Cincinnati online radio host a spokesman for armed OR group

Three Oregon sheriffs met Thursday with the leader of an armed group occupying a federal wildlife refuge and asked them to leave, after residents made it clear they wanted them to go home.

The armed anti-government protesters, who took over the federal building on Saturday, have vowed to continue their occupation even as local officials told the group to leave.

Harney County Sheriff David Ward, who has urged Bundy and his followers to pack up and leave, said the standoff was having an economic impact on the region, where schools have been shut for safety concerns. “We need to make sure that there is some teeth in these land transfers, and also that those who have committed crimes… those are exposed as well”.

“I’m sitting here trying to write an acceptance letter for when they return all this land to us”, Rodrique said.

Ward got a lot of support during a packed community meeting Wednesday night.

“They are desecrating one of our sacred traditional cultural properties”, Charlotte Rodrique, chair of the Burns Paiute Tribal Council, said at an earlier meeting on Wednesday.

Local law enforcement are working with federal agencies to end the occupation peacefully.

“The tribe once occupied a large swath of land that includes the Malheur National Wildlife refuge – archaeological evidence dates back 6,000 years – but they were forced out in the late 1870s”.

“This is about furthering an extremist right-wing agenda”, Barrett Kaiser, a Montana resident and a representative of the Center for Western Priorities said, as supporters of Bundy tried to interrupt him and argue with him. The ranchers — Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond — distanced themselves from Bundys group and reported to prison Monday.

Law enforcement had yet to take any action Tuesday against a group numbering close to two dozen, led by Bundy and his brother, who are upset over federal land policy.

During the meeting, the Sheriff asked Bundy to please leave and respect the wishes of Harney County residents.

“There is a time to go home, we recognize that”.

“As soon as we know you kids will be safe”, Ward replied.

Since the land is remote, there were no hostages and the armed men do not appear to have explosive devices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is likely to try to negotiate and gather intelligence on the situation before making any major moves, said Garrett.

The reactions in Burns, a town of 3,000 people about 280 miles (450 km) southeast of Portland, have included sympathy for the well-known Hammonds, suspicion of the federal government’s motives, and criticism of the occupiers.

The federal government controls about half of all land in the West, which would make the wholesale transferof ownership extremely hard and expensive. “It just really rubs me the wrong way that we have a bunch of misinformed people in here – they’re not the original owners”. The FBI has said it is dedicated to a peaceful resolution.

Such land disputes date back decades in the West. In the 1970s, Nevada and other states pushed for local control in what was known as the Sagebrush Rebellion.

Bundy’s group, calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, says it wants an inquiry into whether the government is forcing ranchers off their land.