FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2018, SALEM, OREGON: Oregon Farm Bureau (OFB) thanks the president, Congressman Walden, and all of those who worked to end the injustice done to Steven and Dwight Hammond by granting them clemency. While nobody can restore what they’ve lost to this prosecutorial overreach and bureaucratic vendetta, we are happy that this awful chapter will be coming to a close soon.
OFB has publicly advocated for the Hammonds, including gathering over 25,000 online signatures, and also supported clemency through officials in Oregon and Washington, D.C.
OFB President Barry Bushue said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with Steven and Dwight as they get back to the people and the land they love. We will continue to do whatever we can to ensure that this injustice is never repeated.”
The federal judge who heard the Hammonds’ case, Michael Hogan, said in his ruling that a five-year prison sentence is “grossly disproportionate to the severity of [petitioners’] offenses.” He added that it does “not meet any idea I have of justice, proportionately” and “would shock the conscious to me.” Hogan also noted that the 1996 Anti-Terrorism & Effective Death Penalty Act was never meant to apply to ranchers simply trying to protect their land.
We agree.
Oregon Farm Bureau (OFB) is a grassroots, nonpartisan, nonprofit, general farm organization representing the interests of farming and ranching families in the public and policymaking arenas. First established in Oregon in 1919, Farm Bureau is organized in all 36 counties and has nearly 7,000 farm and ranch family members.
Oregon Farm Bureau President Barry Bushue is a third-generation farmer raising pumpkins, u-pick produce, and flowering baskets at a nearly century-old farm near Boring. He is OFB’s 15th president.
Klamath Alerts 7/10/18
