in other words
march19
2020
11
The Residual Power of Ammon Bundy continued from page 9
calling — just like he called sheriffs
in Clark County, Nevada, and Harney
County, Oregon, years ago. He wanted a
meeting.
The sheriff knew he had to say
yes.
WHEN THE MALHEUR Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge standoff pushed
Harney County, Oregon, into the head-
lines, David Ward — the county sheriff
— was at the center, trying to keep the
peace. Four years later, neighbors there
are still divided over the federal govern-
ment’s role in the county.
But in December, Ward put it
all behind him: He resigned, because
his department was underfunded. The
standoff is “a closed chapter of my life,”
he said. But perhaps more than any sher-
iff in the West, he can speak best to the
unique sway Bundy has over people. “I
don’t think he’s going to stop interject-
ing himself,” Ward said. “People prob-
ably reach out to them every time they
have a grievance. He’s their knight in
shining armor.”
During the Malheur occupation,
people in Clearwater County watched
closely as the standoff dragged on, said
Goetz. Orofino’s an old mining town at
the county’s edge, a small city bifur-
cated by the rumbling Clearwater River,
attracting floaters and fishermen to its
rugged beauty. The county is home to
the Clearwater and St. Joe national for-
ests and the federally owned Dworshak
Dam. Malheur, Goetz said, “could hap-
pen here.” He called a meeting of local
leaders to discuss, “What are we going
to do if it does?”
It’s interesting to hear this
from Goetz, who has aligned with
causes many Bundy supporters would
also agree with: In 2017, he supported
terminating the law enforcement arms
of federal land-management agencies,
such as the Forest Service. (He does,
however, believe those agencies should
keep their investigative departments.)
He’s a “Constitutional Sheriff” — part
of a movement of sheriffs who believe
their authority is the highest law in
the land. But he’s not as radical as the
sheriffs who’ve come to the Bundys’
side; he actually works closely with
federal officials. “I support some of (the
Bundys’) positions, but I don’t support
their tactics,” he told me. “Taking over
the refuge in Oregon? I’m not sure what
they were trying to accomplish with
that.”
But quickly, Goetz saw how
Clearwater County residents felt about
Bundy. Just as soon as Bundy an-
nounced he was coming to Orofino, lo-
cals told him to stay away. “There were
more people than I thought that said,
‘We know what happens when you show
up,’” Goetz said. And that comforted
him. “They had confidence that I’m do-
ing the job.”
By the time the Nickerson story
reached Bundy, Goetz had been dealing
with it for months. He said the family set
up a booth at the local fair where they re-
peated their message — “It Happened to
Us, It Could Happen to You” — and told
people they wouldn’t leave their prop-
erty. “The Nickersons made numerous
threats that they wanted a Ruby Ridge,”
Goetz said, a reference to a deadly 1992
standoff. (Donna Nickerson denies the
allegation.) “They told one of the court
clerks that ‘we’re going to win either
way; we’re going to stay there or they’re
going to shoot us all and we’ll be with
God.’ ”
When Bundy later repeated
those words — “Ruby Ridge” — in a
Facebook video, it was a not-so-subtle
dog whistle to his followers in the Pa-
triot movement, a call to lace up their
boots. The incident on a remote Idaho
mountaintop looms large in the hearts
and minds of anti-government activists.
After separatist Randy Weaver failed to
appear for a court date, an 11-day stand-
off unfolded between Weaver’s fam-
ily and federal agents. In the end, it left
three people dead: one U.S. marshal,
Weaver’s 14-year-old son, and his wife,
Vicki — shot in the head by a sniper
while holding the couple’s infant daugh-
ter.
“They said it enough times and
to enough people I had to take it seri-
ously,” Goetz said. “These threats got to
the governor’s office, the senator’s of-
fice. The governor’s office was particu-
larly worried about these Ruby Ridge
threats.”
But when he sat down with Bun-
dy and the Real Idaho Three Percenters
in Orofino, Goetz showed them paper-
work proving the Nickersons simply
hadn’t paid their mortgage. They met for
over an hour. “I had really researched all
these issues. When they asked questions,
I had answers,” he said. The meeting
ended politely. Bundy seemed satisfied.
And within hours, he made a new video
calling off his followers: They needed to
stand down. He said the Nickersons had
lied to him.
All of a sudden, the phones in
the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office
went quiet.
BUNDY HAS WEIGHED IN
ON several other conflicts, too. This fall,
he was in Ravalli County, Montana, with
the militia, investigating a fight over
public lands and private property. They
questioned, in a video, if it could be the
site of the next standoff. And in January,
Bundy turned his attention to an Oregon
Child Protective Services case. “You
will be challenged to the end,” he yelled,
addressing a CPS worker in a Facebook
video, “whatever that end is… You can
say I’m threatening. I don’t really care.”
People take him seriously
now, Bundy told me. “The elected
continued on page 17
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