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Cleveland Daily Banner—Monday, January 4, 2016—7
Town watches warily as armed protesters take over refuge
BURNS, Ore. (AP) — People in
this rural eastern Oregon town
are used to worrying about friction between the federal government and locals, but the armed
takeover of a nearby national
wildlife refuge is raising concerns to a new high.
Keith Landon, a longtime resident of Burns and employee at
the Reid Country Store, said he
knows local law enforcement
officials who fear their kids will
be targeted by angry militia
members. The mother of one of
his kids is now involved with an
officer, Landon said, and they
decided to send their children to
another town after they were
allegedly threatened by an
angry protester.
“I’m hoping most of it’s just
muscle, trying to push,” Landon
said. “But it’s a scary thing.”
Armed protesters took over
the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge south of Burns on
Saturday after participating in a
peaceful rally over the prison
sentences of local ranchers
Dwight and Steven Hammond.
The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago for
fires that burned on federal
land in 2001 and 2006. Though
they served their original sentences for the conviction —
Dwight serving three months,
Steven serving one year — an
appellate judge ruled in October
that the terms were too short
under federal minimum sentencing laws.
Both men were ordered back
to prison for four years each.
They have said they plan to turn
themselves in Monday.
The decision to send the man
back to prison generated controversy and is part of a
decades-long dispute between
some Westerners and the federal government over the use of
public lands.
Brothers Ammon and Ryan
Bundy are among those occupying the refuge. Their father,
Cliven Bundy, was involved in a
2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights in
Nevada.
Ryan Bundy told The
Associated Press Sunday he
hopes to turn the land over to
local authorities so people can
use it free of federal oversight.
He said he hopes the takeover of
the property will prompt others
to take action across the country to seize local control of federally managed land. Ammon
Bundy has previously called on
members of militia groups to
take a stand with those at the
refuge.
On Sunday afternoon, several
pickup trucks blocked the
entrance to the refuge and
armed men wearing camouflage
and winter gear used radios to
alert those at the refuge buildings when reporters were
allowed onto the property.
A small flock of pheasants
wandered across the refuge
driveway, scattering as men
driving utility vehicles traversed
the property. Ryan Bundy
declined to say how many people were at the site.
“The end goal here is that we
are here to restore the rights to
the people here so that they can
use the land and resources. All
of them,” Bundy said. That
means ranchers can graze their
cattle on the land, miners can
use their mineral rights, loggers
can cut trees and hunters and
fishers can recreate, he said.
He said they planned on staying at the refuge as long as it
takes. If the situation turns violent, Bundy contends it will be
because of the federal government’s actions.
“I mean, we’re here to restore
order, we’re here to restore
rights and that can go peacefully and easily,” Bundy said.
Harney County Sheriff Dave
Ward said in a statement
Sunday that the group of armed
protesters came to town under
false pretenses.
“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,” Ward said.
The sheriff says he is working
with local and federal authorities to keep the citizens in his
county safe and to resolve the
situation as quickly and peace-
Illinois, Missouri assess damage after flooding
KINCAID, Ill. (AP) — The
Mississippi River and many of its
tributaries continued their retreat
Sunday from historic and deadly
winter flooding, leaving amid the
silt a massive cleanup and recovery effort likely to take weeks if
not months.
The flood, fueled by more than
10 inches of rain over a three-day
period that began Christmas
Day, is blamed for 25 deaths in
Illinois and Missouri, reflecting
Sunday’s discovery of the body of
a second teenager who G&