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East Oregonian
Defense witnesses describe fear at
Malheur Refuge after Finicum died
By CONRAD WILSON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The U.S. District Court in
Portland was packed Monday
for what appeared be the final
day of defense witnesses in
the second trial stemming
from last year’s occupation of
the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge.
The defense continued
to argue the refuge was a
peaceful place where people
were learning about the
Constitution and land rights.
Attorneys also called
witnesses who spoke about
what drove them to the
refuge in eastern Oregon’s
high desert. Some witnesses
for the defense said they
were never prevented by law
enforcement from entering
the refuge. One of the FBI’s
informants testified her
handler never told her being
at the refuge was breaking the
law.
Federal
prosecutors,
meanwhile, sharply focused
their cross-examinations on
the fact federal employees
were not able to go to work
during the 41-day armed
occupation.
The government has
charged Jason Patrick, Jake
Ryan, Darryl Thorn and
Duane Ehmer with conspiracy
to impede federal employees
at the refuge from doing their
jobs through force, threats
and intimidation. Some of
those on trial have also been
charged with additional
felonies, like damaging
federal property and weapons
charges.
Defense
witnesses
described the night of Jan.
26 as one full of fear for
those who remained at the
refuge, after law enforcement
shot and killed occupation
spokesman Robert “LaVoy”
Finicum and arrested the
leaders of the occupation on
their way to a meeting in John
Day.
Nicholas Fisher, who said
he was performing guard
duty at the refuge, testified
Monday that he first heard
of Finicum’s death while
standing around a campfire at
the refuge.
“David Fry said LaVoy
was shot,” Fisher said.
Later in the evening,
Fisher said he heard a heli-
copter flying near the refuge
headquarters and took cover
under an excavator.
In a tearful testimony,
at times almost speaking in
a whisper, Fisher said the
helicopter “was trying to get
a shot on us — is what we
thought.”
“Was that as scared
as you’ve ever been in
your life?” asked Andrew
Kohlmetz, Patrick’s standby
attorney.
“Yeah,” Fisher said softly.
Fisher testified he left the
refuge on Jan. 27 and headed
estimates yet, but aides from
both parties and nonpartisan
analysts have said they
expect those numbers to be
lower. Trump has said his
goal is “insurance for every-
body,” and numerous GOP
governors and members of
Congress have demanded
that people not lose coverage.
House Speaker Paul Ryan,
R-Wis., said the bill would
“drive down costs, encourage
competition, and give every
American access to quality,
affordable health insurance.”
Spokeswoman
Caitlin
Oakley said Health Secretary
Tom Price “welcomes action
by the House to end this
nightmare for the American
people.”
Solid Democratic opposi-
tion is a given.
“Republicans
have
decided that affordable health
care should be the privilege
of the wealthy, not the right
of every family in America,”
said House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
More ominously for
Republican leaders, there
were signals galore that they
faced problems within their
own party, including from
conservatives complaining
that the measure is too
timid in repealing Obama’s
law.
“It still looks like
Obamacare-lite to me,” said
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., one
MARIJUANA: Either side
can appeal commission’s
decision to the city council
Continued from 1A
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
In this Jan. 4, 2016 file photo, Members of the group occupying the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stand guard.
to an FBI checkpoint a few
miles from the headquarters.
Michelle Kohler, Ehmer’s
attorney, asked Fisher if he
did anything with his cell-
phone.
Fisher testified he called
someone, putting the phone
on speaker, as he approached
the checkpoint.
“I thought I was going to
die,” Fisher said.
Fisher took the stand
wearing a red T-shirt that read
“Let’s give em’ Hellboy,” and
showed a screen print of what
appeared to be Ehmer riding
his horse, named Hellboy.
It was an iconic image
throughout the occupation.
During
cross-examina-
tion, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Ethan Knight asked Fisher,
“is that Mr. Ehmer’s horse on
your shirt?”
“Yeah,” Fisher said.
Knight later asked Fisher
to acknowledge he had no
idea who flew that helicopter.
Fisher agreed.
“It could’ve in fact been a
FOX (television) helicopter
from the Seattle area,” Knight
said.
Earlier in the trial, jurors
had seen a photo of a heli-
copter taken by an unmanned
FBI drone. Initially, the
defense said it was evidence
the government was using
helicopters to monitor activi-
ties at the refuge, but an agent
later testified it was, in fact, a
television station’s helicopter
that entered the airspace over
the refuge the evening of Jan.
26.
Daniel Ryan, defendant
Jake Ryan’s father, testified
about his son’s childhood and
the family’s trip to the refuge.
He said he taught Jake
Ryan to use firearms for
hunting and sport.
“Like most of my sons,
[he] learned at a very early
age,” the elder Ryan said.
He also testified Jake Ryan
learned about his right to bear
arms while being homes-
chooled with his siblings.
“They learned it is a
constitutionally
protected,
God-given right to own fire-
arms,” Ryan said.
Occupier Testifies
Sandy Anderson, one
of the final four occupiers,
testified Monday as one of the
last witnesses for the defense.
Anderson pleaded guilty to
trespassing, a misdemeanor,
for her role in the occupation.
She spoke about the fear
that consumed those at the
refuge after learning Finicum
had been shot and killed.
“Something had gone
wrong with the meeting in
John Day,” Anderson said,
recalling what she and others
were hearing at the refuge
Jan. 26.
She testified about moving
to the west encampment
area of the refuge with her
husband, Sean Anderson.
“Why didn’t you just
leave the refuge,” asked Jesse
Merrithew, the attorney for
Ryan.
“How could we leave
safely?” Anderson replied.
“We didn’t know what was
going on.”
Merrithew asked if she
was scared to leave the refuge.
“Terrified,” Anderson said.
Anderson spoke about
being armed while at the
west encampment, which the
occupiers later named “Camp
Finicum.”
“Yes, we always have our
Second Amendment with us,”
she said, to laughter from the
public.
Anderson testified she saw
vehicles coming and going
along the road. She said it
was hard to tell whether cars
were leaving or whether
people were trying to leave
and getting turned back.
Anderson said the final
people at the refuge were
trying to protect themselves
from the FBI.
“What were you going to
do against FBI armed vehi-
cles?” Merrithew asked.
“Anything we could
to stay alive,” she said.
Anderson testified Ryan dug
the trench to slow down the
FBI and provide protection.
She said the trench was for no
other reason.
During cross-examination,
Knight asked Anderson if she
knew the federal employees
at the refuge were unable to
come to work because of the
occupation.
“In fact, they showed up
there,” Anderson said.
“They showed up there?”
Knight asked.
“Yes, they did,” she
replied.
Knight then played a
recorded call from the time
of the occupation with an FBI
crisis negotiator and Sean
Anderson. In the call, the FBI
agent tells him he’s going
to be charged with keeping
employees from showing up
to work.
On the call, Sandy
Anderson said, “Wait a
minute, we all have done
this.”
Anderson testified the
remaining occupiers were
exhausted, noting that fatigue
contributed to some of their
actions at the refuge.
“You weren’t too tired
to shoot at an FBI aircraft,”
Knight said.
He then played a video
in which Anderson can be
seen standing at the west
encampment in front of an
excavator. On the video, she
can be heard saying “eyes in
the skies boys,” followed by
Sean Anderson apparently
shooting at the manned FBI
aircraft.
Sandy Anderson testified
the sound was not of gunfire.
“I think it’s the excavator
making that noise,” she said.
The defense is expected
to rest its case Tuesday. The
government plans to call two
of the refuge employees as
part of its rebuttal case before
both sides make closing
arguments.
The case could head to
the jury late Tuesday or early
Wednesday.
HEALTH: Would keep safeguards for those with pre-existing medical problems
Continued from 1A
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
“It still looks like Obamacare-lite to me.”
— Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,
of three Senate conservatives
who have criticized the GOP
bill. “It’s going to have to be
better.”
The Republican tax
credits, ranging from $2,000
to $14,000 for families,
would
be
refundable,
meaning even people with
no tax liability would receive
payments. Conservatives say
that feature creates a new
entitlement program the
government cannot afford.
Senate
Finance
Committee Chairman Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah, wouldn’t rule
out changes by his chamber,
where moderate Republicans
have grumbled that the
measure could leave too
many voters uncovered.
“We have a right to look it
over and see if we like it or
don’t,” Hatch told reporters.
Underscoring
those
worries, four GOP senators
released a letter to Senate
Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky.
They complained that an
earlier, similar draft “does not
provide stability and certainty
for individuals and families
in Medicaid expansion
programs.” Signing were
Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio,
Shelley Moore Capito of
West Virginia, Cory Gardner
of Colorado and Alaska’s
Lisa Murkowski.
Thirty-one states and
the District of Columbia
expanded Medicaid coverage
to 11 million people and
accepted beefed-up federal
spending for the program.
Around half those states have
GOP governors, who are
largely reluctant to see that
spending curtailed.
In another feature that
could alienate moderate
Republicans, the measure
would block for one year
federal payments to Planned
Parenthood, long opposed by
many in the party because
it provides abortions. The
bill also bars people from
receiving tax credits to help
pay premiums for plans that
provide abortions.
Republicans said they’d
not received official esti-
mates on the bill from the
Congressional Budget Office.
That nonpartisan office’s
projections on price tag and
coverage could help win over
recalcitrant Republicans or
make them even harder to
persuade.
To prod healthier people
to stay covered, insurers
would be required to boost
premiums by 30 percent for
consumers who let insurance
lapse.
Tax increases on high-
er-earning
people,
the
insurance industry and others
used to finance the Obama
overhaul’s coverage expan-
sion would be repealed.
In a last-minute change to
satisfy conservatives, busi-
ness and unions, Republicans
dropped a plan pushed by
Ryan to impose a first-ever
tax on the most generous
employer-provided
health
plans. Instead, a similar tax
imposed by Obama’s law on
expensive plans, set to take
effect in 2020, would begin
in 2025.
stop hasn’t been a problem.
Nick
Palazzo
has
co-owned and operated
The Farmacy in Astoria
since 2014, and said in an
interview Monday his store
hasn’t had any problems
with minors trying to get in.
“They walk by and they
don’t even look in,” he said.
“They’re in their own little
world.”
Even if a child did try to
enter The Farmacy, Palazzo
said the store’s “gatekeeper”
would turn them away once
they couldn’t present a valid
ID, in accordance with
Oregon Liquor Control
Commission regulations.
Palazzo said he hasn’t
heard any complaints
from the school district or
community members about
The Farmacy’s location
near a bus stop.
That’s not to say that
Pendleton is the only rural
community
concerned
about this issue.
The school board in
Jewell, an small town
southeast
of
Astoria,
appealed a Clatsop County
decision to allow a mari-
juana processing laboratory
in the unincorporated
community, according to
The Daily Astorian.
Although the lab is more
than 1,000 feet of Jewell
School, the board and its
attorney say that it’s less
than 1,000 feet from two
school bus stops.
Back in Pendleton, some
are worried about the traffic
Thur’s could bring to the
neighborhood.
At the Feb. 16 commis-
sion meeting, city engineer
Tim Simons admitted that
traffic is already a major
issue on Tutuilla Road.
In an email exchange
between Julie Chase of
the Pendleton Planning
Department and Kind
Leaf Pendleton co-owner
Brandon Krenzler, Kren-
zler provided some daily
customer figures from pot
shops around Oregon and
Washington.
According to Krenzler,
the daily rates ranged from
250-300 customers for
Walla Walla Cannabis Co.
to 400-500 at Oregon’s
Finest in Portland.
Kind Leaf Pendleton,
a Pendleton marijuana
store on Southwest Court
Avenue,
has
already
received planning commis-
sion approval and is waiting
for licensing approval from
the city before it can open.
Kind Leaf Pendleton
and Pendleton Cannabis,
another marijuana retailer
on Southgate, have both
received licenses from the
OLCC.
Regardless
of
the
commission’s decision, the
debate could continue.
Either side can appeal
the commission’s decision
to the city council, and
even if the opposition is
successful in preventing
Thur’s from locating on
Tutuilla, the area open
back up to other marijuana
retailers
interested
in
locating there.
The commission will
meet on Thursday at 7 p.m.
in the council chambers at
Pendleton City Hall, 500
S.W. Dorion Ave.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Maret’s neighbor, Lilli Peterson, took in the Ma-
ret’s three surviving dogs, Ozzy , Roscoe and Jasmine.
FIRE: Neighbor is caring
for the three surviving dogs
Continued from 1A
too short and he had to
attach another hose to it.
The Umatilla Rural
Fire Protection District
was the lead agency at the
scene, and Umatilla Fire
District 1, Hermiston, also
responded. Steven Potts,
chief of Umatilla Rural
Fire, did not immediately
return calls Monday.
The couple owned five
dogs and five cats, Hull
said, and two dogs died.
No one has seen the cats,
she said, so they might
have escaped. A neighbor
was caring for the other
three dogs.
The American Red
Cross Cascades Region
is providing resources
for the Marets to meet
immediate basic needs,
including
temporary
housing and clothing. Hull
added family and friends
are working out where her
parents could live after
that.
The home appears to be
a total loss, Hull said. Her
grandmother left the home
to her parents 10 years
ago, and they did not have
homeowners
insurance
and live off disability
benefits. She set up an
online donation account to
help her parents at www.
gofundme.com/grandpar-
ents-lose-house-to-fire.
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