Oregon Sheriff meets leader of armed group

Many residents say they support the message, but not necessarily the method of the armed group. As of now law enforcement has shown known aggression and the place is mostly occupied by national media. Ammon Bundy is the son of rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the government over grazing rights.

The protesters who took over a federal building in southeast OR did not accept the local sheriff’s offer for safe passage out of the state.

Schools were closed following the seizure of the refuge because of safety concerns in the small town in eastern Oregon’s high desert.

Several members have blocked the road up to the federal building.

Burns Paiute Tribal Chairperson Charlotte Rodrique talks to reporters about the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., on Wednesday.

“There are some positives that could come out of this”, Harney County Sheriff David Ward, accompanied by colleagues from two other counties, told Bundy and his group.

Ammon Bundy is demanding that the refuge be handed over to locals.

Bundy said the group felt it had the support of the local community. In fact, President Roosevelt laid claim to the land in 1908, deeming it a national wildlife refuge. In the late 1800s, they were forced off a sprawling reservation created by an 1872 treaty that was never ratified. “Their lands and their resources have been taken from them to the point where it’s putting them literally in poverty”.

Harney County Sheriff David Ward told hundreds of people at the gathering that the group needed to leave so local people could get back to their lives.

This report first appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s website.

According to the Daily Beast website, Bundy’s last tweet, recorded Tuesday, read, “As Thomas Paine said, It is the duty of the patriot to protect its country from its government”.

The group occupying a remote national wildlife preserve in OR has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands.

BLANCHARD: A representative of Bundy, LaVoy Finicum, says they were grateful for their presence, though he urged them to put away their guns. Bundy believes that the USA government acted in violation of the constitution, and wishes for the land to be given to citizens of Harney County.

Among those groups are Native Americans. The tribe also hunts and fishes there.

“We’re getting ignored again, sir”, said Bundy. Since then, additional protesters have joined the group and the militia members have been allowed to come and go as they please. Atkins said, the majority of the people of Burns wanted them to leave.

“The legislature, so as to be true blue in these United States, must recognize a review of grievances by nationals”, he said. The Hammonds are long-time local residents who have distanced themselves from the group Bundys group.

Petty reported from Portland, Oregon.