Cliven Bundy’s Son Among Militiamen Occupying Oregon Federal Building

The two OR ranchers – Dwight Hammond, age 73, and his son Steven, age 46 – are scheduled to report to federal prison on Monday.

A building in a federal wildlife refuge in OR has been occupied by a group of armed protesters who are accusing officials of unfairly punishing ranchers who refused to sell their land.

The ranchers admit they set the fire and the land they burned was public land.

Dwight Hammond has said he and his son plan to peacefully report to prison January 4 as ordered by the judge.

The pair, who were accused by prosecutors of starting the blaze to cover up hunting violations, were sentenced to around four years each in jail on top of the time they had already served – three months for the father and a year for his son, according to local media.

Ammon Bundy issued a call to arms in a video posted on Facebook, urging fellow U.S. patriots from around the country to join the offensive at the refuge with their weapons. He said, “This is not a time to stand down”. Ritzheimer asks. “Or do you want to die out here with us a free man?”

Bundy and his group of armed men aren’t taking the new sentencing lightly, telling The Oregonian they are willing to fight and die to protect their right to manage land.

“We’re planning on staying here for years, absolutely”, he said. “The last thing we need is some type of confrontation”.

The initial part of the protest was a march to the courthouse where the protesters threw pennies at the locked door, symbolizing their attempt to “buy back their government” according to the Associated Press.

There was also John Ritzheimer, an Arizona man known to security agents for his violent anti-Muslim rhetoric.

An armed group of protesters has taken over a federal wildlife refuge building in Oregon.

“The facility has been the tool to do all the tyranny that has been placed upon the Hammonds”, he said. The militia’s latest cause celebre is that of Dwight and Stephen Hammond, father-son ranchers who face prison time under an anti-terrorism statute for setting fires on federal lands.

“Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond Family”, the Hammonds’ lawyer W. Alan Schroeder wrote to Sheriff David Ward.

One local resident said he did not like the methods used by militias.

A local pastor, Brian Bowman, called for the militia to leave.

The militiamen told OregonLive that there were about 150 of them, but a couple who delivered food to the refuge headquarters estimated that there were just 15. “Everyone here should know what your agenda is”.

Ammon told the “Oregonian” the militiamen demanded the Hammonds be released from prison. It worries me. It brings me to tears.

Left-wing Twitter, of course, didn’t label this protest, say, #OccupyMalheur, but #OregonUnderAttack, which implies, incorrectly, that the protesters at Malheur were being violent against the residents of Oregon.

Interestingly enough, it seems the Hammond’s don’t want the militia’s help. “It’s asking a sheep to all the sudden defend itself from the wolves”.

On Saturday, supporters also gathered outside the elder Hammond’s home and hugged him and his wife one-by-one in a display of solidarity, KTVZ reported.

Ammon Bundy told his dad that the group at the wildlife refuge had a backup generator and “supplies”, Cliven Bundy said.

Prescribed burning isn’t uncommon in OR and other ranching states.

“We can not have what happened at the Bundy Ranch here”.