Vehicles reported stolen from OR refuge; man charged

Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent was arrested by Oregon State Police at a grocery store in Burns for investigation of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

An FBI spokeswoman said a van and a truck were recovered by law enforcement.

They said the cameras were placed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to keep tabs on the group’s comings and goings from the wildlife refuge, which they have occupied since January 2.

Problems like these can become exponentially worse for people in one of the twelve western states where the federal government controls 30% (Montana), 49% (Oregon) or even 85% (Nevada and Alaska) of all the land.

The occupiers declared their move a show of support for two local ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, who were returned to prison earlier this month for setting fires that spread to federal land. He was booked into the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, where bail set at $10,000. She said local federal officials are fine, but edicts from Washington D.C. cause problems.

He was there to protest BLM demands that owners of the aging gold mine shut down their operation.

As a standoff at an OR wildlife refuge hits the two-week mark, local residents are growing increasingly tired and wary. He was released from federal custody November 16 and told to not violate any state or federal laws, and to never return to the Galice property.

Though they are often, incorrectly called “public” lands, the “public” has no fundamental right to enter them or utilize their water and other resources. The court rejected his motion.

The armed activists occupying a national wildlife refuge in southeastern OR clashed with environmentalists Saturday as a standoff stretched into a 15th day. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had reported the vehicles stolen to the county sheriff’s office. In a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Robyn Thorson, Tribal Chairperson Charlotte Rodrique asked for greater protection for cultural resources at the refuge, specifically asking for an inventory of archeological resources at the refuge headquarters, and for criminal prosecution for violators of the Archeological Resources Protection Act.

Thousands of ancient artifacts and maps to prehistoric sites are kept at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.