Armed Bundys, Friends Battle Feds Over Two Ranchers Imprisoned
The Bundys are back. After prevailing in a grazing-rights standoff with Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents last year, the Nevada ranching clan is again locking horns with the feds. This time Ammon Bundy (shown) is leading an armed group of protesters, which includes his two brothers, who have occupied a federal building at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon; the men are taking up the cudgels for a pair of ranchers they claim have been unjustly imprisoned by the central government.The ranchers, Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, have been in conflict with the feds for decades and recently were sentenced to five years in prison. Reports the Washington Post:Prosecutors accused the Hammonds of committing arson on federal land in 2001 and 2006. The men and their attorneys argued that the fires had been set on their own property — once to prevent the spread of an invasive species of plant and once in attempt to prevent the spread of a wildfire — and had inadvertently burned onto public lands. But prosecutors said the fires were set in attempt to destroy evidence that the Hammonds had been illegally hunting deer on the federal lands.The two men have previously served prison time for the crimes, but earlier this year a federal appeals court concluded that their initial sentences had been too short — arson on federal property carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years — and ordered the men back to prison.
Source: Armed Bundys, Friends Battle Feds Over Two Ranchers Imprisoned
