The leader of a group of armed protesters occupying the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in southeastern OR met briefly with a local sheriff on Thursday but rejected the lawman’s offer of safe passage out of the state to end the standoff.
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An Oregon sheriff has called off plans to speak with the leader of an armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge.
The group also objects to a lengthy prison sentence for two local ranchers convicted of arson.Im 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. “However, the sheriff is keeping all options open”.
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.
During a press conference, Ammon Bundy, the leader of the militia group occupying the reserve was asked about the Burns Paiute stance and he replied by saying while he didn’t know much about their claim to the land, he would like to see them “free from the federal government”.
Straw poll among Harney County, Oregon residents on who wants the Bundy crew to leave.
“Someone from Harney County, or a group of us, needs to tell them we recognize what you’ve done, but it’s time for you to go home to your families”, said county resident Rob Frank. His father, Cliven, also referenced his religious beliefs during an infamous 2014 standoff with federal authorities in Nevada.
Ammon Bundy told reporters he was frustrated that the sheriff had not looked at his group’s list of grievances.
Bundy’s protest at the refuge is a continuation of long-running arguments that federal policies for management of public lands in the West are harming ranchers and other locals.
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. Now, the tensions between the federal government and ranchers in Harney County, which is roughly three-quarters federally-owned, go way back.
Federal and local officials have not moved to oust the group or arrest them.
“I’m willing to get you an escort all the way out of the state”, he said.
When pressed by a reporter Wednesday on when protesters would leave, Bundy said, “Enough is enough when there’s actual action that is happening”. She says the group is “desecrating one of our sacred sites”.
While many disagree with the tactics used by the armed occupiers at the wildlife refuge, they say they illustrate mounting frustration over excessive federal government control over local communities.
DAVE WARD: I, too, have a lot of concerns about the direction our country is going.
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Powers said Ward searched the meeting to work out a serene determination to the takeover, not to make any captures. The ranchers – Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond – distanced themselves from Bundy’s group and reported to prison on Monday. In October, a court decided that the Hammonds hadn’t served enough time, citing that the minimum sentence for their offense should be five years.
