Bay Area Indymedia has the following report in the BFC arrests. Local Papers Spin BFC Arrests, As Expected.
While I’ll post what the Montana media reports, I think we are going to have to rely on blogs to get at a lot of the facts, given the local domination of people and the media by the livestock politicians.
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Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
Comments
The dude kicked out the window of a Highway Patrol Car. Then he complains of his treatment, you do stupid things, stupid things happen to you. Thats a felony what he did, and I am sure they will make an example out of him.
He is charged. He isn’t convicted.
You might want to get the facts before purporting to know any, dear “elkhunter.” If you read the piece in question, you would know that violence is a trait of the Department of Livestock and if you doubt that then perhaps you should come out into the field instead of making of yourself an armchair jury.
People are getting the two BFCrs mixed up.
The first BFC patrol was arrested for asking the MHP officer – Shane Cox – why he wasn’t controlling traffic. That’s why the officer went after him. The MHP officer was not doing his job (and not for the first time); he was letting traffic flow while buffalo were being hazed across 191. The officer took issue with being questioned. The BFCr was consequently (and wrongfully) arrested.
The second BFC patrol (Dan) came to document the end of the arrest and the hazing operation. Dan was asked by the MHP to stand back. He did. He moved back and back some more. But the MHP was in an aggressive mood and so nothing the BFCr did was good enough, even though orders were followed. So, the cop grabbed Dan’s arm, took his video camera, tackled him to the ground and handcuffed him. For what? He followed orders. He didn’t resist. He was grabbed roughly, thrown to the ground by the cop and consequently received three surgical stapels in his head, plus numerous scratches on his face and a mouth full of gravel.
In both cases, the two BFCrs did what the cop said, and were wrongfully arrested.
As to the first volunteer allegedly breaking the window of the cop car; he had already been arrested, that was not the cause of arrest.
Stephanie, I have a very hard time bellieving your account, in my experience someone does not go from a perfect example of a citizen to kicking out the window of a patrol car in the matter of a few minutes. I am sorry I just dont see it like that, I am sure he was acting the same way the entire time, you judge someone by their actions, and his actions said alot.
How much experience do you have being dubiously arrested, then watching a friend/colleague being assaulted?
I admit, I’ve never had an experience akin to this. How many of us have?
Mike, I understand where your coming from, but in all honesty I have never known anyone who has kicked the window out of a patrol car, these guys seem to be very aggressive activits and acted that way, so I would assume that the police would meet aggressiveness with aggressivness. I just have a hard time being understanding when he did what he did, I just dont see him going from a very peaceful protestor to violently kicking out the window of the car, unless of course he has multiple personalitys. So I am sure there are things that happened before hand that influenced what happened to him.
Some people have a hard time believing anything that contradicts their world view. This is why comprehensive change is so hard to manifest; it is why we continue to run the earth into the ground to support a narrow vision of what it means to be civilized.
However, elkhunter insists on dealing in absolutes and extremes, acting as if anyone on this page has asserted ANYONE being a perfect example of a citizen. I seriously doubt that I have ever met a perfect example of a citizen. What was stated was that someone is CHARGED and not convicted OF REACTING to a situation of complete disregard of his rights and safety, not to mention the safety of motorists.
I have seen what I have seen and I wonder if you have even read the piece you are responding to. If you have then you should tell me outright that I am simply a liar, from your armchair out here to the scene of the action, and see how much credibility you are given from the comfort of your living room.
We don’t know if he kicked the window out. I wouldn’t trust this law enforcement bunch to necessarily tell the truth.
Elkhunter you don’t seem to have followed the controversy over the bison and lies told for the last eleven years. I have, and I’m skeptical until there are more than media reports.
Elkhunter, you are speaking out of total ignorance about the situation. You obviously haven’t even read the article or you haven’t paid attention to what you have read.
From experience I can say that this is typical behavior of the agencies involved, especially USFS, MHP, and DoL agents. They do everything they can to avoid the documentation of their actions and use very aggressive behavior and false arrests as a widespread tactic. Dare I say the words “Facist Pigs”? Yes.