Thread: Armed militia group attempting to overthrow the government

Watch: Hunters Push Back, Tear Down Militants' Sign At Malheur Refuge

By EDITOR • 5 HOURS AGO

• Sportsmen with an Oregon-based outdoors group tore down militants' signage outside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge." BACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS & ANGLERS
  
  

Originally published on January 15, 2016 10:59 am

BHA refuses to allow those who want to steal your public lands get away with this. It's time to restore law and order, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. #keepitpublic

A group of Oregon sportsmen are attempting to drum up a formal opposition to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a sportsmen's group based in Joseph, Oregon, posted a video to its Facebook page Tuesday showing a man tearing a makeshift sign used by militants to cover a refuge sign.

The occupiers have rebranded the refuge, so to say, by covering signs with new signage and American flags. The militants are calling the refuge the Harney County Resource Center.

In the video released by the sportsmen, they say by tearing down the sign they are "removing extremist attempts to grab our public lands."

Militants led by brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy have occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Jan. 2.

They are the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

After tearing down the sign, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Washington member Mark Heckert said he doesn't think public access to the refuge would last under oversight by the Bundys and their supporters.

"It's a baldfaced grab at the lands that belong to the people of the United States," Heckert said.

"I can guarantee what that means is that pretty soon they’ll start saying, ‘Well, you guys can’t come out on this land because it’s ranchland.’”

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers also posted an online pledge to "Keep Public Lands In Public Hands," which has so far gathered nearly 8,000 pledges.

http://ijpr.org/post/watch-hunters-p...malheur-refuge

JAN 15 2016, 4:39 PM ET

Armed Oregon Occupiers Scrub Meeting With Town, Tell FBI to Leave

by PHIL HELSEL

A group of armed protesters who have occupied an Oregon national wildlife refuse building for nearly two weeks said a planned meeting with the community likely won't happen Friday, and called on the FBI to leave the area.

"They're fear mongering. We want them to quit acting this way, quit being provocateurs, quit acting as militia and stirring up fear — there's no need for that," Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum, who has acted as a spokesperson for the group, said Friday.

"We can get on with the business and get out of here quicker if you go home," Finicum told reporters.

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JAN. 11: Oregon Protesters Use Government Equipment to Remove Fence 1:38


Related: What Is the Occupation in Oregon Really All About?

The armed group, led by Ammon Bundy, occupied the headquarters of the federal Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns on Jan. 2, following a protest in that town over the fate of two local ranchers ordered back to prison following arson convictions.

The group had planned to meet with the community and explain their actions and timetable for withdrawal Friday evening, but Finicum said Harney County Judge Steve Grasty has prevented them from securing a meeting place.

Grasty has said the county will not do anything that supports or enables the Bundy group, NBC affiliate KTVZ reported.

"That means no county building is available to the armed militia, including Mr. Bundy," Grasty said, according to the station. Finicum said the group still plans to hold a meeting "soon" but couldn't say exactly when.

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JAN. 12: Emotions Run High over Oregon Occupation 1:49

Related: Meet Ammon and Ryan Bundy, Activists Leading Oregon Occupation

The armed group has called for the release of father and son ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, who were ordered back to jail to serve five-year prison sentences for intentionally burning public land. The group has also demanded that federally owned land be turned over to local control.

The Hammonds surrendered at a federal prison in Southern California on Jan. 4. Their attorney has said the group does not speak for the Hammonds.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...-leave-n497636

http://www.alipac.us/f19/police-say-...refuge-327476/

4,000 artifacts stored at Oregon refuge held by armed group

Thousands of archaeological artifacts—and maps detailing where more can be found—are kept inside the national wildlife refuge buildings currently being held by an armed group of protestors angry over federal land policy.

Ryan Bundy, one of the leaders of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, says they have no real interest in the antiquities. Still, their access to the artifacts and maps has some worried that looters could take advantage of the situation.

"There's a huge market for artifacts, especially artifacts that have provenance, where you can identify where they came from," said Carla Burnside, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's refuge archeologist.

More than 300 recorded prehistoric sites are scattered across the refuge, including burial grounds, ancient villages and petroglyphs. Some of the artifacts—including spears, stone tools, woven baskets and beads—date back 9,800 years.

The artifacts and remains came from ancestors of the Burns Paiute Tribe. Chairwoman Charlotte Rodrique says she feels helpless knowing that her tribe's cultural heritage is now in the hands of the armed group.
"As far as I'm concerned, our history is just another hostage," Rodrique said.

The tribe has sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. attorney for Oregon, Billy Williams, asking that members of the armed group be prosecuted if any artifacts or maps are damaged or missing.

WHY AREN'T THE RELICS AT A MUSEUM?

About 7,000 artifacts and samples from the refuge are kept at a museum in Eugene, Oregon. But 4,000 more are kept at the refuge for research.

Only Burnside has a key to the room containing the artifacts and the maps. She's since seen pictures of the occupiers in her office, adjacent to the room where the artifacts are stored. The group has been looking through government files at the site, but it is unclear if they've gone through the room with the artifacts. Bundy told The Associated Press that he's seen the artifacts and lots of maps, but he didn't know what the maps illustrated.

The artifacts and maps are legally protected by the 1979 Archeological Resources Protection Act and other federal laws.

Rodrique said she doesn't know if members of the group have disturbed the artifacts but wants the artifacts and documents catalogued as the occupation continues and once it comes to an end.

"If the occupiers disturb, damage, remove, alter or deface any archaeological resource on the refuge property, the Tribe requests that the United States bring criminal charges," Rodrique wrote in her letter to federal officials.

WHAT IS THE ARMED GROUP DOING WITH THE ARTIFACTS?

Bundy said they're not interested in the artifacts and would turn them over to the Burns Paiute Tribe, if asked.

"If the Native Americans want those, then we'd be delighted to give them to them," he said.

Rodrique said the tribe is not going to legitimize the armed group's occupation of the refuge by negotiating with them.

"That's our history, our ancestors' possessions and remains," Rodrique said. "It's hard to explain, as a native person, what that means to us. That's the very proof of our existence in this country."

Bundy said he didn't think it was likely that anyone would use the maps to loot the site.

"We haven't really been thinking along those lines," Bundy said.

Removing artifacts from federal property without a permit is illegal.

WHAT ABOUT THE PREHISTORIC SITES?

Scientists are also worried about unintentional damage that could be done to the prehistoric sites by cattle, vehicles and heavy equipment.

The group at the ranch has driven road graders and other large construction equipment around the refuge headquarters buildings, but Bundy said Thursday they haven't used the machinery to move any earth. He wouldn't rule out that possibility, however.

In 2014, Ryan Bundy and supporters of the Bundy family rode ATVs on federal land closed to motorized vehicles in Utah as part of a protest. Their route took them along an illegal trail that crossed through Native American archeological sites.

HAVE THE SITES BEEN LOOTED BEFORE?

While well-known petroglyphs or other prehistoric sites are occasionally publicized for public viewing, federal land managers often go to great lengths to keep such locations secret when they can't be safely protected from vandals and looters.

Looting has long been a problem at the refuge, with the first documented instance recorded in 1979, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service's comprehensive conservation plan.

"It's a huge problem in Oregon, especially in the southeast portion of the state," said Dennis Griffin, the state's archaeologist. "More often than not, when they are caught, it's connected to drug running or seeking quick money on eBay."

An online search of "great basin artifacts for sale" yields arrowheads, stone pestles and other items, many priced at hundreds of dollars each.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Burnside said the artifacts are part of the ancestry of the Burns Paiute Tribe and are priceless to science.

"There's so much you can gain from looking at one artifact: Where the stone came from, how far they traveled, how it was used, the skill of the person who made it," she said.

The tribe works extensively with federal officials on the archeology projects. In her letter, Rodrique said the tribe knows it's a difficult time for Burnside and other refuge employees, and thanked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its cooperation and help.

"All I want is that our past be respected, that things don't go by the wayside, that they're not destroyed by cattle," Rodrique said in a phone interview.

"Their history is being hijacked by these people," said Donald Grayson, an anthropologist and archeology expert at the University of Washington.

HOW DOES BUNDY WANT THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES HANDLED?

Bundy said people interested in archeology are welcome to explore the refuge, but that cattle ranchers and loggers should have priority when it comes to land use.

"Before white man came, so to speak, there was nothing to keep cattle from tromping on those things," Bundy said.

Though some countries had domesticated cattle 10,000 years ago, the animals came to the United States with European settlers.

"We also recognize that the Native Americans had the claim to the land, but they lost that claim," Bundy said. "There are things to learn from cultures of the past, but the current culture is the most important."

Read more at: 4,000 artifacts stored at Oregon refuge held by armed group (Update)

Oregon standoff: Militia member loses foster kids, blames ‘pressure from the feds’

Published time: 19 Jan, 2016 03:18


Robert "LaVoy" Finicum © The Oregonian / YouTube

One of the most visible members of the armed militia that took over a wildlife refuge in Oregon says his four foster sons were taken away due to his involvement in the standoff, and he blames the federal government who “must have gotten to the governor.”

Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and his wife Jeanette have fostered more than 50 boys over the last decade at their ranch near Chino Valley, Arizona. The couple is licensed and has a care contract with the Catholic Charities Community Services. Many of the children came from mental hospitals, drug rehabs and group homes for emotionally distressed youth, he told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).

“My ranch has been a great tool for these boys,” Finicum said. “It has done a lot of good.”

He traveled to Oregon to take part in the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge at the beginning of January, leaving Jeanette to care for the four boys. But now the Finicums have no more fosters to care for.

Read more

Oregon standoff as seen by Bundy militia, local authorities, and tribal head (EXCLUSIVE)

A social worker began removing the last four of the family’s foster kids on January 4, the fourth day of the Oregon standoff. The last left five days later, he said.

“They didn’t go out at the same time,” Finicum said. “One was there for a year, one of the boys was there six months, another eight months, and a month. I don’t know where they ended up.”

He blamed the kids’ removals on “pressure from the feds.”

“They were ripped from my wife,” Finicum said. “We are very successful [foster parents]. Our track records are good, it’s been a good relationship. [Federal authorities] must have gotten to the governor, who told the state to get them out of there.”

A 2010 tax filing showed that Catholic Charities paid the Finicums $115,343 to foster children in 2009, OPB reported. That year, foster parents in Arizona were compensated between $22.31 and $37.49 per child, per day. If the couple was paid the maximum rate, they would have cared for an average of eight children a day in 2009.

“That was my main source of income,” Finicum said.

“My ranch, well, the cows just cover the costs of the ranch.

If this means rice and beans for the next few years, so be it.

We’re going to stay the course.”

The last year for which Catholic Charities itemized the amount it paid the Finicums is 2009. However, the organization has significantly increased its foster-care payments since that time, according to OPB.

Critics point out, however, that by helping the Bundy brothers take over federal property in Oregon, he could potentially be arrested for committing crimes.

“[H]aving one parent away from the home for a significant period of time committing a number of high profile federal crimes would seem like at least a plausible reason to remove the children,” Josh Marshall wrote for the Talking Points Memo Editor’s Blog. “This doesn't seem to occur to Finicum.”

Another militia member, Blaine Cooper, also said that his children were taken from him in a video posted to Facebook on Saturday. The video was apparently removed later.

Cooper believes the FBI and Child Protective Services “are doing this to draw me out but they will fail horribly,” he wrote in a Facebook comment shared by All Your Based. Are Ours.

Finicum hopes that he will be able to foster again, as his license has not be revoked. However, he said, the couple is no longer receiving referrals to care for children.

Finicum believes the loss of his four foster kids was a sacrifice worth making for the cause.

“I hope people are seeing the sacrifices we’re making here,” Finicum said. “I want to show what my government is doing. You need to understand the cost being paid by many people.”

Last week, Finicum and militia leader Ryan Bundy traveled to Utah to meet with county officials in the Beehive State who are reportedly eager to start a similar standoff with federal authorities over public land management, he told OPB.

“We went fast, and came back fast,” said Finicum. “I doubt [law enforcement] even knew we were gone. Probably they did. But they were nice enough to let us go and come back.”

The two returned to the Malheur Refuge by Friday, when Finicum reportedly took down a surveillance camera atop an electric pole that was suspected to be operated by the FBI. The Arizona rancher has served as a spokesman of sorts for the group.

https://www.rt.com/usa/329381-militi...s-foster-kids/

Protesters occupying Oregon wildlife refuge remove surveillance cameras found along road nearby, claiming they were placed there by the FBI.


Oregon Protesters Remove Cameras

Armed protesters say they have reinforcements camping nearby

An armed group of protesters says they now have more reinforcements as they occupy a national wildlife refuge in Burns, Oregon for a third week. Concerned neighbors want to hold a public meeting but so far, county officials have denied their request.

Protesters clash in Oregon on MLK Day

January 19, 2016 - 5:51pm

Nevada conservationists, lawmakers call for Bundys' arrest

Navajo Nation member Tygel Pinto speaks during a news conference calling for the arrest of the Bundys and their fellow anti-government protestors at Inside Style in downtown Las Vegas on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016.

Related links

• Who owns the land? Debate won't end when Bundys leave Oregon
• Bundys reportedly said no thanks to second militia group who offered protection
• 11-year-old student asks Bundy what he's trying to accomplish in Oregon standoff
• Bundy: Protesters unwilling to leave occupied wildlife refuge just yet — PHOTOS
• Bundy occupation enters 3rd day; protesters told to go home

By Ben Botkin
Las Vegas Review-Journal

A broad group of conservationists, state lawmakers and tribal members on Tuesday called for the federal government to arrest the Southern Nevada leaders and self-styled militiamen leading the armed occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge headquarters.

Battle Born Progress, the state advocacy group leading the call from Nevada, is also sending a care package to U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers based in Oregon to show their appreciation for handling the standoff.

Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy, the sons of Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy, overtook the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge's headquarters in southeastern Oregon on Jan. 2. Since then, the group has occupied the complex of about 12 buildings with armed, self-styled militia protesters and has held nearly daily press conferences.

"It's just inexcusable," Battle Born Progress Executive Director Annette Magnus said. "We've essentially exported our terrorists out to Oregon."

At the press event at Inside Style, 1119 S. Main St. in Las Vegas, a sign said: "We're sorry Oregon. For exporting the Bundys." The group is also starting a petition asking the Justice Department to prosecute the Bundys and their armed supporters.

State Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, and Assemblyman Elliot Anderson, D-Las Vegas, denounced the actions in Oregon.

"It was never their land to begin with," Atkinson said.

Anderson said the protesters, despite calling themselves "patriots," are the opposite by ignoring the law.

"These people need to be put in jail once and for all," Anderson said.

The Bundys couldn't immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

The Bundys started the Oregon protest because of the case of Oregon ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven Hammond. A jury convicted the Hammonds in 2012 of starting fires on public lands, burning about 140 acres. Federal prosecutors said the fires were set to hide poaching. The Hammonds, who turned themselves in two weeks ago to start five-year federal prison sentences, said the fires were set to protect their property from invasive plants and wildfires.

Besides calling for the Hammonds to be freed, the Bundys have said the lands in Harney County, Oregon, must be transferred from the federal government to locals.

William Anderson of the Moapa Band of Paiutes and Fawn Douglas of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe said Bundy-led claims to federal public land ignore history and that tribal people predated ranchers. That's the case in Oregon and Gold Butte in Southern Nevada.

The Bundys are also tied to an armed standoff in April 2014 near Bunkerville. Cliven Bundy, backed by armed protesters, had an armed standoff with federal agents who rounded up his cattle because he didn't pay grazing fees for using public federal lands in Gold Butte. Federal agents released the cows and no shots were fired. No one has been charged in the standoff.

"This is our land and this has been our land for many, many years," William Anderson said.

The 2014 standoff loomed over the press event, which featured a polystyrene cutout of Cliven Bundy and a cow.

Tygel Pinto, a Sierra Club volunteer and Navajo Nation member and Robert Buntjer, board chairman of the Nevada Conservation League, also joined the group calling for the situation's resolution.

The Bundys' reception in southeastern Oregon has been mixed. Although some ranchers have visited them at the occupation site, the Harney County sheriff has urged the group to go home before anyone gets hurt. Federal law enforcement has been largely quiet on the issue, but officials have said they are monitoring the situation.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/ne...-bundys-arrest

JAN 20 2016, 12:38 AM ET

Leader of Oregon Occupation Appears At Meeting, Some Say 'Go Home!'

by PHIL HELSEL

The leader of an armed group occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge made an unannounced visit to a community meeting Tuesday, where he was met with jeers from some who have had enough of the group and its protest.

"I agree with you 100 percent, but get out of my yard!" one Harney County man told group leader Ammon Bundy at the community meeting in Burns,NBC affiliate KTVZ reported.

The group took over a federal building at the public Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns on Jan. 2, and has refused requests from law enforcement to leave.

Their stated goal is the reversal of prison sentences imposed on two local ranchers convicted of burning government land, and the release of public land owned by the federal government to local control.

The group has been criticized by local officials as being made up of activists from out of state, who have "hijacked" the cause of the imprisoned ranchers. Bundy lives in Arizona.

The crowd applauded and chanted "Go! Home!" after Harney County Judge Steve Grasty called on Bundy to leave the refuge.

But others expressed support for Bundy's group, saying they are raising important land use issues. Bundy did not address the crowd. About half of the crowd expressed support for the occupiers and their goals.

Related: Meet Ammon and Ryan Bundy, Activists Leading Oregon Occupation

Earlier Tuesday, Harney County Sheriff David Ward said the occupiers are criminals, and that anyone caught driving vehicles stolen from the federal government would be arrested.

"Every time a trespasser from the refuge operates a vehicle that belongs to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they are committing a crime," Harney County Sheriff David Ward said in a statement Tuesday.

"We will not tolerate it when they come into our community driving stolen vehicles," Ward said.

Two people connected to the group have been arrested since the occupation began. The occupation was in its 18th day Tuesday.

Related: What Is the Occupation in Oregon Really All About?

Kenneth Medenbach, of LaPine, was arrested Friday outside a Safeway grocery store in Burns where two U.S. Fish and Wildlife vehicles reported stolen were recovered. A second person fled before police arrived, the sheriff's office said.

Dwane Kirkland, of Montana, was arrested Thursday on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the sheriff's office said.

The FBI has said it is working toward a peaceful resolution of the situation.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...o-home-n500051

Oregon’s governor calls on feds to act against armed group occupying wildlife refuge

POSTED 4:47 PM, JANUARY 20, 2016, BY ASSOCIATED PRESS, UPDATED AT 04:48PM, JANUARY 20, 2016


A sign referencing anti-government militia leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy is posted in front of a home on January 6, 2016 in Burns, Oregon. An armed anti-government militia group continues to occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Headquarters as they protest the jailing of two ranchers for arson. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon’s governor expressed anger Wednesday over federal authorities’ handling of the occupation of a national wildlife refuge by an armed group and said she intends to bill the U.S. government for what the occupation is costing state taxpayers.

Gov. Kate Brown said federal officials “must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable.”

“The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials’ response thus far. I have conveyed these very grave concerns directly to our leaders at the highest levels of our government: the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House,” she said at a news conference.

Exasperated by a tense situation that has caused fear among local residents since it began Jan. 2, Brown said, “This spectacle of lawlessness must end, and until Harney County is free of it, I will not stop insisting that federal officials enforce the law.”

She said the occupation has cost Oregon taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. She didn’t say what those costs entailed.

“We’ll be asking federal officials to reimburse the state for these costs,” she said

http://q13fox.com/2016/01/20/oregons...t-armed-group/