As the town of Burns, Oregon, breathes a sigh of relief, the curtain is drawing to a close on a very human story.
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A leader in the movement against federal land policy will stay in jail until his second court hearing next week.
Dwight Hammond Jr., 74, and his son, Steve Hammond, 47, are serving the remainder of their sentences in federal prison. One of the two fires that the Hammonds have been accused of was set by Steven in order to counter a wildfire that threatened his crops.
Federal authorities have not said why they chose to arrest the 69-year-old now.
It’s unclear what charges he faces or when authorities believe he was at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
The co-conspirators are not named, but details in the complaint suggest they are Malheur leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy, Montana militia leader Ryan Payne, and journalist Pete Santilli. He was accompanied by his brother Ryan.
January 19, 2016: Several hundred people rally in Portland about 300 miles north of the remote refuge in southeastern OR to demand that Bundy end the occupation and to note that federal management makes it possible for all kinds of people to enjoy public lands. I want to thank our neighbors in eastern OR for their patience, resolve, and their kind and welcoming spirit to the many members of federal, county, state, local, and tribal law enforcement who have worked tirelessly to bring this illegal occupation to a conclusion. “It’s going to require increased law enforcement vigilance, because the next round will involve violence”.
DeFazio said Bundy and the occupiers should be “vigorously prosecuted” and added that the government should “get much more aggressive against insurrectionists on the radical fringe”. He was known as a spokesperson for the occupation. Bretzing narrated an aerial video showing the traffic stop that led to Finicum’s death amid claims the rancher did nothing to provoke officers.
Without their leader, all but a handful of the protesters surrendered soon after Ammon Bundy’s arrest.
Most of the occupiers fled the refuge. Local sherriff David Ward was vocal in his opposition to the occupation. The Army veteran served combat tours in Somalia and Afghanistan, the county’s website says. Harney County Judge Steve Gratsy was also vocal about the fact that the occupiers had worn out their welcome. The youngest of them, David Fry, had been friends with Finicum, and even helped him publish a novel.
Judge Jones said he found that “the government and the agents of the government in that locale, sometime in the ’70s and ’80s, entered into a conspiracy, a literal, intentional conspiracy, to deprive the Hages of not only their permit grazing rights, for whatever reason, but also to deprive them of their vested property rights under the takings clause, and I find that that’s a sufficient basis to hold that there is irreparable harm if I don’t… restrain the government from continuing in that conduct”. “I’m a free man. I will die a free man”.
Michele Fiore takes questions after courthouse speech After delivering a speech outside of the Federal Courthouse in Portland on the afternoon of February 12, 2016, Nevada assemblywoman Michele Fiore took questions from reporters and spoke on topics ranging from the definition of “armed” to whether or not everyone should “move back to England”. Graham is the son of evangelist Billy Graham. Fiore, a conservative lawmaker from Las Vegas with a record of supporting gun rights, was an unusual candidate for negotiator in Oregon.
The last four armed occupiers of an OR wildlife refuge surrendered without a shot being fired, signaling a victory for the FBI’s patient approach and reflecting lessons that agents have learned since past bloody standoffs.
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The FBI’s delayed response also allowed the occupants to film their actions and stream them to the world, which they did, and which may offer prosecutors a buffet of evidence to use against them in court. The charges against the elder Bundy are the similar to those against his two sons including conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer and weapons charges.
