Thread: Militia groups meet with leaders of Oregon occupation, pledge support

Militia groups meet with leaders of Oregon occupation, pledge support

JONATHAN ALLEN Jan 9th 2016 1:49PM
12511

80

X

Members of self-styled militia groups met on Friday with armed protesters occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, pledging support for their cause, if not their methods, and offering to act as a peace-keeping force in the week-long standoff over land rights.
During the 30-minute meeting at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a leader of the occupation, Ammon Bundy, told about a dozen representatives of such groups as Pacific Patriots Network, Oath Keepers and III% that he had no immediate plans to abandon the siege.
"I was asked to do this by the Lord," said Bundy, a Mormon, as some of the militia members nodded in understanding. "I did it how he told me to do it."


PHOTO GALLERY | 1 of 45 IMAGES

Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon, Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, walks his horse Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)



Earlier on Friday the Pacific Patriots Network called on its members to establish a safety perimeter around the refuge in remote southeastern Oregon to prevent a "Waco-style situation" from unfolding.
In 1993 federal agents laid siege to a compound in Waco, Texas, being held by the Branch Davidians religious sect for 51 days before the standoff ended in a gun battle and fire. Four federal agents and more than 80 members of the group died, including 23 children.
The Pacific Patriots Network has previously said that while it agrees with Bundy's land rights grievances, it does not support the occupation, a position leader Brandon Rapolla reiterated during the meeting.
Bundy thanked Rapolla and handed him a small roll of bills, which he said came from donations.
"We're friends, but we're operating separately," Rapolla, a former Marine who helped defend the Bundys in 2014 in their standoff with the U.S. government at their Nevada ranch, told Reuters in an earlier interview.
The militia members are not joining the occupation, but are sleeping in their vehicles or in hotels in Burns, he said.
Rapolla said he had also taken sausage McMuffins to FBI agents who are stationed at nearby Burns Municipal Airport to monitor the occupation and had coffee with deputies from the county sheriff's office on Thursday.
The meetings were friendly, he said, and he told them that they were there to make neither side escalates the dispute.
"That's really the point of militias: it's community involvement," Rapolla said. "If something happens in your community, that's what militias are for."
Some two dozen armed protesters have occupied the headquarters of the refuge since last Saturday, marking the latest incident in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over federal control of land and resources in the U.S. West.
The move followed a demonstration in support of two local ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, who were returned to prison earlier this week for setting fires that spread to federal land.
A lawyer for Hammond family has said that the occupiers do not speak for the family.
Ammon Bundy met briefly with Harney County Sheriff David Ward on Thursday but rejected the lawman's offer of safe passage out of the state to end the standoff.
During a press conference on Friday morning, Bundy seemed to soften his position, saying: "We will take that offer but not yet and we will go out of this county and out of this state as free men."
Following Bundy's press conference on Friday morning, a lands right activist opposed to the occupation spoke to the media.
"This is about furthering an extremist right-wing agenda," Barrett Kaiser, a Montana resident and a representative of the Center for Western Priorities said, as supporters of Bundy tried to interrupt him and argue with him. "They need to be charged and prosecuted."
Local residents have expressed a mixture of sympathy for the Hammond family, suspicion of the federal government's motives and frustration with the occupation.
Federal law enforcement agents and local police have so far kept away from the occupied site, maintaining no visible presence outside the park in a bid to avoid a violent confrontation.'




http://www.aol.com/article/2016/01/0...d%3D1981699952

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Oathkeepers are not happy about this protest.

http://www.alipac.us/f9/oath-keepers...refuge-327074/

@ http://www.alipac.us/f19/armed-milit...rnment-326980/

FBI is there they met today. Rough Video that media didn't cover. Probably would make them look like a bunch of fools for their reporting stuff that isn't happening. Takes a few minutes the guy was recording it with his laptop meeting with 3% the group mentioned above I believe and the FBI trying to get an investigation started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5w99LTKEA0

Armed men arrive to 'de-escalate' Oregon refuge standoff, then leave



The men said they were members of the Pacific Patriot Network, a consortium of groups from Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Tribune wire reports Contact Reporter

A group of armed men from around the Pacific Northwest who arrived at the occupied national wildlife refuge in Oregon on Saturday morning, left on Saturday afternoon after the people leading the occupation told them they were not needed.

Todd MacFarlane, a Utah lawyer acting as a mediator, said occupation leader Ammon Bundy didn't want the armed visitors there and was concerned about the perception they conveyed.

The Oregonian reports Bundy told them they didn't need the security services the group was offering. MacFarlane says Bundy and the other leaders of the occupation were "alarmed" by the arrival of the Pacific Patriot Network members, some of whom were carrying rifles.

Their leader, Brandon Curtiss, said the group came to "de-escalate" the situation by providing security for those inside and outside the compound.

One of the original occupiers of the refuge, LaVoy Finicum, said the group appreciates the Pacific Patriot Network's help, but "we want the long guns put away."

The leader of the standoff group — Ammon Bundy — has repeatedly rejected calls to leave buildings at the refuge despite pleas from the county sheriff, from many local residents and from Oregon's governor, among others.

On Saturday, militants drove government-owned vehicles and heavy equipment around the compound, saying the trucks and backhoes now belong to the local community.

They also covered the national refuge sign with a new sign saying: "Harney County Resource Center" in white block letters over a blue background.


The occupation of a wildlife refuge by armed protesters in the western state of Oregon reflects a decades-old dispute over land rights in the United States, where local communities have increasingly sought to take back government-owned land.


The Harney County Joint Information Center put out a statement on Saturday, saying they continue to work for a peaceful solution.

"The FBI's investigation is ongoing so it would not be appropriate to provide details at this time," the statement said.

The local school district announced there would be classes on Monday, after a week without school because of safety concerns.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...109-story.html