A DAPL Protester Gets His Life Back On Track -- In Federal Prison -- June 2, 2017

When reading this article, remember, every month the DAPL was delayed, the state of North Dakota lost $10 million in revenue. Link here. Ten million dollars / month for ever month the DAPL was delayed.

For the archives.

From New Mexico's leading news source, the Albuquerque Journal: New Mexico man get threes years in federal prison for DAPL protest. And there will be more.

45-year-old Michael Giron was part of a group that put barricades on a state highway south of Mandan, North Dakota, and set them on fire, then clashed with law officers. The incident happened Oct. 27, 2016.

Giron, who also goes by the name Little Feather, pleaded guilty to civil disorder in February in a plea agreement with prosecutors, who dismissed a more serious charge. He is the first of seven protesters charged with federal crimes to be sentenced.

From The Bismarck Tribune:

Leoyla Cowboy can't wait for her husband to come home.

As the last of six character witnesses for Michael Giron at his federal sentencing hearing Wednesday in Bismarck, Cowboy told District of North Dakota Chief Judge Daniel Hovland of her husband's generosity and dedication. Giron is the first of seven federal defendants to be sentenced in a criminal case connected to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. 

In court, his attorneys and witnesses said he turned his life around from drug use and recidivism, describing him as having found a "new identity" at the Oceti Sakowin camp where he was a community protector and served tribal elders.

Two job titles I had not seen before: community protector and serving tribal leaders. Whatever. The judge appeared to be impressed.

"It seems as though you've turned things around in your life, sir," Hovland told Giron. "I commend you for that."

North Dakota winters will do that for some.  

Other thoughts:

• the real story in hindsight