Comments on Pro Libertate: When the Rustlers Wear Badges

For anyone who might be interested, here are some ...

2014-12-12T07:26:35.886-07:00

For anyone who might be interested, here are some additional things I've learned about the "background" of Mssrs. Gillette and Hoyt:

Roughly 30 years ago, Sweeney Gillette was in a bar fight - something not unknown to people in the cattle industry -- and spent a week in jail. This is not the sort of thing that would show up in a routine background check of the kind I was able to do; however, information of this kind would be available to someone in the Malheur County Sheriff's Office or the DA's office.

Apart from speeding tickets and trivial matters of this kind, Mr. Gillette was cited in 2009 for an expired brand inspection, which, once again, is neither uncommon nor a criminal offense.

Ric Hoyt had nothing whatsoever to do with his brother's criminal activities, which led to a conviction and a prison term in the 1980s.

In this connection I'll point out that my own brother, unfortunately, has a lengthy list of convictions (none of which, as it happens, involves an offense against person or property). I have no criminal record of any kind, and I suspect the same kind of situation exists in many households. This is why, once again, our legal system explicitly rejects the idea of "corruption of blood" as a principle of shared criminal liability.

Another interesting fact: Sweeney Gillette's brother, called "Jiggs" by his friends, works in law enforcement. He has been furious over the way his brother and family have been treated, but for obvious reasons had kept that opinion to himself until after I published my story.

Reading this story, it all seems unfair ..and ques...

2014-12-11T23:15:28.915-07:00

Reading this story, it all seems unfair ..and questionable. Can you call it "guilty by association or blood"?

Of course that's not a valid legal principle -- but I must admit that it's as "sound" as anything in the farrago of gossip and insinuation that Deputy Speelman called a "probable cause affidavit."

Hopefully the truth will come out in the court system...but folks...the Gillette & Hoyts aren't innocent people by far. I'm not saying they are guilty in THIS CASE, but they both have shaded pasts. All you have to do is google the Hoyt name

This is a splendid -- no, a museum-quality -- specimen of a dishonest rhetorical device called an "apophasis" -- in this case, making an accusation by disingenuously saying it would be unfair to make that very accusation.

As a matter of law, Mr. Hoyt and Mr. Gillette are innocent. People who operate at the fringes of the law, as you apparently think they do, would not invite the scrutiny of the FBI, as they did in seeking redress from the treatment they received from the MCSO. It's also profoundly doubtful that such marginal operators would have the temerity to file a lawsuit -- thereby opening themselves to even further examination -- rather than simply slinking away and making themselves inconspicuous.

There is a party to this controversy that is acting this way: The Malheur County Sheriff's Office and the DA's office.

Reading this story, it all seems unfair ..and ques...

2014-12-11T22:41:13.175-07:00

Reading this story, it all seems unfair ..and questionable. Can you call it "guilty by association or blood"? Rick Hoyt and family have a shaded reputation of fraud and have destroyed many families in Eastern Oregon. Sweeney himself has been in real trouble with the law in his past and prosecuted. Maybe both Rick & Sweeneys *past* is the problem here. Hopefully the truth will come out in the court system...but folks...the Gillette & Hoyts aren't innocent people by far. I'm not saying they are guilty in THIS CASE, but they both have shaded pasts. All you have to do is google the Hoyt name
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2004/11/15/story8.html?page=all

I think that's a bit harsh, and suspect that t...

2014-12-09T13:28:09.119-07:00

I think that's a bit harsh, and suspect that the Gillettes and Hoyts would agree with me. They would be satisfied to have their reputations restored, and to receive compensation for their undeserved financial losses.

Rather than making the responsible parties stretch a rope, I would like to see them face personal financial liability for their misconduct.

In a just world anyone involved in this atrocity n...

2014-12-09T13:14:36.821-07:00

In a just world anyone involved in this atrocity not named Gillette or Hoyt would be swinging by ropes hung from trees or lamp posts.

In this case, one side was composed of productive ...

2014-11-24T18:49:51.520-07:00

In this case, one side was composed of productive business owners who saw their lives upended, their reputations destroyed, and their businesses ruined ... and the other was made up of the people responsible for that state of affairs.

Just remember everyone out there, there are two si...

2014-11-24T18:35:09.154-07:00

Just remember everyone out there,
there are two sides to every story .

I see your point, the honest citizens that become ...

2014-11-23T21:06:20.523-07:00

I see your point, the honest citizens that become victims of organized crime from the criminals in law enforcement. Will be left out in the cold because they are seen as collateral damage, by the entire government.
It's not the citizens in the private sector that are destroying America. It's the government employees, and the facts and truth makes that clear. If there was any good ones, they would not stand still, by the bad ones. The simple truth is, these criminal idiots are destroying any hopes and dreams for all of America's children, which includes their own. Stupid and backwards hillbillys with some power, who don't have the common sense to understand the damage they are doing to their own country.

to Anon at 659AM: you ask 'who can the citiz...

2014-11-23T11:47:23.252-07:00

to Anon at 659AM:

you ask 'who can the citizens turn to when they find themselves crime victims of these kinds of badged criminals?'

the answer, as it has always been throughout history, is each other.
until such time as the public, or, at least those who care, come to this realization and become active, business as usual will continue.

sadly, such egregious actions are ubiquitous across this nation. they continue because they are allowed to continue.

Its very clear the citizens of South West Idaho an...

2014-11-23T06:59:14.009-07:00

Its very clear the citizens of South West Idaho and South East Organ are dealing with a big problem. The problem is, the Us vs Them hillbilly mentality in the local law enforcement camps. From the top down no one will touch these criminal gangs because it will expose just how out of control these hillbilly goons have engaged in criminal actives. With the blessings (if not by looking the other direction) of the local courts and county attorneys.
Its not a shock that the FBI will not step in because they work with these criminal gangs engaging in forfeitures and task forces. Which all begs the question, who can the citizens turn to when they find themselves crime victims of these kinds of badged criminals?

In heaven... The cooks are French. The lovers are...

2014-11-19T15:10:40.500-07:00

In heaven...

The cooks are French.
The lovers are Italian.
The police are English.
And it's all organized by the Germans.

In Hell...

The cooks are English.
The lovers are German.
The police are American...

Rick

The biggest rackets in the world were always and f...

2014-11-19T14:35:14.318-07:00

The biggest rackets in the world were always and forever operated under the kings' imprimatur, while they called the small guys criminals! Problem is still the same, and the plebeians still fall for it, as the Gillettes continue to learn while their "friends and neighbors" villify the good guys (Gillettes) and side with the kings' brigands. The more things change; the more they stay the same! Sad!!