And that’s why you’re seeing them at the refuge making direct pleas to the local sheriff here in Harney County to do things like stand up to the federal authorities or the oppressors as these people see federal land managers and any federal authority. “While some militants stay posted at the refuge, others have been seen about town, driving slowly past the homes of those who have “spoken out” against them”, La Follette said.
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Dwight Hammond and his son Steven were prosecuted by the federal authorities over two fires that started on their property but spilled over onto government land, affecting a total of 140 acres.
By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press An armed group occupying the headquarters of a national wildlife refuge in southeastern OR wants the federal government to relinquish the land to local officials so it…
They want a response within five days. Ammon Bundy, a group leader, said they would take a defensive position anticipating a possible raid.
The Hammonds reported to federal prison Monday to serve sentences for starting fires on federally managed lands. They will now serve about four more years each.
Actually, the Hammonds are not facing double jeopardy. “They view federal managers as somehow overlords, or people who actually do not work the land”.
Tegan Strickland, a high school junior from a ranching family in nearby Crane, said the Hammond’s case had struck a nerve with people who think a way of life is being threatened.
Double jeopardy is a clause in the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution that prevents a person who was tried and acquitted of a crime from being tried again for that exact same offense.
The Hammonds have set themselves apart from the armed movement, and from Bundy in particular.
“I don’t like what’s going on at the refuge”, she says. “We have better ways of expressing our displeasure than that”, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said in an appearance on CNN. They’ve said they won’t leave and want the government to hand over land resources there.
Ward said he and the Harney County Board of Commissioners have requested assistance from the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association and Oregon State Police.
“We have been very active in forwarding our plan and assisting the people of Harney County in claiming and using their rights”, militia leader Ammon Bundy said on Tuesday, according to The Oregonian.
“I agree with a lot of this”, he says.
“Negotiating, being smart about this, but also knowing that in the end, the job of government is to enforce the law and make sure following the law is most important principle to follow”, Christie said.
Law-enforcement officials also dismissed the occupiers as being separate from the protest over the Hammonds, saying they came to the region with a specific and different goal. And you consider that all of these disputes that we have been tracking are occurring at a time when the economies of rural places like this are changing rapidly. But he said that when the community is “strong enough to defend” their rights “then we will go home”. There’s no law enforcement visible. Ward left without answering any questions.
A pickup blocked the entrance Tuesday morning to a national wildlife refuge in OR where a small, armed group has been occupying the remote area since Saturday. Ryan and Ammon Bundy are part of a group of protesters who are in a standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife…
The terrorists are protesting the federal prosecution of two ranchers (Dwight Lincoln Hammond, Jr., 73, and his son, Steven Dwight Hammond, 46) both convicted of arson in a failed attempt to cover up illegal poaching on federal lands.
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Bundy’s father, Cliven, is a Nevada rancher who has sparred with the government for years and who in 2014 had an armed standoff with federal agents trying to prevent him from illegally grazing his cattle on federal land. They were being held at a federal prison in California, and announced they would seek rare clemency from President Barack Obama.
