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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2016)
PENDLETON GIRLS BEAT BAKER RACING ENDS IN CRASH, ARREST 35/28 El Nino’s storms hitting Calif. SPORTS/1B PENDLETON/3A NATION/6A W('N(S'A<, -ANUAR< , 01 10th <ear, No. One dollar WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Occupiers make demands Bundy wants land transfer, then will go home Hammond case ignites local tea party By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BURNS — A leader of the small, armed group that is occu- pying a remote national wildlife preserve in Oregon said Tuesday they will go home when a plan is in place to turn over management of federal lands to locals. Ammon Bundy told reporters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that ranchers, loggers and farmers should have control of federal land — a common refrain in a decades-long ¿ ght over public lands in the West. “It is our goal to get the logger back to logging, the rancher back to ranching,” said the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-pro¿ le 01 standoff with the government over grazing rights. The younger Bundy’s anti-government group is critical of federal land stewardship, but environmentalists and others say U.S. of¿ cials should keep control for the broadest possible bene¿ t to business, recreation and the environment. The armed group seized the refuge’s headquarters Saturday night. Roughly 0 people bundled in camouÀ age, earmuffs and cowboy hats seem to be centered around a comple[ of buildings on the 300-square-mile high desert preserve. As the takeover entered its third day, authorities had not moved in and had not shut off power to the refuge, Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum said. On Tuesday evening, Finicum said he believes federal of¿ cials have issued warrants for the arrest of ¿ ve group members — including himself and Ammon Bundy — but offered no details. Public lands at heart of meeting By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian In a wide-ranging interview Tuesday, Harney County Sheriff David Ward urged members of the community to distance themselves from the armed men occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. “I think if one person gives them a Snickers bar, they’re going on national media and claiming that the community supports them,” he said. “If you’re giving them support, you’re just prolonging the situation.” Ward has called a community Harney County ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond are back in prison for starting ¿ res on public lands in 001 and 00, but at least one of the family’s allies believes they won’t be serving their full ¿ ve-year sentences. Dave Duquette, of Hermiston, works with the national nonpro¿ t Protect the Harvest and met at length with the Hammonds in Burns before Saturday’s rally broke off into an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Duquette defended the Hammonds and weighed in on the militia’s presence during a meeting of the Greater Hermiston Area Tea Party Monday evening at the Stafford Hansell Government Center. About 0 people attended the meeting and decried what they see as a gross injustice on the part of the federal government. The group also heard from a retired U.S. district forester about the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision, and group Chairman Rob Lovett said they intend to pursue coor- dination with the Forest Service — similar to movements in Grant and Baker counties. At the heart of both issues is the perceived mismanagement of public land and domineering attitude of agencies like the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Lovett said citizens need to unite under a single voice to protect their rights. “We want to prevail over the federal government, for freedom and for liberty,” Lovett said. That unity seemed to splinter in Burns, where a march to support the Hammonds was overshadowed by armed militants occupying the Malheur National Wild- life Refuge. Duquette said he has since swapped te[t messages with Ammon See SHERIFF/2A See TEA PARTY/2A AP Photo/Rick Bowmer LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, who is part of the group occupying the Malheur Nation- al Wildlife Refuge speaks with reporters during a news conference at the refuge Tuesday near Burns. Sheriff: Armed protesters will face charges By AMELIA TEMPLETON Oregon Public Broadcasting See RANCHING/2A PENDLETON Council approves $300k grant to hire UAS range manager By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Courtesy of SOAR Oregon, the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range now has the money to hire a full-time, on-site range manager, a position that’s been vacant for several months. At a Tuesday meeting, the Pendleton City Council unanimously approved a $300,000 grant from SOAR Oregon, a not-for-pro¿ t focused on promoting the UAS industry in Oregon. But the $300,000 grant does not come without strings. The money is dispersed evenly over two years, and to access the second year of funds, the city must meet a series of benchmarks. :ithin the ¿ rst si[ months of the grant, the range must sign three customers to testing contracts, have two customer applications in the process of obtaining Federal Aviation Administration authorization to test and two applications approved by the FAA. On a quarterly basis, the range must facilitate 10 test À ights, host 10 test days for customers and meet a certain number of test hours. SOAR Oregon does give the UAS range some leeway in meeting those bench- marks. If the city doesn’t See PENDLETON/8A Obama goes it alone on gun control Affect on violence may be modest By RYAN J. FOLEY and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s move to tighten controls on guns could curb the unregu- lated buying and selling of weapons over the Internet and at gun shows. But the overall effect on violence in the U.S. could prove to be modest. “It’s not ever going to be dif¿ cult to get a ¿ rearm, just like it’s not ever going to be dif¿ cult to get illegal drugs,” said -ames -acobs, a New <ork University law school professor. “What makes us think that we can now create a regime that will make guns hard AP Photo/Tom Lynn, File In this Oct. 21, 2012 photo, police stand with guns drawn at the entrance to Brookfi eld Square Mall across from the scene of a shooting at Azana Salon in Brookfi eld, Wis. to obtain for someone who wants to obtain them?” The president used his e[ecutive authority Tuesday to clarify that anyone “in the business” of selling ¿ rearms must obtain a federal license and conduct background checks on prospective buyers, regardless of where the sales take place. Currently, many private sellers online and at gun shows do not bother to get licenses, and weapons sales over the Internet have become a booming business. The White House and others can’t say how many transactions the step will block or how much blood- shed it may prevent. But the new controls probably wouldn’t have prevented many of the grisly mass shootings around the country that have led to demands for tighter gun laws, and may affect only a tiny fraction of the nation’s 30,000 annual gun deaths. Studies in the last decade have shown that criminals are more likely to get guns directly from friends or See GUNS/8A Lawmaker wants $120M in bonds for transportation By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau SALEM — A state lawmaker from Wilsonville wants Oregon to issue as much as $10 million in bonds to pay for transportation projects starting in 01. Rep. -ohn Davis, R-Wilsonville, said he plans this month to introduce an interim bill, to start tackling the state’s backlog of highway, bridge and other transportation projects ahead of a larger transportation funding package that lawmakers could pass in 01. Oregon needs the money in order to compete for a share of the $00 million in federal grants for freight projects, which will be available this year as a result of the transportation funding bill Congress passed in December, Davis said. He hopes to motivate other lawmakers and the governor to start working now on a larger state transportation funding bill they could pass ne[t year. “The (federal) funding starts imme- diately in 01 for this,” Davis said of the freight project grant program. “We’re in a tenuous spot because Washington passed a transportation package, Idaho passed a transportation package, and California always has money ... That’s a signi¿ cant thing See TRANSPORTATION/8A
