The small community of Harney County is split on the takeover of the refuge, but on Wednesday afternoon, it’s all smiles.
Advertisement
There has been no evident police presence outside the snowy, desolate wildlife refuge in southeast OR since the occupiers took over the main building on Saturday.
Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, arrives for a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
A lawyer for Hammond family has said that the occupiers do not speak for the family.
The 3% of Idaho and the Idaho branch of the Idaho Light Foot Militia both took to Facebook this week and posted statements condemning the armed occupation of federal buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon.
On Thursday, Harney County Sheriff David Ward met briefly with Ammon Bundy, one of the leaders of the group illegally occupying the refuge.
Bundy met the sheriff on a roadside after leaving the compound with other occupiers in two vehicles.
“I’m here today to ask those folks to go home and let us get back to our lives”, Harney County Sheriff David Ward said Wednesday evening.
Ward said the two sides planned to talk again Friday.
The small, armed group occupying a remote national wildlife preserve in OR has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands – a sentiment that frustrates critics who say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists.
Authorities have not yet moved to remove the group of roughly 2 dozen people, some from as far away as Arizona and MI.
The younger Bundy’s anti-government group is critical of federal land stewardship.
A protest began Saturday in support of Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, who were to report to prison Monday on arson charges.
The FBI is looking to determine the safety of people inside and whether the group poses a threat to anyone nearby before deciding on a course of action, according to Brad Garret, ABC News consultant and former FBI special agent. He said sheriffs from Malheur and Tillamook counties were with him.
The Hammonds, who have distanced themselves from the group, were convicted of arson three years ago and served no more than a year.
The Bundy family led a 2014 stand-off with federal authorities in Nevada over grazing rights on their ranch. But the county sheriff has told the group to go home, and many locals don’t want them around, fearing they may bring trouble.
“I believe them”, he said.
Advertisement
“They’re going to take over when we leave”, he said, acknowledging that some Harney County residents want them to depart immediately. However he said people needed to express but their anger peacefully and lawfully.Ive got my own frustrations, weve got visitors in town that have their frustrations, but theres appropriate ways to work out our differences, he said. He also said this occupation will do nothing to gain support for their cause and casts militias in an unfavorable light. A judge later ruled that the terms fell short of minimum sentences requiring them to serve about four more years. Prosecutors said the Hammonds set the fire to cover up poaching in the area.
