Cousins receive 48 hours jail for starting Wallow fire

[Red Rabbit]

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/cousins-receive-hours-jail-for-starting-wallow-fire/article_1b5c1d86-eca1-11e1-8b7f-001a4bcf887a.html

[AZLance]

Interesting that none of the people who wanted restitution showed up to testify in court

 

"Prosecutors had reached out to nearly 60 people who could be entitled to restitution in the case, but none of them testified in court Wednesday on the extent of their losses. "

[bonecollector]

In my opinion I dont think a 48 hr jail sentence sends a strong enough message to put out your fire.

[Snapshot]

I hate to throw any sportsman or camper(s) under the bus, but this does nothing to send the proper message to people. "Campfires can be dangerous and destructive"

These guys were extremely careless, and cost the taxpayer $75 million, plus destroyed a forest and property that will never be the way it was within the next 4 or 5 lifetimes.

 

You can get in more trouble for felony speeding, than burning 500,000 acres. Only in America!

[AZP&Y]

Unbelievable. I vote that Beavis and Butthead get the public firing squad.

 

[coues7]

No amount of jail time or lifetime of payment can pay for or begin to compensate the people of Apache and Greenlee County for the loss of their forest lands. The best anyone (you, I and the cousins) can do is to have the forest service revoked of the privledge we have given them to manage our forests! Apache County is currently writing the book and how to deal with the federal government. I do agree, that a 48 hour sentence does not send any sort of message, but the last thing we need is another law on the books to prevent people for stupid! We need to rein in the federal government and the EPA. They (the federal government and EPA), along with the environmental groups hold sole responsibility for the size and extent of this fire! Vote em' out!

[AZHUNTER05]

I hate to throw any sportsman or camper(s) under the bus, but this does nothing to send the proper message to people. "Campfires can be dangerous and destructive"

These guys were extremely careless, and cost the taxpayer $75 million, plus destroyed a forest and property that will never be the way it was within the next 4 or 5 lifetimes.

 

You can get in more trouble for felony speeding, than burning 500,000 acres. Only in America!

 

Felony speeding? I have never heard of that. To be honest they received more punishment then i thought they would. They should have gotten a much worse punishment then they did.

[bowsniper]

Don't get me wrong, those two should get hammered. But...............

 

What about jail time for the forest service? They decided to let it burn because the fire was in the Bear Wallow Wilderness, that contained "no marketable timber". The forest service told the Alpine Fire Department "not to bother". Are you kidding me? Is no one accountable at the forest "service"?

 

Mark

[Coach]

Man, this topic is complicated. On the one hand you've got a couple of idiots that caused a disastrous fire. Then you have a community that lost homes and grazing lands, and untold habitat destruction because of that fire.

 

On the other hand, you have small businesses that profited well by providing water trucks, backhoes and manpower to fight the fire. Not to mention all the crews that came in - they were taking in overtime & hazard pay. The fire was an economic boom for some.

 

And if you've been up there since the fire, it's obvious that it will actually benefit the wildlife for a long time to come. A lot of what burned was overgrown and in need of a natural fire to clear things out. Much of the burned area will be healthier in the next 4-7 years than it was before the fire, because of the fire.

 

 

Overall, from a hunting perspective, I think Unit 1 is going to respond to the Wallow Fire by creating some of the best hunting AZ has ever seen, using 3A/C after the Rodeo/Chedisky fires as a model. Deer, elk, turkey and bear are going to thrive.

[Snapshot]

I hate to throw any sportsman or camper(s) under the bus, but this does nothing to send the proper message to people. "Campfires can be dangerous and destructive"

These guys were extremely careless, and cost the taxpayer $75 million, plus destroyed a forest and property that will never be the way it was within the next 4 or 5 lifetimes.

 

You can get in more trouble for felony speeding, than burning 500,000 acres. Only in America!

 

Felony speeding? I have never heard of that. To be honest they received more punishment then i thought they would. They should have gotten a much worse punishment then they did.

 

I guess they call it criminal speeding now, and not so much a felony.

 

Persons found guilty of excessive speed face much stiffer penalties than a civil-action ticket, with the possibility of up to 30 days in jail and a maximum fine of $500, as defined by §13-707(A)(3) and §13-802©. Additional assessments of up to 60 percent of the ticket may be levied by the court as per §12-116.01

 

Read more: About Arizona Criminal Speeding Laws | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6679852_arizona-criminal-speeding-laws.html#ixzz24NCbLXbz

[PRDATR]

"A restitution hearing is set for Oct. 15.

The jail time can be served on a weekend, but must be served before the restitution hearing, said U.S. Magistrate Mark Aspey.

 

The Malboeufs have agreed to surrender on Aug. 31 to serve their 48 hour sentence. Aspey recommended that they serve their time in Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff, at their request. The community service must be done at a minimum pace of 10 hours per month."

 

I heard they both were sentenced to 200 Hours so I think that 24 hours a month should be the minimum. They were old enough to know better. It's not like we were talking about a couple of 10 year olds.

[azslim]

put em on a shot crew for their community service, them folks would work those boys to death

[Red Rabbit]

What was the misdemeanor charge of which they were convicted?

What do the statutes say are the maximum penalties for this misdemeanor?

 

(The news article is not very comprehensive.)

[AZLance]

This article in the Chicago Tribune, said they could have faced a year in jail, and a $10,000 fine...

 

http://touch.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-71923336/

 

 

I wonder if some of the people who were affected by this fire would have showed up to the sentencing, maybe the sentence would have been harder? Maybe the judge figured no one cared...