Bundy brothers, militia occupy OR wildlife refuge building

“These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to over throw the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States”.

The elder Bundy drew national attention past year after staging a standoff with federal authorities over a Bureau of Land Management dispute. When Bundy did not comply, the government began rounding up his cattle, contending he owed more than $1.2 million in fees. He said he wanted to federal government to end the restrictions it has placed on some federal lands.

It involved an unknown number of people, Jason Holm, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, said in a statement.

The takeover of a remote refuge centre near Burns, Oregon, has prompted a huge reaction on social media but limited mainstream coverage, prompting many to question whether it is yet another incident of “white terrorism” going unreported.

“The fact is, it’s a paradox being a rugged individualist dependent on the government – unless you’re John Wayne”, Robbins says.

Tension has been building for weeks in the Burns, Oregon, area over the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond.

The Hammonds have already served time but are now being sent back to prison.

A protest in the state of OR has led to the occupation of a federal building this weekend due to a debate about the involvement of the federal government in local state issues.

Ammon Bundy – the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights – is among the people at the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

“[Dwight] Hammond allegedly made death threats against previous managers in 1986 and 1988 and against [Forrest] Cameron, the current manager, in 1991 and again this year”, High Country News reported in 1994. In both those years, the US government said the Hammonds set fires that spread onto land managed by the BLM. “They committed arson”, he added. The law, which was passed in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, struck the judge presiding over the sentencing as too harsh – and off-base in this instance.

“I thank everyone who came out here today”, Hammond said. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. The two were convicted of the arsons three years ago and served time – the father three months, the son one year.

Local pastor Brian Bowman called for the militia to leave. “Given the seriousness of arson, a five-year sentence is not grossly disproportionate to the offense”.

Bundy foreshadowed his militaristic intervention in a series of Facebook posts on December 30, with updates about the Hammonds and a “call to action”. The Hammonds are expected to report to prison Monday. Cliven Bundy said his son felt obligated to intervene on behalf of the Hammonds.

Ian Kullgren, a reporter for The Oregonian, posted on Twitter that he had spoken by phone with Bundy Sunday morning. And I guess this is what they did decide to do.

“The U.S. Attorneys Office caught wind of what was going on… and told them that if the Hammonds did not end communications with us, that they would detain the Hammonds early… and that they would put them in a less desirable prison”, Bundy said in a YouTube video.

Also conspicuously missing? A coordinated government or law enforcement response to remove the armed men from the federal building, something not lost on those who observed or participated in peaceful Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson in Baltimore to curb police violence, many of which were met with an aggressive response from the National Guard and police in tactical gear.