A18
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
SIDES
LAND
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
the group of supporters they
already have, I’m very, very
fearful for what’s ahead for
our county.”
Schuette said, in a few short
weeks, the occupiers caused
an enormous amount of strife
in Grant County. She said she
could not imagine what the
people of Harney County have
gone through.
Another picketer, Adele
Cerny, Bear Valley, said some
of the supporters of the refuge
occupation appeared to sup-
port violence if necessary to
make their voices heard.
“I say that attitude has no
place in a law-abiding democ-
racy,” she said. “It actually
tears apart a democracy.”
John Day resident Dave
Traylor, who wrote a letter to
the editor urging the occupi-
ers to “stay the course,” said
people have many different
views about the situation. He
said the occupiers were un-
fairly portrayed by the media,
though he added they should
have stayed in campers on the
refuge land and not entered the
buildings. He also said, if the
occupiers would have stayed
at the refuge, they might have
been able to accomplish some
of their goals, such as freeing
the Hammonds.
“If they had just stayed
there, I think they could have
won some concessions, and
that mainly being the Ham-
monds getting a new trial or
being released,” he said. “Ted
Turner wouldn’t get prosecut-
ed for something like that if
KH¶GVHWDEDFN¿UHRQKLVSURS-
erty (and it got out of hand).
“What they’ve done is re-
ally hurt those with legiti-
mate beefs with the federal
government about how the
land should be managed,”
he said.
In the public’s mind, the
protesters’ hostile tactics
have been conflated with
the goal of increasing local
control over federal prop-
erty, which weakens their
case in the political arena,
he said.
“If they wanted an up-
rising in Congress, they
just made it that much
harder,” Miller said.
The protesters’ actions
won’t bolster attempts to
transfer federal land to the
states, which already had
legitimacy among conser-
vative lawmakers in mul-
tiple state legislatures be-
fore the refuge takeover,
said Martin Nie, a natural
resource policy professor
at the University of Mon-
tana.
“They’re less of a spec-
tacle and should be taken
more seriously,” Nie said.
The philosophy of Bun-
dy and his followers, mean-
while, is entangled with
far-right interpretations of
the U.S. Constitution and
the power of county sheriffs
but does not offer any seri-
ous proposals for changing
federal land policy, he said.
“I don’t think this spec-
tacle has helped that cause
at all,” he said.
Among people who were
uneasy about excessive
federal authority, though,
recent events will likely
reinforce the notion that
the government is out-of-
control, said Mark Pollot,
an attorney who is fighting
federal agencies in court on
behalf of deceased Nevada
rancher Wayne Hage.
Left-wing protests, such
as “Occupy Wall Street,”
invaded private property
and were more disruptive
than the refuge standoff but
did not elicit a similarly
File photo
A public meeting continued at the senior center in
John Day Jan. 26 after guest speakers Ammon and
Ryan Bundy were arrested en route.
They wouldn’t have put him in
SULVRQIRU¿YH\HDUVRQWHUURU-
ism. I think the Hammonds got
a raw deal.”
Traylor said the refuge oc-
cupation was “born on frus-
tration” with federal policies,
and he’d like to see a return
to using natural resources to
better the watersheds, to boost
employment and timber sales
and to prevent catastrophic
ZLOG¿UHV WKURXJK JRRG VWHZ-
ardship. He said many people
are unaware of the underlying
issues.
“Most people, it’s not be-
cause they’re dumb; they’re
just woefully uninformed,”
he said. “The best way to deal
with this frustration level: Get
to know the issues, so you
know the truth.”
County resident Gordon
Larson, a retired Oregon State
Police lieutenant and ranch-
er, spoke out at the meeting
against the refuge occupation.
He said local residents did not
need outsiders to speak for
them. These people, he said,
don’t serve on local school
boards or attend local churches
A TTENTION G RANT C OUNTY
V ETERANS :
Did you know there may be VA benefits available for
you as a result of your spouses’ military service?
See your Grant County Veteran Services
Officer today for more information,
located at Grant County Court House.
Call 541-575-1631 for an appointment
Open: Mon, Wed, & Fri 10am-4pm by appointment.
or give back to the communi-
ty, whereas many local people
who work for the government
do.
“The ranchers here have a
strong enough voice,” he said
at the meeting. “Maybe some
of us feel like we’ve been mis-
treated by the Forest Service,
but by God, we can stand up
and take care of it as neigh-
bors.”
Larson said he worked as
DQRI¿FHULQDJDQJXQLWLQKLV
career, and the refuge occupi-
ers reminded him of the gang
mentality, where the criminals
would claim a territory without
the support of the residents to
the detriment of the commu-
nity.
Jim Spell, John Day, said
he too attended the meeting to
stand against the occupiers.
“My participation does not
indicate that I support what the
Forest Service does or doesn’t
do, but we don’t need outsid-
ers to resolve that situation,”
he said.
Spell said he was not afraid
of the occupiers but wanted
them to leave the people of
Grant County alone. He said
he was disappointed the situ-
ation ended with bloodshed,
and he hoped people could
move forward peacefully.
“I just hope the communi-
W\FDQPRYHRQDQG¿QGVRPH
process to resolve all these
feelings,” he said. “And I pray
that it’s over with.”
Grant County Sheriff
Glenn Palmer did not respond
to multiple requests for com-
ment.
M ILLER C OORS
BREWING
strong-armed reaction from
the federal government, he
said.
Pollot said that distrust
of the government will
particularly rise if there
are indications that federal
agents overreacted during
the arrests and did not have
to shoot the protesters’
spokesman, LaVoy Fini-
cum.
If nothing else, the con-
frontation will show that
Western land policy is more
than a minor issue and de-
serves Congressional atten-
tion, Pollot said.
“It will add some weight
to the debate,” he said.
On the other hand,
there’s the risk of a shift
away from the political and
legal channels that crit-
ics such as Wayne Hage
have traditionally used in
the “Sagebrush Rebellion”
against federal land policy,
he said.
“I’m concerned there
will be people who will
now think that’s worth-
less,” Pollot said.
The restrictions placed
on ranchers have gained
visibility in Washington,
D.C., Salem and Portland,
but that doesn’t mean they
will be changed, said Bruce
Weber, director of Oregon
State University’s Rural
Studies Program.
It’s unclear how the
existence of a perceived
“martyr for the cause” will
change the situation, Weber
said.
“People who believe the
Constitution prohibits fed-
eral ownership and man-
agement of those particular
lands won’t change their
minds,” he said.
Concerns about growing
federal restrictions on pub-
lic lands long predate the
refuge occupation and will
likely continue even if the
current conflict is resolved.
Bob Skinner, a fifth-gen-
eration cattle rancher in the
Jordan Valley area, heads
a group opposed to the
proposed Owyhee Can-
yonlands wilderness and
conservation area, which
would cover 2.5 million
acres in Oregon’s Malheur
County.
The designation would
severely regulate or prohib-
it grazing and other activi-
ties on an area that is bigger
than Yellowstone National
Park and covers 40 percent
of Malheur County.
Skinner said his worst
fear is that the arrests of
several protesters and the
death of Finicum will “acti-
vate” people who hold sim-
ilar anti-government views.
Even so, the incident has
brought more visibility to
Western concerns over pub-
lic land.
“I can’t help but think
it’s brought some aware-
ness to government over-
reach, that might have some
impact,” Skinner said.
Rep.
Kurt
Schrad-
er, D-Ore., compared the
standoff in southeast Or-
egon to the “Black Lives
Matter” movement, which
arose in reaction to con-
flicts between law enforce-
ment and the black commu-
nity.
“Rural America faces
the same lack of recogni-
tion,” Schrader said.
There’s a “palpable
sense” that government
policy has focused on the
economic welfare of urban
areas while overlooking ru-
ral areas, he said.
As to the effect of the
occupation on the federal
land debate, Schrader said
the impact is uncertain.
While people sympa-
thize with the hardships
faced in the rural West, the
occupation has also shown
they have no appetite for
lawlessness, he said.
Schrader said he and
other members of Oregon’s
Congressional
delega-
tion are pushing to reform
overly restrictive rules on
grazing and logging while
protecting the environment
on federal property.
“The scales have tipped
so far to the left that you
can barely do anything
there, it’s so cost-prohibi-
tive,” he said. “We’ve got
to change the federal pol-
icy.”
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