A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Right and
wrong ways
to protest
T
wo separate, yet related,
events in Burns this
weekend are perfect
H[DPSOHVRIKRZWRDQGKRZ
not to protest.
Harney County Sheriff
David Ward pointed this out
succinctly in a press conference
Monday.
“This began as a peaceful
protest,” he said. “It took an
unfortunate turn when some
of those folks broke off and
began an armed occupation of
the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge.”
First was a peaceful rally
and march protesting the
resentencing of the Hammonds,
Burns ranchers convicted of
arson on public land.
The large group of
protesters made their point.
7KH\H[HUFLVHGWKHLU)LUVW
Amendment rights to speak
freely and to peaceably
assemble.
No laws were broken. No
one was hurt or threatened.
7KLVZDVDSHUIHFWH[DPSOH
of how citizens can and should
protest legally and peacefully.
Later, an armed group of the
protesters seized control of an
unoccupied federal site.
The group blocked entrances
to the site and placed sentries in
a watchtower. They threatened
violence if provoked by law
enforcement and said they had
no plans to leave.
Although both forms of
protest had the same goal
— at least on the surface —
the armed occupation has
only alienated the occupiers
from people who may have
supported their alleged original
cause peacefully. Further, the
armed occupation has created a
situation that could easily end
with bloodshed.
When the protesters invaded
and occupied the refuge with
threat of force, they crossed
a line. They tarnished all the
efforts of a peaceful protest and
lost potential support from most
reasonable people.
The only thing the armed
occupation did well was create
DSHUIHFWH[DPSOHRIKRZQRWWR
protest.
We stand with Sheriff Ward
in urging the armed protesters
to stand down, and we echo
his comments to those at the
UHIXJH
“The Hammonds have
turned themselves in. It’s
time for you to leave our
community. Go home, be with
your own families and end this
peacefully.”
W HERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
/RQJ&UHHN — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityoÀong-
creek.com.
Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monu-
ment 97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-
2025. Email: monument@oregontrail.net.
0W9HUQRQ — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: cityseneca@centurytel.net.
SALEM
*RY.DWH%URZQ' — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
6WDWH5HS&OLII%HQW]5-Ontario (Dis-
trict: 60), Room H-475, State Capitol, 900
Court St. N.E., Salem OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1460. Email: rep.cliffbentz@state.
or.us. Website: www.leg.state.or.us/bentz/
home.htm.
6WDWH6HQ7HG)HUULROL5 — (District
30) Room S-223, State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-986-1950. Email: sen.
tedferrioli@state.or.us. Email: TFER2@aol.
com. Phone: 541-490-6528. Website: www.
leg.state.or.us/ferrioli.
Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Wrong move against
Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge
ability, with agency funding specif-
ically in education, health care and
public safety.
She plans to create a position for
a public records advocate and a new
To the Editor:
HGXFDWLRQ LQQRYDWLRQ RI¿FHU SRVL-
What an outrageous situation WLRQDVZHOODVH[SDQGWKH2I¿FHRI
in Harney County with the seizing Small Business Advocate. Lacking
of Malheur National Wildlife Ref- in this report of her plan is address-
uge by a radical militia group. The ing Oregon’s future to provide for
people who are declaring Malheur homeless Americans and veterans
Headquarters as their new militia that constitute a large percentage
base made a grave error in their se- of those Americans. Nor did she
lection.
address the possible funding for
In recent times, Malheur Nation- additional housing, welfare, food
al Wildlife Refuge has become a stamps, medical provisions and
model of true coordination manage- WKH QHHG RI H[SDQGHG VFKRROLQJ WR
ment involving a large cross-sec- accommodate the 10,000 Muslims
tion of stakeholders. This alone is she has stated her intent to welcome
headline news given the historical to take up residency in Oregon.
FRQÀLFWV UHJDUGLQJ FDWWOH JUD]LQJ That shows an abysmal absence of
on a national wildlife refuge. If the foresight.
criminal occupiers of the headquar-
We need terms like “honesty”
ters set down their weapons long and “integrity” to be more than just
enough to pick up a copy of the words in the dictionary. Citizens
“Malheur National Refuge Com- need to climb out of the fog of apa-
prehensive Conservation Plan” (that thy and avoidance and demand the
I know is within sight around the IXO¿OOPHQWRISURPLVHVIRUJRYHUQ-
RI¿FHV WKHUH WKH\ PLJKW GLVFRYHU ment transparency and accountabil-
their huge mistake in seizing the ity once again. We need true inter-
refuge. They ought to realize they pretation of the Constitution, both
are attempting to destroy what local United States and state of Oregon,
ranchers, hunters, federal agencies, and laws protecting our rights, not
environmental interests and citizens the Supreme Court or lesser courts
of the area and beyond worked so that assume to make laws such as
hard to pull together and all signed allowing some welfare recipient to
onto in the 2013 plan.
VWRPSEXUQRUGHIHFDWHRQRXUÀDJ
The militants say that they are in direct violation of 18 USC 700,
there to protect the rights of people Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 33 (aka
to use the refuge freely. However, 'HVHFUDWLRQRIWKHÀDJRIWKH8QLW-
a reporter who drove to the head- HG 6WDWHV ZKLFK SURKLELWV
quarters to interview them was told such an act and titles it a crime.
to leave. They had weapons; he did
Judy Kerr
not. He left. Apparently you cannot
Canyon City
enter the refuge unless you are one
of them.
The occupiers have called upon Helpful nurse
armed supporters from across the
nation to come and make the na- appreciated
tional wildlife refuge their head- To the Editor:
quarters. Wait a moment. Does this
Recently one of our relatives
mean I can’t enter OUR refuge to was in the hospital in John Day. We
photograph wildlife? Others can’t were waiting for him in Bend where
go there during the rut to see large KH ZDV WR EH DLU ÀLJKWHG ,W HQGHG
mule deer bucks? Thousands of up being a long wait, and we were
birders will not be able to access the ZRUULHG +H ¿QDOO\ FDOOHG RQ KLV
visitor’s center grounds, museum or cellphone and a nurse came on and
trails and roads because the refuge updated us, and then, periodically,
will be occupied by armed militant she called and told us what was go-
terrorists who say they are protect- ing on. Although we didn’t get your
ing people from “federal tyranny?” name, we want you to know that we
We don’t need radicals protecting appreciate you so much.
our rights. The true cooperative
Charm Bogle
Americans with a vested interest
Prineville
in Malheur Refuge are already in
place successfully coordinating
with the USFWS. I hope those from Citizens should get
Harney County hang tight with the
refuge management plan and get involved after the
rid of these self-declared “patriots” &DQ\RQ&UHHN¿UH
post haste.
Kay Steele To the Editor:
Ritter
We are on top dead center after
WKH&DQ\RQ&UHHN¿UH
It seems that the county court
and the county commissioners are
Gov. Brown’s
happy that things are quieting down
blueprint lacking
because the environmentalists and
To the Editor:
U.S. Forest Service as well as the
The Dec. 23, 2015, issue of the Fish and Wildlife really do not want
local paper reported on Governor anything investigated or changed. I
Brown’s three-part blueprint to wonder how any of these folk would
³¿[´ 2UHJRQ JRYHUQPHQW *RY- react if it were their homes and life-
ernment transparency and account- time memories that were lost, all
The theme is not
the type of parade
To the Editor:
5LFKLH&ROEHWKPL[HVDSSOHVDQG
oranges in his letter to the editor
SXEOLVKHG 'HF FRPSODLQLQJ
about the lack of religious referenc-
es because the Dec. 12 event was a
Christmas parade.
It is the “Timber Truckers Light
Parade,” called such since its incep-
tion in 1993 to support the timber
industry. The theme this year was
“An Old-Fashioned Christmas.” On
occasions, the theme has been patri-
otic. Colbeth mistakenly referenced
the theme as being the type of pa-
rade, which it is not.
I would suggest, in the future, he
learns the difference so he is not con-
fusing a theme with the parade. The
entrants choose their own decorating
ideas, and if he noticed, at least one
had a Nativity scene on the entry.
I am sure the parade committee
ZRXOGZHOFRPHKLVHQWU\QH[W\HDU
Mary Jane Allen
Timber Truckers committee
member
John Day
L
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is
good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
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must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle,
195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM
E DITOR .................................... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT ........ K RISTINA K REGER , KRISTINA @ BMEAGLE . COM
E DITORIAL A SSISTANT ................ C HERYL H OEFLER , CHERYL @ BMEAGLE . COM
C OMMUNITY N EWS .................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
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MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
because decisions were made that
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there is big money to be made by
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You may not agree with Sheriff
Glenn Palmer and what he is trying
to do with the Natural Resources
Plan for Public Lands, but you have
to admire his courage for trying to
do something.
What can be done to jack up our
FRXQW\ RI¿FLDOV DQG JHW WKHP RII
dead center? You the people getting
on the phone to these folk and/or
writing letters to the editor demand-
ing that something be done.
I see four things that need to hap-
pen yesterday, if not sooner.
7KH ÀRRG FRQWURO SURMHFW
should be started immediately.
2. An investigation into who is
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away, and who is responsible for
holding up an investigation.
3. An investigation into why the
county commissioners have backed
the U.S. Forest Service forest man-
agement plan. Clearly, the U.S. For-
HVW6HUYLFHPDQDJHPHQWSODQIDLOHG
4. An investigation into why the
county commissioners have not
requested the Governor to declare
Grant County a disaster area. This
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trol and restoration projects.
How many of the county com-
missioners and/or Public Forest Ser-
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of interest by holding contracts with
the U.S. Forest Service while they
are voting on issues before their
commissions? If we keep voting in
WKHVDPHSHRSOHH[SHFWLQJDGLIIHU-
HQWRXWFRPHVKDPHRQXV
Come on people of Grant County,
get involved and hold your county
RI¿FLDOV¶IHHWWRWKH¿UH
Nicky A. Sprauve
Grant County Public Forest
Commissioner position No. 2
Canyon City
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