During the meeting, the Sheriff asked Bundy to please leave and respect the wishes of Harney County residents. During that time, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward tried to reason with Bundy and facilitate the group’s surrender of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The leader of an American Indian tribe that regards an OR nature pre…
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Ammon Bundy, who has led the revolt at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since the weekend, said the siege would continue until the federal government abandons control of the reserve to local residents. Bundy and other group members claim wildlife refuges are not available for federal oversight.
The armed militia group occupying a federal wildlife refuge in remote OR are sticking to their guns even after the county sheriff offered the group safe passage home, no harm no foul. Angered by issues over land rights and the jailing two ranchers placed in prison for setting fire to 130 acres of land owned by the US government, the group has vowed to occupy the land until the jailed ranchers are released.
A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters looks on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
Authorities haven’t removed the group of roughly two dozen people, some from as far away as Arizona and MI.
“Dwight and Steven Hammond are being forced to report to prison today for a crime they did not commit”, Ammon Bundy, one of the leaders of the occupation, said Monday during a press conference.
Ward was cheered at a packed community meeting in Bend on Wednesday evening when he said the group needed to leave so local people could get back to their lives.
Schools were closed following the seizure of the refuge because of safety concerns in this small town in eastern Oregon’s high desert country and tensions have risen.
“There’s some people here in the room from outside of the community that participated and tried to do a peaceful rally that got hijacked, and people used that for a platform to do something that wasn’t OK”, Ward said.
Several people spoke in support of Bundy and his followers at Wednesday’s meeting. “It seems like it was kind of broken up, but I think this is an education process”, Ritzheimer said. “We survived without them before”. Ammon Bundy has also been holding daily press conferences to speak out about why they are there.
“The protesters have no right to this land”. It belongs to the native people who live here, Burns Paiute Tribal leader Charlotte Rodrique said.Bundy is demanding that the refuge be handed over to locals.Rodrique said she had to laugh at the demand, because she knew Bundy was not talking about giving the land to the tribe.
“I don’t agree with the way that this has all turned out, with taking over the headquarters at the refuge”, he said.
“He’s not in an easy position”, Bundy said.
Critics of the federal government argue that it often oversteps its authority over land use.
The Bundys say they want the federal government to turn over its land holdings in the area to local authorities and that they will leave after they have accomplished their goal.
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Many raised their hands when Ward asked who wanted to resolve this dispute peacefully and send the armed protesters home.
