Tim DeChristopher, the fraudulent bidder at last week's Bureau of Land Management oil and gas auction, is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame ("Bogus bidder had to take a chance," Tribune , Dec. 23). What I hope he enjoys is hard time behind bars for his "act of civil disobedience." I hope he enjoys paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution.

If Pat Shea and Ron Yengich are inclined to defend those who perform these acts of civil disobedience, will they step up to the plate to defend the person who drives their jeep into a wilderness area in order to perform their "act of civil disobedience" to protest the shameful lockup of our public lands?

I hope the federal government has the guts to throw the book at this clown. While the rest of us work hard to feed our families and survive in this economy, fools like DeChristopher waste taxpayer time and money with stunts like this.

Did DeChristopher and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance supporters protesting outside the auction walk or bicycle to the auction? Or did they use any oil or gas to get there? If the latter, what a bunch of hypocrites.

Kelly Skeen

Sandy