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. The university’s
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figures show that UO has
raised tuition by more than 70
percent over the past decade.
“The reason we’re increas-
ing tuition is because our
costs are going up,” Provost
Scott Coltrane told students
during the Wednesday meet-
ing. He said faculty wage and
benefit costs are increasing
and the Oregon Legislature is
steadily cutting higher-educa-
tion funding.
“We don’t relish raising
tuition. It’s a hard decision,”
he said.
But students argued that
UO administrators are tone
deaf to the impact of tuition
increases.
“We have to look at other
revenue sources,” said Shawn
Stevenson, the student gov-
ernment finance director.
According to Stevenson, the
tuition increase would force
students to provide 80 percent
of the $15 million UO needs.
“That’s frankly not OK,”
he said, suggesting cap-
ping tuition increases at 3.5
percent.
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