Durfee Gets Maximum Sentence In Hay Bale Burning wnaw.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wnaw.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Hay bales with messages supporting the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket burn Oct. 9, 2001, in Dalton. On Thursday, Lonnie Durfee of Dalton was sentenced to a year in the local House of Correction, less time already served, for setting the display on fire. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MEGAN WHILDEN VIA FACEBOOK
PITTSFIELD â Last month, a year in jail sounded like too much to Lonnie Durfee, the man who set fire last fall to a Dalton farmâs campaign endorsement, a crime covered around the world. On Thursday, he accepted it.
Durfee, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of burning personal property during a Central Berkshire District Court hearing, accepting legal responsibility for pouring gasoline on a farmâs Biden-Harris hay bale display during last fallâs divisive presidential election.
“The use of fire has a deeply rooted association with political and civil rights intimidation. This fire victimized not only the property owners but represented a threat to entire communities,” she said in a statement. “This sentence sends a message that our community will not accept those types of actions and that civility and respect will prevail.”
The display at Holiday Brook Farm in Dalton had featured 19 wrapped hay bales painted with the words “USA” and “VOTE” along with the names of the then-Democratic presidential ticket.
On Oct. 9, 2020, Durfee used motor oil and gasoline to set the display alight because he “disagreed with the political stance it represented,” according to a police report.
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While the Pittsfield Police Department saw fewer calls related to domestic violence and sexual assault than in the previous year, observers donât necessarily see that as a good thing.
Many believe that the pandemic has worsened risks for violence and made it more difficult for survivors to report. They say underreporting, exacerbated by pandemic conditions, could offer a more accurate explanation for the trend than a drop in violence.
Due to travel and gathering restrictions, survivors may have fewer opportunities to report violence without perpetratorsâ knowledge, and they may fear backlash if perpetrators find out they are making a report.