'We' made a difference
September 7, 2011
Good evening everyone.

I have some wonderful news. The criminal charges against Jeremy Hill have been dropped as of today. In an agreement reached today with U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson, Jeremy has agreed to pay a $1,000 civil fine for killing an endangered species. I personally believe that this fine is ridiculous, but I do understand how Jeremy just wants to get this all behind him and to get on with his life.

I want to personally thank each and every one of you who forwarded my original email with the article I wrote to your email contacts. Because of your efforts, Jeremy’s story went national in less than 48 hours. I received emails and phone calls from all over the country, and every one of them was in support of Jeremy.

I was interviewed by Lars Larson and the LA Times as well as others. It truly makes me proud to be an Idahoan and an American. “We the People” beat the Feds, and that isn’t easy to do.

I am not in charge of the bank accounts where those of you sent contributions, but I have suggested that those that want a refund should have that option. Jeremy does have attorney’s costs, since he was arraigned, and those do need to be paid.

But I was thinking that with any money that is left that this is an opportunity to continue with our statement to the federal government that their endangered species act as it is written is broken and unacceptable, and we can work on getting that changed.

Perhaps the funds can also be used to help other unfortunate folks that the Feds persecute and prosecute because they believe that “endangered species” have more value than human life, especially children’s lives in this particular instance.

I’m sure there will be more to come on this subject. If you made a contribution to the Jeremy Hill Benefit Account, I would appreciate your feedback and suggestions on what to do with funds. I will forward those on to Idaho for Wildlife, who set up the three bank accounts. I’m sure they would like some guidance on this.

We are cancelling our fundraiser for September 30, as we were just really getting geared up and had not sold an enormous amount of dinner tickets or AR-15 tickets that were available as of yesterday morning.

I am so pleased that this ordeal will be over for this wonderful, loving family. I know that this experience will always be with them and how overwhelming the challenge and stress has been on them.

As you read U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson’s statement, it is easy to see that they are trying to do damage control for the decisions that were made.

But what is important in the end is the fact that the criminal charges have been dropped so that Jeremy and his family do not have to face a trial and Jeremy's possible imprisonment for a year, a $50,000 fine and a year of supervised release.

I thank you all again, and I thank God for answering my prayers that justice has prevailed, when this is usually not the case.

We all have reason to be proud that the majority of Americans saw the injustice of this case and made their opinions known. This provided the pressure that was needed to “encourage” them to drop the charges.

From each of you, from our elected officials in Idaho who spoke up, and especially from the community of Boundary County that came together to support someone who needed us and we were all there for ... every one of us that understands what it means to keep our children safe and out of harm’s way.

We really can make a difference, especially when we work together to do the right thing. Please pass this article on to those you forwarded to before so that they will know what is going on.

May God Bless You All,