Wednesday, January 20, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Oregon standoff:
Call for supplies
By rick Bowmer
Associated Press
BURNS (AP) — The
occupation of national wild-
life area by a small, armed
group upset over federal land
policies stretched into its sec-
ond week as the mother of the
group’s leader asked support-
ers to send supplies — every-
thing from warm blankets to
coffee creamer.
The group that seized the
Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge in Oregon’s high
desert country on January 2
planned no media briefings.
It was quiet at the entrance to
the refuge Sunday.
The leader of the occu-
pation, Ammon Bundy, has
repeatedly rejected calls to
leave buildings at the refuge
despite pleas from the county
sheriff, from many local
residents and from Oregon’s
governor, among others. He
has said the group will leave
when there is a plan to trans-
fer control of federal land to
locals.
So far, the authorities
have not moved in to remove
Bundy’s group. Ammon
Bundy is the son of rancher
Cliven Bundy, who was
involved in a 2014 Nevada
standoff with the government
over grazing rights.
On Saturday, Ammon
Bundy’s mother, Carol
Bundy, sent an email to sup-
porters asking them to send
her son’s group supplies from
a list of more than 80 items,
including sleeping bags, wool
socks, cigarettes, toiletries,
food, coffee and “French
Vanilla Creamer.”
An Oregon state legisla-
tor met with the group on
Saturday, despite requests
from local officials that he
not do so.
Rep. Dallas Heard, a
Republican from Roseburg,
talked with the group, The
Oregonian reported. Heard’s
legislative district is in west-
ern Oregon, outside the area
where the standoff is occur-
ring. Rep. Cliff Bentz, the
Republican state representa-
tive whose district includes
the wildlife refuge, told Heard
not to come because it would
be “inappropriate.”
Harney County Judge
Steven Grasty, another local
official, says he too advised
Bentz against the visit. Grasty
said Bentz and five other
out-of-state elected officials
from Washington, Idaho and
Nevada accompanied Heard.
It wasn’t clear who the other
elected officials were. Heard
did not return a call Sunday
from The Associated Press.
Also Saturday a separate
group of armed men arrived
but left several hours later
after occupation leaders told
them they weren’t needed.
The Pacific Patriot
Network showed up Saturday
in a convoy of about 18 vehi-
cles, carrying rifles and hand-
guns and dressed in military
attire and bulletproof vests.
They said they were there
to help with security. They
departed the refuge area after
LaVoy Finicum said the net-
work’s help was appreciated,
but “we want the long guns
put away.”
The standoff is the latest
flare-up of tensions over fed-
eral management of Western
lands.
The federal government
manages most of the land in
many Western states, includ-
ing 53 percent of Oregon.
While ranchers and others
object to what they say are
unfair rules, environmental-
ists say mining, logging and
ranching have run roughshod
for decades on public land
and left a legacy of pollution
for taxpayers to clean up.
Geese and kids...
25
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photo by Diane goble
...playing together at cliff clemens Park.
CCB#178543