Oregon governor calls on feds to act against armed group

Brown had originally called the news conference to discuss her agenda for the upcoming legislative session, but she focused on the occupation by Ammon Bundy and his armed group of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote southeastern Oregon.

Ammon Bundy didn’t speak at the Tuesday night meeting in Burns for residents to talk about the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge which began earlier this month.

Friends and neighbors gathered at the meeting in Burns, Oregon, to express their outrage and concerns that have arisen in the wake of the Bundy’s armed seizure of the wildlife refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sits 30 miles southeast of Burns, according to OregonLive.

Harney County Judge Steve Grasty has been at the forefront of efforts among locals to show Bundy and his followers they are not welcome.

“We came here to work and we are working”, Bundy said. As hundreds gathered at Northeast Portland’s Holladay Park, Sean Stevens, the executive director of Oregon Wild, called for Bundy and his compatriots to relinquish their hold on Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

In Boise, a similar rally took place Tuesday outside the Idaho Capitol with more than 100 people.

An Oregon woman facing a murder charge for killing a tourist when she drove onto a sidewalk and caused chaos on the Las Vegas Strip was charged Wednesday with dozens of more counts, including attempted murder, for harming other pedestrians, prosecutors said.

County officials have promised to hold such community meetings weekly for as long as residents attend them.

Bundy is a son of rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the federal government over grazing rights. It does not appear he persuaded many to follow his advice.

Wampler, who is part of the armed group protesting federal land policies and the jailing of two convicted arsonists, denied to The Oregonian that he is the same man. However, his name and birth date match court and prison records and a commander at the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office identified him from a YouTube video.

The small, armed group Bundy leads has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands. Police arrested Kenneth Medenbach, of La Pine, in Burns Friday for unauthorized use of a vehicle authorities say was taken illegally from the refuge. Bundy’s group has been using federal vehicles on the refuge.