupation and the events that preceded and ended it believes they were not guilty.

There are those who imagine the whole "sovereign citizen" scam has basis beyond the hype. They are a minority here.
The Bundy gang and others like them have been supported and stirred by the Koch Brothers and other rich supporters of the so-called sage brush revolt as a means of allowing the Extraction and Oil industries greater and unregulated access to federal lands.

[Nitram]

2. Loves to poke a stick in the eyes of liberals.