Bundy said it should be turned over to Harney County officials.
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A protester holds up a sign during a rally against the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by Ammon Bundy and his armed followers, while joining the rally at the Federal Building in Eugene, Ore., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016.
Gov. Kate Brown said federal officials “must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable”. “The spectacle of lawlessness must end”. She notes that local law enforcement officials are being threatened, and that they are under a lot of pressure to maintain public safety.
Friends and neighbors gathered at the meeting in Burns, Oregon, to express their outrage and concerns that have arisen in the wake of the Bundy’s armed seizure of the wildlife refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sits 30 miles southeast of Burns, according to OregonLive.
In a statement Thursday the agency said the situation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern OR has caused “tremendous disruption and hardship” for people in the community and our “response has been deliberate and measured as we seek a peaceful resolution”. He also says the federal government has no right to the land and is unilaterally making land use decisions that are detrimental to local ranchers. Bundy has said the group won’t leave until federal land is returned to local control. A spokeswoman for the governor said the cost includes paying for additional law enforcement presence, overtime, travel reimbursement, lodging and meals for officers.
She said the occupation has cost OR taxpayers almost half a million dollars.
“We’ll be asking federal officials to reimburse the state for these costs”, she said.
Beyond keeping the refuge employees from doing their jobs, the town has shown a growing resentment toward the occupiers and repeated requests that they leave Harney County.
Judge Grasty agrees with Brown’s sentiment about the federal government’s inaction.
Bundy has called for the release of Burns-area ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven, sent to prison on arson convictions for burning federal land. It could be argued that by not putting down the armed insurrection taking place in OR today, the federal government is failing to fulfill its constitutional duties. “The very fabric of this community is being ripped apart”.
A small group of environmentalists tried to confront the Bundy occupiers, telling them to pack up and go home, but were not allowed to present their case.
In some ways, federal response to armed protests have shifted dramatically in the past two decades, experts say. Those of us who have not taken up arms to occupy a federal building paid for federal employees threatened by the standoff not to work.
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Federal agents have taken a cautious approach, hoping to avoid tragedies such as what happened in Waco, Texas, in 1993, where a gun battle between federal agents and the Branch Davidians left 10 dead, and at Ruby Ridge, the northern Idaho site of a deadly confrontation in 1992 between federal agents and suspected white supremacist Randy Weaver and his family. He said ranchers are “afraid of prosecution” if they help now.
