A man looks on after members of the “3% of Idaho” group along with several other organizations arrived at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Three Oregon sheriffs met with leaders of an armed group to try to persuade them to end their occupation of the federal wildlife refuge after many local residents made it plain that’s what they want.
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Members of an anti-government group called the Pacific Patriots Network Saturday morning drove up in a convoy of SUVs and pickup trucks to the refuge outside of Burns, Oregon, just as a Bundy spokesman was ending his daily morning press conference with local and national media.
Bundy has repeatedly rejected calls to leave buildings at the refuge despite pleas from the county sheriff, from many local residents and from the governor, among others.
Also on Thursday, Harney County Sherrif David Ward met with protest leader Ammon Bundy. And though it may be small, its impact on Harney County has been substantial.
“I want to thank them for standing up for everybody’s rights”, Dale Houck said.
The sheriff of the OR county where armed anti-government activists have occupied federal land asked the protesters to go home Thursday at their first meeting since the confrontation began.
Amid signs that leaders may be looking for an exit strategy, Ryan Bundy, Ammon’s brother, said that the militia was in contact with local ranchers who they could somehow hand over to after they leave.
Authorities haven’t removes the group of roughly two dozen people, some from as far away as Arizona and MI. Bundy said they won’t leave until there is a plan in place to return federal land to locals.
Overnight, the group went into defense mode when rumor spread on the compound that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had warrants out for their arrest and was about to move in for a raid.
On Wednesday Ward said at a community meeting that the armed group should go home, and took exception to the fact that the occupiers are from outside of the area. They vented about what they described as the government’s intrusion into ranching rights and overbearing federal regulations and pointed out that without the occupiers, their complaints about government behavior would not be so widely heard.
The militia is also fighting on behalf of Steven and Dwight Hammond, two ranchers who were sent to federal prison for burning federal land. A judge ruled in October that their prior terms for the arson – three months for the father and one year for the son – were too short under federal law. In October, a court decided that the Hammonds hadn’t served enough time, citing that the minimum sentence for their offence should be five years.
They support Bundy because he drew attention to the problems they’ve been facing in the community. He has been using the occupation to speak out for more local control of public lands.
The sheriff’s office said the two sides planned to talk again on Friday.
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Earlier Wednesday the leader of an American Indian tribe that regards the preserve as sacred issued a rebuke to Ammon’s group, saying they are not welcome at the snowy bird sanctuary and must leave.
