Bundy: Meeting between armed group, locals in limbo

We’ve been following the events at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in OR, where a group of armed patriots led by Ammon Bundy, whose credentials include having accepted a $530,000 business loan underwritten by the oppressive federal government, have occupied a bird sanctuary.

The Bundy Volume 2 militia in OR appealed to the American public to send them supplies to help them wait out the winter in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

An Oregon rancher whose cattle graze next to the national wildlife refuge that an armed group is occupying says he didn’t give the activists permission to enter his property and remove part of a fence.

Bundy has previously said the occupiers would not leave until a plan was in place to turn over federal lands to local authorities.

Jewell said federal agencies have partnered well in the past with communities in Harney County and elsewhere in the West.

“And I just want them to go home so I can feel safe and I can feel like it is home again”, 15-year-old Ashlie Presley said with tears in her eyes, referring to the armed men.

Officials in Burns, about 30 miles from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, said the meeting can’t be held at the fairgrounds or any other county facility.

But committee member Chris Briels, a retired Burns fire chief who held a part-time position acting as the county fire marshal, said he had resigned that post over the county’s refusal to host the meeting. He and his father were in a standoff with federal agents in 2014 on their Nevada ranch over the issue of grazing rights on public land.

Another protester, who was holding a sign that said “Get the flock outta my wildlife refuge”, told KTVZ, “I never thought I’d have to say this, but I’m here to oppose the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge”.

According to the Oregonian, Bruce Doucette said members of the group have given him “significant” evidence of crimes committed by government officials.

Harney County Sheriff David Ward has asked the protesters to stand down.

After Bundy and his group finished a news conference, VeneKlasen took to the same stage to protest the occupation.

Not only did the group refuse to budge, but it also renamed the center the “Harney County Resource Center”, to underscore its call for local – not federal – control of the land.