Oregon: Armed protesters reject sheriff’s offer

Harney County Sheriff David Ward met Thursday with Bundy.

Ward and two other OR sheriffs met Thursday with Bundy, 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 definition of terrorism is using force and intimidation for political purposes, and that’s exactly what they did and what they’re doing now in Oregon”, Horsford says.

Sheriff Ward has repeatedly said the occupation has to end and violence be avoided.

Wednesday night, community members said that while they appreciate national attention to the federal land rights debate that has long raged in the western part of the US, they prefer to speak for themselves and not to be represented by Bundy’s crusaders.

The FBI did not respond to to a request for comment on whether the group would be allowed to leave without criminal charges. “And we will go out of this state and out of this county as free men, and we will do that hopefully in an effort with him”.

Critics of the federal government argue that it often oversteps its authority over land use.

“The armed takeover of a federal government building in OR comes amid a renewed expansion of the far-right, antigovernment militia movement”, the report stated.

– Harney Cty. Sheriff (@HarneyCoSheriff) January 7, 2016Sheriff Ward asks Ammon Bundy to please leave and respect the wishes of Harney County residents.

“He’s not in an easy position”, Bundy said.

In 2008 there were 42 groups and in 2011 the number skyrocketed to a staggering 334 groups after Obama took office, according to the SLP. In this case, ranchers need grazing permits so they are at the mercy of the federal government, they said.

“He gave us some things to think about and we’re going to think about those, and we’ll let you know”, Bundy said after the meeting, which lasted less than 10 minutes.

A group of armed ranchers, mainly from Nevada, took over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a complex owned by the federal government, in objection to federal land policies.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kate Brown issued a statement that also tells the armed occupiers to get out of Oregon.

“Dwight and Steven Hammond are being forced to report to prison today for a crime they did not commit”, Ammon Bundy, one of the leaders of the occupation, said Monday during a press conference. The protesters are demanding a plan to turn over federal lands to locals.

“If these people had any argument with the president, it was with President (Theodore) Roosevelt, who 108 years ago established the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a response to protect national resource, especially the slaughter of wild birds for feathers to adorn women’s hats”, Blumenauer said on the House floor. “Let’s get our community back to normal”. The father and son were convicted of arson and given five-year prison sentences. A judge later ruled that the terms fell short of minmum sentences requiring them to serve about four more years.