A “Don’t Tread on Me” flag at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge entrance, where armed men continue to occupy a federal wildlife refuge despite locals’ calls for them to leave the area.
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A Dont Tread On Me flag flies at the entrance of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
Militia spokesperson LaVoy Finicum said Tuesday they plan to meet with the community at 7 p.m. Friday to discuss the goals of the occupation and when the militia plans on leaving the refuge.
A pastor, who is opposed the occupation, and the wife of a local police officer told the newspaper motorists were driving slowly by their houses during the night or parking for lengthy periods in their driveways in an apparent attempt to intimidate them.
The group, led by Ammon Bundy, seized the refuge headquarters last Saturday.
She said that actions by certain politicians have only emboldened the occupiers.
The group of anti-government protesters – which is calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom – believes the Hammonds have been treated unfairly and exposed to double jeopardy for having to serve multiple sentences.
Steve Grasty, an administrative judge in Harney County said in a community meeting that he proposes to bill the armed militia as much as $75,000 per day. Apparently right-wing militias are very earnest and really believed that no one would even think to troll them, because according to the video above, they’re surprised and disappointed that they received a bunch of dicks.
He said that Bundy is working to have a newly formed so-called Harney County Committee of Safety, run by local residents, take over the fight against federal regulations.
The armed men plan to hold a meeting Friday evening in Burns to explain themselves and inform residents when they will leave. The activists are there to oppose federal land-management policies.
The leader is Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, who ran off federal agents from his ranch two years in Nevada. “That wasn’t 100 percent unanimous, there was a small group who didn’t support that”, she said.
Over the weekend, the federal refuge’s sign was covered with a new sign that reads “Harney County Resource Center”.
“We have a longstanding practice of allowing community groups to use county facilities”, said Harney County commissioner Steven Grasty.
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“I thanked them for what they were doing”, one resident said.
