|
 Ammon Bundy and other occupiers left the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge in two vehicles and traveled to a neutral location along a
remote Oregon roadside to meet for about five minutes with Harney
County Sheriff David Ward.
During that meeting, which was attended by two Reuters reporters,
Ward told Bundy that he was seeking a peaceful resolution to the
nearly week-long standoff and offered to escort the occupiers out of
Oregon.
But Bundy, saying that the sheriff had not addressed the occupiers'
grievances, declined.
"We plan on staying," Bundy told reporters following a meeting. "I'm
not afraid to go out of state. I don't need an escort."
The sheriff's office later said in a tweet that Ward had plans to
meet with Bundy again on Friday.
The takeover that began on Saturday at the headquarters of the
refuge, about 30 miles (48 km) south of the small town of Burns, is
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.
Local residents have expressed a mixture of sympathy for the Hammond
family, suspicion of the federal government's motives and
frustration with the occupation.
The leaders of the armed occupation are Ammon Bundy and his brother,
Ryan Bundy. Their father, Cliven Bundy, along with a band of armed
men, stared down federal agents trying to seize his livestock in
Nevada in 2014. Many of the other occupiers also are from outside
Oregon.
At least a dozen other armed men have been visible at the park
headquarters, offices, a museum and outbuildings. They have come and
gone freely from the park without interference from authorities, at
times making trips into town.
The Bundys' group said that on Wednesday night three men entered the
refuge unexpectedly and engaged in a brief confrontation with the
occupiers. Reuters journalists present at the time saw men running
with firearms and heard angry shouting, but no shots were fired.
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The situation was more calm on Thursday when area ranchers visited
for chats with the Bundys, who discussed their beliefs that the
federal government had overreached its authority, often pausing to
read from the U.S. Constitution.
"Hopefully some of the ranching families and the community will come
and support you guys," rancher Royce Wilber told them. "That's what
I wanted to post on Facebook, 'Quit bitching on your electronic
devices and come down here and see these people because they are not
how they are portrayed in the media.'"
FEDERAL LAND HOLDINGS SOUGHT
The Bundys say they want the federal government to turn over its
land holdings in the area to local authorities and that they will
leave after they have accomplished their goal.
Federal law enforcement agents and local police have so far kept
away from the occupied site, maintaining little visible presence
outside the park in a bid to avoid the deadly violence that erupted
during conflicts with militants in Idaho and Texas in the 1990s.
But local officials have repeatedly asked the occupiers to go home,
saying that even residents who support their views object to the
illegal seizure of federal property.
"In reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to
overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a
movement across the United States," Ward said in a statement earlier
this week.
(Writing by Scott Malone and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)
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