David Justice
When some environmentalists vandalize work sites to block economic growth and energy development, they get government grants to continue their anarchy.
But when activists hold a non-violent protest to remove a barrier to public lands, they’re labeled as anti-government and sent to jail.
Such was the fate this week of radio personality “David Justice,” a 58-year-old Gunnison man who was sentenced by a federal court to a month in prison and ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution for damaging a gate in 2013.
That’s right, a gate.
He didn’t lead a horde of anarchists through a major city to smash windows and clash with police, he didn’t commit arson, he didn’t injure anyone or threaten lives — he damaged a gate.
His was a challenge to the BLM’s abuse of federal powers, a public charge that the government had illegally closed the Cushman Creek Trail near Montrose to vehicle traffic for random environmental reasons.
It was an act of defiance, not a criminal act, and certainly not an act of terror.
Animal activists from Earth Liberation Front set fire to Vail Resort properties on Oct. 19, 1998 to “save” the lynx.
As the BLM proceeds with even more road closures across public lands near Grand Junction this year, protests are already beginning to pop up around the region.
And now we know what the stakes are – defy the federal government’s closure of public lands and risk a month of freedom.
Public Land is under attack by the BLM, several meetings , protest's and comments were ignored. Legal recourse is moot when dealing with the Federal Government. Appears to me that civil disobediance is the only action we the people can take to be heard.
Seems to me that if a group of 12 or more locals were to gather locally to make local decisions like to keep a Common Way Common that going against their wishes would be a violation of Their God Given duty and U.S. and Coloradan constitutional protected Right to Lawfully Assemble for Local Government rather than being forcefully and unlawfully ruled by tyrants from afar.
Filing a court case is not vandalism, destroying American property paid for by US taxpayers is. I understand that is hard to grasp through the wingnuttiness.