Patriots take over Mahler Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon

Ammon Bundy and a band of patriots have taken over the Mahler Wildlife Refuge after exhausting all legal avenues to save Dwight and Steven Hammond from going to Federal Prison. The Hammonds were arrested and charged with "Arson Terrorism" for setting backfires on their ranch that burned 120 acres of BLM land that they had grazing right on. These prescribed burns are common practice among ranchers to allow new grass to grow in the spring. In addition they were fined $400,000 and forced to sign a document that says if they sell their land they have to sell it to the Federal Government. The Hammonds have spent 1 million dollars in legal expenses since 1992 in fighting the Feds for the rights to graze cattle on their own lands. Dwight Hammond is 73 and may die in prison. The law they were charged under was written to prosecute someone who sets a Federal building on fire and was never intended for burning of public lands.