Officials with the OR county where an armed group is occupying a national wildlife refuge have told the group they can’t use county facilities to hold a community meeting.
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A member of the anti-government group told reporters that the meeting will be held Friday evening in Burns, 30 miles from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, The Oregonian newspaper reported. “We invite all to attend”.
The militant ranchers now occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon, have survived glitter bombs, vegan jerky, black eyes, stinging betrayals, and erotic fanfiction, but even these hardened rebels are getting exhausted of living off snacks.
Although numerous Harney County officials and many Burns residents have condemned the armed occupation led by Arizona rancher Ammon Bundy, militia members have continued to claim that their local support is growing and that they will back out once they can transfer their efforts to Burns residents.
“The people on the refuge – and those who they have called to our community – obviously have no consideration for the wishes or needs of the people of Harney County”, Ward said in a statement Monday.
“We’re not going to be deterred”, he says.
“We are taking steps necessary to ensure our employees are safe, and we now are reaching out to landowners who may have records on the refuge”, said Jason Holm, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland.
Not only did the group refuse to budge, but it also renamed the center the “Harney County Resource Center”, to underscore its call for local – not federal – control of the land.
The group posted a wish list online, asking supporters from around the country to send them essentials like razors, warm blankets and cigarettes. They’ve taken these measures in protest of the federal government’s land use policies.
One reason for the continued large law enforcement presence in town, anyway, according to Sheriff Ward, is that armed militants who’ve traveled to this remote corner of OR from around the USA continue to create anxiety for locals.
Photos taken by OPB from inside the refuge showing the occupiers sitting at government computers with the lights and apparently the heat turned on (the occupiers aren’t wearing coats) have created a growing outcry from former federal land managers.
Bundy said the documents would also help secure the release of Steven and Dwight Hammond, two area ranchers convicted of arson who returned to prison last week to serve longer sentences.
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Bundy has previously said the occupiers would not leave until a plan was in place to turn over federal lands to local authorities.
