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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2016)
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Feds bolster security at preserves By terrence Petty & Steven DuBois Associated Press PORTLAND (AP) — The government has beefed up security at national wildlife refuges in states south of Ore- gon as an armed standoff over federal land policy has cre- ated tensions in the region and shows no sign of ending soon. Additional security offi- cers were sent to preserves in southern Oregon, Northern California and Nevada as four occupiers remain holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and say they will not leave without assurances they won’t be arrested. “No specific threats or incidents have occurred, but we remain vigilant to ensure employee and visitor safety throughout the region,” Jody Holzworth, a Sacramento- based regional spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service, said in an email Wednesday. The additional security measures are in place at the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Com- plex, which straddles the Oregon-California border; Ash Meadows National Wild- life Refuge in Nevada; and Modoc National Wildlife Ref- uge in Northern California. As the holdouts drag out the occupation, a federal grand jury indicted standoff leader Ammon Bundy and 10 others who have already been arrested. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoff Barrow said Wednesday that the indict- ment also includes “others,” perhaps a reference to the remaining occupiers. The 11 face a conspiracy charge of using intimidation to prevent federal officers from doing their work at the refuge, which is in a sparsely populated area of southeast- ern Oregon. The occupation began Jan. 2, with Bundy and his fol- lowers demanding the federal government turn public lands over to local control. After his arrest during a traffic stop late last month, he repeatedly has called on the holdouts to go home to avoid bloodshed. Authorities are monitor- ing the standoff but have not moved in to the federal property, instead arresting the main figures Jan. 26 on a remote road outside the ref- uge. That’s where police shot and killed Arizona rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum dur- ing a confrontation. The FBI says Finicum, a spokesman for the armed group, reached for a gun in his jacket pocket. Bundy sup- porters say his death was not justified. His death led to protests this week by those support- ing the occupation, while local residents rallied to urge the holdouts to leave, fur- ther dividing the strained community. Federal authorities fear those tensions could pop up elsewhere. Preserves and other sites run by the Fish and Wildlife Service nationwide are being extra vigilant, said Gavin Shire, the agency’s chief of public affairs. “Due to the evolving situa- tion in eastern Oregon, all ser- vice stations are on alert and being advised to take appro- priate caution,” Shire said in a statement. Students rally against proposed tuition hike EUGENE (AP) – Students at the University of Oregon are protesting a proposed 4.7 percent tuition hike, argu- ing that the increase isn’t affordable. About 50 students rallied outside the campus adminis- tration building Wednesday, undeterred by the afternoon’s rainy weather, reported The Register-Guard. That pro- test was followed by a tense hour-long meeting in which students accused school offi- cials of undermining their education. “I work 20 hours a week on campus,” said 26-year-old Ted Yanez, a mathematics major with a wife and one- year-old child. The tuition increase, he said, “doesn’t seem like much, but even that makes it hard to support a family.” The UO Board of Trustees will vote in March about whether to raise tuition by 4.76 percent for in-state stu- dents and 4.46 for out-of-state students. 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