Takeover Day 21: Monday meeting moves; no guns allowed
Monday evening’s weekly community meeting in Burns has been moved to a new venue, after the Harney County School District said too many guns were brought to last week’s, in violation of school policy. It also will have an audience limited by tickets and be recorded for a statewide radio program.
Last Tuesday’s gathering also brought a surprise visit by Ammon Bundy and several of the others who have occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for three weeks now.
Harney County Judge Steve Grasty announced the change in venue and format for the weekly meeting in an announcement, the rest of which follows below.
“We started the weekly community meeting so that Harney County residents would have an opportunity to ask questions and voice their concerns in a safe and civil manner,” said Judge Grasty. “The meeting last week did not fulfill that purpose.”
Harney County has been notified by the school district that school facilities will no longer be available for these community meetings due to the number of firearms that were present, in violation of school district policy.
The meeting on January 25 will be held at the Harney County Senior Center at 5:00 p.m. Doors will open at 4:30. The Senior Center also has a “no firearm” policy that will be strictly enforced. Please arrive early in order to get through security in a timely manner.
The format for this meeting will also be special.
“Residents of Harney County have been given a unique opportunity to be heard statewide,” said Judge Grasty, explaining that Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud public affairs program will moderate and record the meeting on Monday. The host of Think Out Loud, Dave Miller, will ask questions of those in attendance. This episode of Think Out Loud will air on Tuesday, January 26.
“I can’t think of a better way to give Oregon a taste of the real Harney County,” continued Grasty.
Due to space limitations at the Senior Center and the unique format, entrance to this meeting will be limited only to those Harney County residents who have a ticket. Tickets will be available starting at 10 a.m. Monday morning. Here is what you need to know:
• Pick up tickets at the Harney County Courthouse, Clerk’s Office, on Monday starting at 10 a.m. or by calling 541-573-6641 starting at 10 a.m.
• Tickets will be released on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Everyone who gets a ticket will need to show picture I.D. and residency will be verified.
• Picture I.D. will also be required to enter the Senior Center with your ticket.
• Each person may pick up only two tickets.
• There will be 150 tickets available. Thirty tickets have been set aside for invited guests. Any of those tickets that are unused will be available for others to use.
• Anyone who is not able to get a ticket for this meeting, will be wait-listed for this meeting and put at the front of the list for future meetings, should it be necessary to continue with this ticketing format.
Any questions related to ticket distribution should be directed to 541-573-6641.
As the third week of the refuge occupation came to an end, Bundy went back to the Burns Airport for a second day and again talked to a hostage negotiator on the phone, but rejected his terms for a face to face meeting.
Here’s Bundy remarks to reporters after his conversation by cellphone with the FBI hostage negotiator referred to as “Chris”:
“I talked to him briefly but I told him I would continue it here. I kind of feel that if he doesn’t even have authorization to come here without getting a bunch of permission from whoever he gets permission from, then he’s probably not really the one that we need to talk to.
“If he can’t permission to travel to Bend so we can see each other, I don’t know what he’s going to do, other than just gather information somehow.
“The question that I asked him was, I think we the people, and the people of Harney County, I believe, should have the right to see if their sheriff gave you authority to be doing what you’re doing. And that should be written authority.
“Because your actions here, and what you’ve done to this airport and all of that, and mounting up, must be according to the Constitution under the jurisdiction of the sheriff or you do not have authorization to be here.
“Second, what are your marching orders from the sheriff, if you will — what has he sanctioned you to do? So that we can understand that, and what laws you’re acting on, where the people have given you the authority to do what you’re doing.
“The conversation I had with him. I really don’t think at this point, even having another phone conversation here without him would be beneficial.
“He, of course, wanted to do it in private, if he was going to meet face to face. I think the people have a right to hear that. I think we both, myself and the FBI, should be accountable to the people, so the press should be invited to that, there should be full disclosure there, transparency.
“But ultimately, if you’re not acting under the authority of the sheriff that the people of Harney County elected and that secures their rights, that’s another constitutional violation. And if you haven’t got sanction from the sheriff, there’s no reason for me to be talking to you. I need to just go down to the sheriff and talk to him.
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The FBI said Thursday its response to the occupation of the has been cautious because authorities want to avoid violence.
The agency issued a brief statement — its first since the takeover began Jan. 2 — which reads, in full:
“The FBI recognizes that many in the community have questions about why we are here and our role in helping to end the occupation of the wildlife refuge.
“We are here to work closely with Sheriff Ward and our local, state and federal partners to protect the safety and welfare of this community.
“This occupation has caused tremendous disruption and hardship for the people of Harney County, and our response has been deliberate and measured as we seek a peaceful resolution.”
On Thursday, with reporters watching, Bundy first spoke on the phone, apparently with an FBI negotiator. The nearly hour-long conversation was streamed online by another member of Bundy’s group.
Bundy said his group is “not going to escalate” the situation, and he agreed to speak with authorities again Friday.
The FBI did not comment on the meeting or conversation.
But The Oregonian reporter Les Zaitz said in a tweet that the FBI had “opened talks” with Bundy, “starting with a lengthy phone call.” He said the “FBI started reaching out to Ammond Bundy and Ryan Payne by phone and messenger two days ago.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday she is angry because federal authorities have not yet taken action against the group, which began occupying the refuge on Jan. 2 to protest federal land use policies.
Meanwhile, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported the armed occupiers of the refuge are continuing to use government equipment at the complex to clear areas, drawing scorn from federal officials..
One militant, who refused to give his name, again plowed dirt with a refuge bulldozer Wednesday. OPB said he wouldn’t say why he was operating the machinery, but in several places, sagebrush and vegetation had been newly removed, leaving wide patches of bare mud.
The new road connects a bunkhouse with another road. When asked about the construction, the militant claimed that the road was already there, and that militants had only removed snow from the path.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed Thursday that not only is the road built last week by the occupiers new, but it is also within an archaeological site important to the Burns Paiute Tribe.
The agency’s assistant director of external affairs, Jason Holm, condemned the militants last week for what he called “disgusting, ghoulish behavior” after they removed part of a fence to create the short access road.
Kevin Foerster, the agency’s Pacific region chief, also denounced the construction.
“There’s a reason why there’s not a road there,”Foerster told OPB. “If there was a need for a road in that particular location, we would have over the past 108 years put a road in that location.”
The agency said the action is likely a violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, also known as the ARPA.
