Forest Service criminally prosecuted a small-scale miner for use of a sluice box

[winners58]

The U.S. Forest Service criminally prosecuted a small-scale miner, John Godfrey, in The District Court For The Eastern District of California ,
for hand mining with the use of a sluice box. The New 49'ers Legal Fund has filed an Amicus Brief in the appeal.

We believe the government and magistrate made a serious error by not allowing proper consideration to the Section 228 regulations which expressly state that hand mining and sluicing is completely exempt from the requirement to provide any Notice or Plan to the USFS

the brief that was filed;
http://www.goldgold.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Proposed-Amicus-Brief-court-conformed-copy.pdf
.

 

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[2cmorau]

All the more reason to help​

JAMES L. BUCHAL (SBN 258128) MURPHY & BUCHAL LLP 3425 SE Yamhill Street, Suite 100 Portland, OR 97214 Telephone: (503) 227-1011 Facsimile: (503) 573-1939 [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Attorney for proposed amicus The New 49’ers Legal Fund [/FONT][/FONT]

 

[ratled]

You can also send money directly to the New 49ers for this, and all of the other causes they fight, to their BIG drawing with the Grand Prize of a Proline Dredge - Thanks Proline!.

Each $10 gets you 1 ticket. There are also 20 1/10oz gold coins as prizes. You can learn more and donate here » Four-inch Proline dredge & 20 American Gold Eagles! ? Legal Fund-raiser.

Since the New 49er Legal Defense Fund is a non profit all donations are tax deductable and can use Pay pal to make it easier on you

Hey if you are gpoing to donate, why not get a chance to get a dredge or a gold coin!!!!

ratled

 

[goldenIrishman]

Waive a copy of the finding of the Tierney case under their noses! Judge has already found that hand mining does NOT cause any significant disturbance and Tom had a hole that was about 20 feet long X 10 deep X 15 wide. Sounds to me like some FS guy(s) was having a bad day or something. They keep forgetting that they're SUPPOSED to be public servants.


EDIT: I finally got the PDF to load on my slow old dinosaur of a computer and saw that they did quote US Vs Tierney. I always enjoy reading the submissions to the courts by JB. He's one of the few lawyers I've seen that writes a brief that's a pleasure to read. Always well thought out and well documented.

This also goes to show that the Forest Service is out of control. When they toss out established laws and procedures on a whim and start writing their own rules, it's time to haul back on the reigns and get them back under control. They're supposed to be serving the public interest, not their own.

 

[russau]

Sounds like the USFS violated his Constitutional rights! and the judge don't know right from wrong and is a sympathetic greenie at heart!

 

[BurntBear]

We need a clean sweep of the USFS. All new staff. Half those guys are in their 60's and haven't seen a law book or treadmill in 40 of those years. I loathe these people.....

 

[russau]

and the other 1/2 of them are the greenies that ole babbleing bruce babbit(Secratary of the interior) hired when ole slick willey(flat azz lier!) got into office!

 

[goldenIrishman]

The people need to start holding these individuals accountable for their actions. If they step outside the laws (which very few of them actually know in the first place) they need to be taken to court and forced to pay for their mistakes. If we go outside of the laws, we're fined and or jailed. Why should these rogue employees of the people be any different? If the people start taking them to court and winning, it won't take long for these agencies to get their act together.

It used to be that you had to meet requirements for the job you were applying for. Since these people are having to deal with miners, doesn't it make sense that they should be required to have a working knowledge of mining laws? I'm not saying that they have to have a law degree, but at least a basic knowledge of the laws that they're supposed to be upholding should be required. When they overstep their authority and trample on a persons rights under the law, they should be forced to pay that person damages.

 

[meMiner]

In my humble opinion, the fellow with the sluice should go to court and ask for deferrals (postpone). Eventually, the USFS won't bother showing up. The problem with this strategy is the enforcement officer is probably paid OT to show up in court and so is personally incented to do so, until their manager (who holds the purse strings) finally figures out it is costing his department a ton of $$.

 

[johnedoe]

Here is a little something everybody needs to know.... And why you should get a jury trial..... Of course the jurors need to know this as well.
Goto this site and find out the power of a jury and why they aren't told this by the legal system.
Jury Nullification | Fully Informed Jury Association

 

[goldenIrishman]

Good read johnedoe and something that everyone in this country should keep in mind. The justice system in our country can be and often is intimidating to individuals, even if they're only there for Jury Duty and are not charged with a crime.

Since I'm getting ready to open up a couple of new claims and will have to be dealing with the BLM on a regular basis, I can see where this information could come in handy. I've never been one to back down from anyone that is trying to bully me, so I can see myself ending up in court because I wished to stand up for my rights under the laws of the land and not give in to some BLM employee that's on a power trip. (at least where I'll be claiming I won't have to worry about FS Rangers as well)

 

[Goldwasher]

one of the problems ids who is retiring and was forced to. Those guys who put in 30 = years are the guys we used to get along with.there are a lot of staff who have been pushed out due to new attitudes.

 

[specksandflecks]

Drug cartels with illegal grow ops all over the place and they arrest the guy with the hand sluice.. Someone get these Einsteins to NASA STAT! Don't forget to tune in next week for the next episode of the Benny Hill show.

-- The creators of hooked on phonics are proud to announce their latest offering! Stuck On Stupid.

Maybe a parade is in order to celebrate the heroism of these brave defenders of fascisim. Is there a guest of honor list? I'll get to work on the float. We can do it up hunger games style with that terrorist miner in a cage surrounded by our heros. Think they'd be down?

 

[russau]

One thing to remember is that these gubermint workers , weither BLM , USFS , COE , or a state level gubermint employee HAS to go by their agencys guide lines book! If they step over the line outside of their job description, they can be forced to get their own lawyer to defend themselves. their gubermint agency isn't required to pay for their defense. and IF they do, then that agency is drawn into the suit and is equally liable if convicted. BUT why would we let them use our tax dollars to fight against us?? this would be another issue! they work for us ! we aren't their underlings or subservants! this is what ive read over the years and im NOT a lawyer!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well none of us on here are lawyers Russ. (Well maybe Clay and Bejay are the exceptions) I really don't think that lawyer would make a good miner since they don't seem to like to get their hands dirty or do a hard days work. Because of this, it is important that anyone that is in mining should at least make an attempt to learn and understand the laws that deal with mining. It is also important for all of us to learn and understand the limits of authority of each of the government agencies that we have to deal with. We have to be vocal when they overstep that authority and be willing to defend our rights as well as take the fight to them. Being able to take individual government employees to court is an important step to being able to get changes made as to how these agencies operate. If enough of them end up loosing their ass(ets) in court, then others in that agency will start to think twice before they overstep the limits of their agency mandate. If this happens enough times in different agencies, then we just might see a shift in their policies.

They say "You can't fight City Hall". I beg to differ! Lately there have been several cases in the courts that have been big wins for the miners. Brandons case as well as Tom Tierneys case are good examples of what can happen when a miner is knowledgeable, dedicated to his beliefs and willing to stay the course and stand up for his rights as well as the rights of others. The fight is far from over but as long as we have dedicated people standing up for what's right we have a good chance of winning.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well none of us on here are lawyers Russ. (Well maybe Clay and Bejay are the exceptions) I really don't think that lawyer would make a good miner since they don't seem to like to get their hands dirty or do a hard days work. Because of this, it is important that anyone that is in mining should at least make an attempt to learn and understand the laws that deal with mining. It is also important for all of us to learn and understand the limits of authority of each of the government agencies that we have to deal with. We have to be vocal when they overstep that authority and be willing to defend our rights as well as take the fight to them. Being able to take individual government employees to court is an important step to being able to get changes made as to how these agencies operate. If enough of them end up loosing their ass(ets) in court, then others in that agency will start to think twice before they overstep the limits of their agency mandate. If this happens enough times in different agencies, then we just might see a shift in their policies.

They say "You can't fight City Hall". I beg to differ! Lately there have been several cases in the courts that have been big wins for the miners. Brandons case as well as Tom Tierneys case are good examples of what can happen when a miner is knowledgeable, dedicated to his beliefs and willing to stay the course and stand up for his rights as well as the rights of others. The fight is far from over but as long as we have dedicated people standing up for what's right we have a good chance of winning.

 

[minerrick]

I had the opportunity to see John's operation, and I have no idea why the USFS would have wanted to bother him, other than his claim was on the side of a very popular hiking trail. He had a short flume on the side of the creek that dumped water into his sluicebox, which then had a 8 foot diameter settling pond situated on the side of the creek. He even went to the trouble of each afternoon, after shutting down the sluice, he would hand shovel the gravel out of the settling pond and hand wheel barrow the tailings up to a dump location up on the hillside, outside of the normal flood plain. He really went out of his way to have a very clean operation, since he WAS on the side of a popular hiking trail. And for his extra effort for keeping a clean working area, his equipment and vehicles were constantly vandalized by the local greenies. The USFS definitely wanted to make an example of him. John was just trying to make an honest living. John is a good guy, and the whole kangaroo court of this experience was an example of a system out to railroad him.

 

[ratled]

You can also send money directly to the New 49ers for this, and all of the other causes they fight, to their BIG drawing with the Grand Prize of a Proline Dredge - Thanks Proline!.

Each $10 gets you 1 ticket. There are also 20 1/10oz gold coins as prizes. You can learn more and donate here » Four-inch Proline dredge & 20 American Gold Eagles! ? Legal Fund-raiser.

Since the New 49er Legal Defense Fund is a non profit all donations are tax deductable and can use Pay pal to make it easier on you

Hey if you are gpoing to donate, why not get a chance to get a dredge or a gold coin!!!!

ratled

Bump....drawing this Friday. Good chance for a dredge or some gold coins!

ratled

 

[Bonaro]

What I would really like to see is for one of us to not just defend ourselves from the constant and increasing over-reach of the BLM, Forest Service, Dept of wildlife or EPA (etc) and actually press charges and go on the offensive for violation of constitutional rights and seek a huge monetary penalty.
I believe that these agencies consider prosecution of a defensive miner as just part of their operating expense.

 

[Gold Maven]

I wish him luck, I can tell by the size of the hole he's a hard worker.

20'x15'x10' deep by hand, that's a lot of work, even if the digging is easy.