Malheur Refuge occupiers cutting fences, going through files

Bundy and his supporters are protesting the federal government’s meddling with public grazing lands, which they say should be returned to local residents.

“It’s still in limbo”, Bundy said.

The armed activists occupying a national wildlife refuge in southeastern OR said Tuesday that they plan to hold a community meeting this week to explain themselves and inform residents when they will leave.

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

Militia leader Ammon Bundy reportedly said that his group’s members had not breached the computers.

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

Shortly after they took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote Eastern Oregon, several members made a plea for supplies to be sent to them via general delivery to Burns.

“Rather than going out and doing good, you know, they just spend all their money on hate and hate and hate”, Ritzheimer says.

Since January 2nd, a group of armed militants have taken over a federal building at the Masher Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

And the occupiers used government equipment to uproot and tear down a fence Monday at the request of a local rancher, CNN affiliate KTVZ reported.

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

A lawyer for the Dwight and Steven Hammond, whose conviction for arson triggered the initial protest, said the armed group does not speak for the family.

The judge called the protesters “armed thugs”, but also said that there’s “no way to deny” that the standoff started a necessary dialogue about federal land management policies.

“I really want people aware of the costs that these folks are giving all of us”, he told the Guardian, noting that his estimates don’t include expenses outside law enforcement agencies are also incurring.

A pastor, who is opposed the occupation, and the wife of a local police officer told the newspaper motorists were driving slowly by their houses during the night or parking for lengthy periods in their driveways in an apparent attempt to intimidate them.