The Observer 01-06-16

Page 4

THE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016

SERVING UNION AND WALLOWA COUNTIES SINCE I666

The Observer cag eca oons.com

GUEST EDITORIAL

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Editorial from the Baker City Herald:

Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven, are victims of an overzealous federal prosecution. But their unnecessarily harsh punishment for lighting fires that burned public property in no way justifies the actions of people who, ostensibly acting in defense of the Hammonds, have broken into and occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge southeast of Burns. The people who took over the refuge building on Saturday — none of them, apparently, are local residents — are not helping the Hammonds. Nor are these protesters, who have called for others to join them in preventing federal employees from entering the refuge headquarters, benefiting Harney County residents or their reputation. Instead the conspirators have obscured the legitimate protest of a heavy-handed prosecution by trespassingand making exaggerated claims about the federal government's lack of legal authority to manage public land. That the Hammonds committed arson is not in question. The legal debate has to do with a federal law regarding terrorism that is the basis for their prison terms, and whether that law conKcts with the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments." When U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan originally sentenced the Hammonds in 2012, he argued, and quite persuasively, that the men should not be labeledas terrorists and sentenced to five-year prison terms under that law. "It would be a sentence which would shock the conscience," Hogan said. He sentenced Dwight Hammond to three months in prison, and Steven Hammond to one year. That's reasonable. But Amanda Marshall, at the time the U.S. attorney for Oregon, challenged Hogan's decision and argued that the Hammonds should serve the full five years as outlined in the federal statute. A Justice Department oKcial agreed with Marshall and authorized an appeal of Hogan's sentence. An appeals court ruled in Marshall's favor and ordered the Hammonds to be resentenced this October. U.S. Chief District Judge Ann Aiken sentenced both Hammonds to serve the remainder of five-year sentences, that started Monday. Hogan came to the logical and reasonable conclusion that the Hammonds did not deserve to be punished as terrorists. We support the protesters who gathered in Burns on Saturday to participate in a rally backing the Hammonds. But apeaceful protesthas little in common with taking over a public building and vowing, as one of the occupiers has done, to stayhere"for years, absolutely." Their action is likely to accomplish nothing except to besmirch the reputation of Harney County residents.

errorism, merican s e A

s the popularity of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and other race-baiting antidemocratic politicians attest, a significant portion of the American public is hostile to Washington, whether with respect to expansion of civil liberties and human rights, taxation, immigration policy or diplomacy. This part of the public wants a strong, no-nonsense leader who will take them out of the cultural and political wilderness, and restore to them lmainly meaning to white male America) the respect and power it once supposedly had. A subset of this public consists of gun lovers lagain, all white males) who live by conspiracy theories, a distorted notion of the Constitution and the Bible, and acraving forviolentaction against authority. They are our terrorists. We inAmerica thus must deal with the unfortunate factthatdomesticterrorism is becoming a serious national security threat, greatlyhelped bytheprovocative rhetoric of the leading Republican presidential candidates. Since 9/11,"non-Islamic extiemists" actually account for more lives lost than"Islamic extiemists,"by 48 to 45. Yet, this predominantlywhite, male, Christian terrorism invariably escapes being labeledassuch.Instead,them assme dia uses more polite language, such as"militia men" and armed activists" — words that probablywould notbe applied if the termrists wereAmerican Indians,AfricanAmericans, Jews, or ofcourse Muslims.As Janell Ross writes in the Washington Post,'The descript ionsofeventsin Oregon appearto reflect the usual shape of our collective as-

MEL GURTOV SYNDICATEDCQLUMNIST

sumptions about the relationship between race and guilt — orreligion and violent exlremism — in the United States." Which brings me to the current situation in rural Oregon's Malheur National Forest Refuge. A small group of selfstyled "militia" seems to think that an armed occupation is the only alternative when complaints against government arenot satisfactorily addressed. But that is nonsense: peaceful protest, passive resistance, elections, petitions and recalls are all available. Four years ago, when the Occupy movement was in thrall, peaceful sit-ins were the norm, not armed invasion, seizure ofbuildingsand declarations ofself-rule.The current Oregon situation in fact was precededby a peacefulprotestagainst federal regulation of ranch land, only to have the "militia" preempt it to serve its own needs.Itsleadersnever bothered to ask the Hammond family, on whose behalf the extremists says they are acting, if it wanted their support. The extremists' action is reminiscent of various U.S. interventions abroad that have occurred without a request for it by local authorities or indigenous groups claiming oppression. The so-called militia in Oregon is armed and dangerous. These people have been spoiling for a fight and, while

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FEDSMONITORARMED GROUP NHLRBURNS interesting that the leaders of this rebellion are all from somewhere else? The Hammonds want nothing to do with them, and obviously they don't need to work to support their revolution....

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Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is professor emeritus of political science at Portland State University.

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preaching peaceful intentions, seem to welcome doing battle with government officials. Its leaders speak the language of millenarian groups: referring to loyalty to a higher power, professing to act on behalfof"the people,"vowing violence only if provoked. This is the familiar language of terror groups, which, while to some degree reflecting a larger public anger, exploit it to further its own ambitions. The Oregon group would like nothing better than to be joined by more far-right antigovernment outfits as a means of self justification. It's a microcosm of the ISIS end-of-days perspective. Local and federal law enforcement will need to confront thesepeople at some point, hopefully with Waco and Ruby Ridge in mind and therefore without violence. There are plenty of options, including cutting off the group's water, power and telephone to isolate it. A negotiated solution also seems possible, one that trades the group's willingness to end its occupation in return for no prosecution. Thefederalauthoritiesalso might consider reducing the sentences of the two Hammond family members who have been returned to jail. Their five-year sentences do seem excessive, for range-fire arsonists. A sentence reduction would calm public resentment in that county and take the ground out from under the terrorists.

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