Bundy Sons Lead Antigovernment Extremists, Militia in Takeover of Federal Wildlife Headquarters in Oregon
Armed antigovernment extremists, including the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, seized an unoccupied federal visitor鈥檚 center in Oregon over the weekend after their rally failed to convince two ranchers to continue defying the U.S. government.
Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son, Steven Hammond, 46, 聽both convicted of arson for starting fires on public lands adjoining their ranch near Burns, Ore., said they would report to federal prisons in California today and begin serving 5-year mandatory sentences and not seek sanctuary from the local sheriff and militia and Patriots.
Extremists and antigovernment activists from throughout the country, particularly the West, flocked to Burns for the Saturday rally supporting the Hammonds, who didn鈥檛 participate.聽
After learning the Hammonds didn鈥檛 want to be the new poster boys for the latest antigovernment theater and, instead, would be surrendering to the federal Bureau of Prisons, some of the demonstrators, including Ammon and Ryan Bundy decided without prior public announcement to occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters. They reportedly found a ring of keys to gain entry to the federal facility 30 miles southeast of Burns that wasn鈥檛 staffed over the New Year鈥檚 holiday, various media outlets reported.
The startling development in Oregon seems to be further evidence that because there were no arrests following 2014 Nevada 鈥淏unkerville鈥 standoff, the Bundys and some of their militia supporters feel emboldened, and ready to take the next step toward possible violence.
One of Bundy鈥檚 sons involved in the new standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Ryan Bundy, told the that he and other armed Patriots are 鈥渨illing to kill and be killed if necessary.鈥 Another militia activist involved in the standoff, Jon Ritzheimer, made a farewell video that was posted last night on YouTube.
Another son, Ammon Bundy, told the newspaper that he and others occupying the U.S. Fish & Wildlife headquarters were 鈥減lanning on staying here for years, absolutely. This is not a decision we've made at the last minute.鈥 Media outlets reported those involved in the take-over appeared well-supplied and armed.
The Oregon standoff follows similar dust-ups last year in Oregon and Montana between the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and assorted antigovernment extremists, including members of the Oathkeepers and individuals calling themselves the 鈥淚II Percenters鈥 in memory of the minority of U.S. citizens who fought in the American Revolution.
As the Burns聽takeover enters its third day, law enforcement officials had taken no action. Authorities likely will set up a perimeter, preventing others from joining the takeover or participants from leaving, and they could cut off electricity and water to the facility. But the takeover could last for days, even weeks.Public school classes in Burns聽were cancelled for the week 聽as local law enforcement urged area residents to stay away from the take-over site and "maintain a peaceful and united front and allow us to work through this situation."
The Oregon State Police issued a statement late Sunday indicating that a joint county-state-federal command post would be operational today, but didn鈥檛 provide other details, including its location.
The lawman at the center of the action at the moment is Harney County Sheriff David M. Ward, who has less than a half dozen deputies to police the ninth largest county in the United States.
鈥淭hese men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers,鈥 Ward said in a statement Sunday. 鈥淲hen 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.鈥
The sheriff reportedly received death threats for not being a 鈥渃onstitutional sheriff,鈥 standing up what the antigovernment extremists brand as the 鈥渢yranny of the U.S. Government,鈥 and offering sanctuary to the Hammonds 鈥 something they didn鈥檛 request.
An attorney representing the Hammonds said the Bundys and the assorted militia leaders do not speak for his clients. They were sentenced to 5-year prison terms in October after a federal appeals court ruled that much lesser sentences they received in 2012 didn鈥檛 comply with federal law backing congressional intent.
Peaceful Rally Before Surprise Take-over
Saturday鈥檚 rally in Burns began before noon when an estimated 250 anti-government Patriots, III Percenters and assorted armed militia members gathered in single-digit weather in a Safeway parking lot in downtown Burns.聽 There were no sheriff鈥檚 deputies or Oregon State Police officers or vehicles visible.
The five-year prison sentences given the Hammonds 鈥 in line with a minimum, mandatory term set in law by Congress 鈥 and the fight over use over local control of federal public lands ostensibly were the reason for the rally, but many clearly came with their own agendas. There were signs and vehicle stickers protesting federal control of vast portions of land in the West, while others bashed President Obama, liberals, predicted government plans to microchip its citizens and endorsements for the 鈥淧olice Lives Matter鈥 movement.
An official with the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) said its founder, former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack, was in the crowd, as was extremist radio host Pete Santilli. 聽
Townsfolk who watched the rally said they didn鈥檛 see any Burns residents, including members of the extended Hammond family, participating in the rally.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e just using this issue to push their own agendas,鈥 long-time Burns resident Beebee Stiz said as she watched the demonstrators gather in the supermarket lot.聽 鈥淚 want them to go home. We take care of ourselves here.鈥
While she sympathizes with the lengthy prison terms Dwight and Steven Hammond now face, Stiz said her fellow Burns residents 鈥渕ade some bad choices and now they鈥檙e paying for it. But I don鈥檛 think they鈥檙e terrorists 鈥 certainly not.鈥
Kainan Jordan, another Burns resident, said he was puzzled why outsiders would attempt to hijack the Hammond cases for their own agenda. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the mindset that kind of mystifies me,鈥 he said. Jordan said he knows the Hammonds and described them as 鈥淕od-fearing people who like to keep to themselves,鈥 and likely don鈥檛 appreciate the attention from militia and antigovernment extremists from other parts of the state and country.
鈥淲hether it鈥檚 right or wrong, we as a community have always taken care of our own,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need outside agitators coming in with their own personal agendas.鈥
Across the street, sitting in lawn chairs in a curbside snow bank, Kris Rhines, 60, and Monica McCanna, 51, held three large signs in the subfreezing temperatures, opposing the militia demonstrators. A sign tacked to a nearby telephone pole said, 鈥淢ilitia Go Home.鈥
鈥淭hese militia protesters are in the wrong place,鈥 Rhines said.聽 鈥淭hey should take their message to the halls of government 鈥 in Salem [Ore.] or Washington, D.C.鈥
鈥淭he Hammonds don鈥檛 want this crap,鈥 she said.聽 鈥淚 know them and I know that for a fact.聽 They wouldn鈥檛 want this community torn up like this.鈥
While she wasn鈥檛 embracing the militia extremists, Rhines said she has been a cattle rancher and worked in the county most of her life, and understands the frustration ranchers have in dealing with federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
鈥淭hose agencies have done stupid things,鈥 Rhines said. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen it.鈥
McCanna said her family didn鈥檛 want her to participate in the counter-protest because some families, including those related to law enforcement officials, have been targets of intimidation by militia and III Percenters.聽 鈥淭hey鈥檝e parked outside people鈥檚 houses, kind of doing the intimidation thing,鈥 she said.
鈥淚 do think this government isn鈥檛 handling the [Hammond] case right, but the way to fight it is in the courts,鈥 McCanna said. 鈥淚鈥檓 protesting their methods,鈥 she said of the gun-toting militia demonstrators across the street.
With their assorted flags, including the 鈥淒on鈥檛 Tread on Me鈥 Gadsden flags unfurled, the demonstrators sang 鈥淕od Bless America,鈥 before marching to the Harney County Sheriff鈥檚 Office.聽 There, at the locked front door of the pink building, Ammon Bundy handed out rolls of pennies to the demonstrators who took turns throwing the coins on the sidewalk, supposedly a symbolic gesture that Sheriff Ward was a 鈥渟ell out to the feds鈥 because he wouldn鈥檛 intervene and offer a local sheriff鈥檚 sanctuary to the Hammonds and accept militia support.
The sheriff previously told that he received 鈥渄eath threats鈥 after telling militia organizers he wouldn鈥檛 create a 鈥渟afe haven for the Hammonds鈥 to stay in Harney County and not comply with the federal judge鈥檚 order to report to prison.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 slept a full night in close to two months now. I have a lot of anxiety,鈥 he told a reporter for public broadcasting. 鈥淲hat we鈥檝e been threatened with here is civil unrest and the insinuations of armed rebellion,鈥 he said.
From the sheriff鈥檚 office, the demonstrators on Saturday continued up the street to the home of Dwight and Susan Hammond. They have turned over Hammond Ranches, their 12,000-acre cattle operation south of Bend, to their sons. Their property includes an airstrip and a private fishing lake.
To the surprise and cheers of the demonstrators, the Hammonds appeared on their front porch after David Duquette, of the 鈥淧rotect the Harvest鈥 organization knocked on their door.聽
鈥淭his is not about me. It鈥檚 about America,鈥 Dwight Hammond shouted to the demonstrators stuck bouquets of flowers and roses 鈥 purchased at bargain prices at the Safeway 鈥 in snow banks covering the Hammonds鈥 front yard.
After personally greeting and shaking hands with many of the demonstrators, Dwight Hammond held an impromptu press conference on his front porch, answering reporters鈥 questions 鈥 something he鈥檚 previously refused to do.
At his resentencing hearing in October, Hammond didn鈥檛 exercise his right to address the court. 鈥淚 guess I鈥檝e been so dumbfounded about this whole thing, that I鈥檓 just speechless most of the time,鈥 he told reporters Saturday.
It was either the biting winter temperatures or a bit of emotion, but a tear streamed down from one of Hammond鈥檚 eyes as he stood on his porch.聽 鈥淚 guess they [the federal government] think they won. I very much regret that it turned out this way.鈥
He described seeing the armed, flag-waving crowd that appeared outside his house as 鈥渆xtremely humbling.鈥 Looking at the flowers left behind in his snow-covered yard, Hammond said, 鈥淚 want to thank the supporters for being here.鈥
Asked why his fellow Burns residents didn鈥檛 participate, Hammond said many local people have BLM grazing permits or work for the government 鈥渟o they鈥檙e reluctant to raise their heads.鈥
鈥淎t the start of our trial, the federal prosecutors said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to make examples of these two men,鈥 and a lot of people heard that,鈥 Hammond said.聽 His son, Steven, wasn鈥檛 present to greet the demonstrators, but a family attorney said he, too, will surrender Monday to a federal prison in California.
鈥淭his gathering isn鈥檛 about me at all,鈥 said the elder Hammond, who declined repeated militia requests to directly participate in the rally. 鈥淎merica has to get its feet back under it and go forward.鈥
Initially after being convicted of committing arson on federal land, Hammond served 90 days in jail and his son was sentenced to a year and a day. But with those sentences ruled illegal by a federal appeals court, they both will now have to do the remaining four years and a few months. With credit for good time, the elder Hammond will be nearly 79 when he gets out of prison.
Hammond said federal authorities waited 11 years to bring charges against him and his son 鈥渁nd when they did they charged us as 鈥榯errorists.鈥 The vendetta that went into this is unbelievable,鈥 he said.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to jail for burning 127 acres,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t seems like a bit of overkill.聽 But with heavy heart, I will turn myself in.鈥澛 Federal court documents say the acreage was 139 acres.
If they failed to voluntarily surrender, federal prosecutors would ask the sentencing judge for a bench warrant and deputy U.S. marshals would arrest the Hammonds as fugitives.聽 鈥淚鈥檝e always tried to stay within the law,鈥 Dwight Hammond said in explaining his decision to surrender.
Hammond made it clear he wouldn鈥檛 bow to the militia groups鈥 request and seek sanctuary from them or the local sheriff.聽 Rather, he said, he planned to travel by car to Boise, Idaho, and catch a flight to Los Angeles where he previously was scheduled to surrender today to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
鈥淚 hate to repeat the name of the place, but it鈥檚 called 鈥楾erminal Island,鈥欌 he said of the federal correctional facility where he initially will be housed.聽 鈥淚 guess it鈥檚 where they push your old carcass into the water.鈥
Hammonds鈥 20-year battle with the U.S. Government
The Hammonds鈥 have a lengthy history of encounters with federal agencies and their officials, including special agents who enforce federal laws enacted by Congress.
In 1994, Dwight Hammond and his son Steven were arrested by federal agents after a long-simmering dispute over cattle grazing on public land, fences and water use on the Malheur Wildlife Refuge 鈥撯 the same reserve where the militia occupation is now occurring.
The , which wrote about the case, described Dwight Hammond as 鈥渁 hot-tempered eastern Oregon cattle rancher [who had] galvanized a nasty campaign of retribution against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service鈥 and had made death threats against federal land agency managers.鈥
The Hammonds were arrested and federally charged for obstructing and threatening federal workers building a fence to keep the Hammonds cattle from trespassing on the public refuge, which is a sanctuary for migratory birds.
The Hammonds got support from 500 鈥渋ncensed ranchers鈥 and the American Land Rights Association, part of the anti-federal land 鈥渨ise use鈥 movement that has helped spread the so-called 鈥淪agebrush Rebellion鈥 across the West. The Oregon Lands Coalition also weighed in on behalf of the Hammonds, describing their 1994 case as 鈥渁 hostage situation,鈥 High Country News reported.
Former Oregon Republican Rep. Bob Smith, who then chaired the House Agriculture Committee, also got involved, telling then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt: 鈥淭he acts of your agents last week cause my constituents to lose faith in their government.鈥
Federal prosecutors later reduced felony charges against the Hammonds to misdemeanors.聽But the fighting between the Oregon ranchers and the federal land agencies didn鈥檛 end there.聽In 1999, federal land managers contacted Steven Hammond and warned him that he couldn鈥檛 burn public lands without prior approval from the BLM.聽鈥淏ut in September 2001, the Hammonds again set fire on their property that聽spread to nearby public land,鈥 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court Appeals said in reviewing the case.
鈥淎lthough the Hammonds claimed that the fire was designed to burn off invasive species on their property, a teenage relative of theirs testified that Steven had instructed him to drop lit matches on the ground so as to 鈥榣ight up the whole country on fire,鈥欌 the appeal court held.
The teenager followed the direction of the elder Hammond 鈥渁nd the resulting flames, 8-to-10 feet high, spread quickly,鈥 briefly endangering the youth鈥檚 life.
The fire started by the Hammonds burned 139 acres of public land and took the acreage out of production for two growing seasons, the appeals court said.
In August 2006, when lightning started several fires near where the聽Hammonds grew their winter feed, Steven Hammond attempted a back-burn near the boundary of his land. That fire burned about an acre of public land.
A 2010 grand jury indictment said 鈥淗ammond family members have been responsible for multiple fires in the Steens Mountain area鈥 near Burns for more than 20 years, defying federal authority. One fire was set to destroy evidence of deer poaching, government investigators allege.
鈥淗ammond family members have publicly expressed their displeasure with BLM about the land use management methods of the [agency],鈥 the indictment said.聽 鈥淏ecause the BLM 鈥榯akes too long鈥 to complete the required environmental studies before doing controlled rangeland burning, the Hammonds have opposed BLM management of the rangelands and have burned the rangelands on their own,鈥 the charging document said.
It also alleged the Hammonds had 鈥渋gnited uncontrolled fires under cover of naturally occurring dry lightning storms which occur on the western slopes of the Steens Mountain in late summers.鈥 The Hammonds had engaged in a 20-year conspiracy of defying government and there was 鈥渟ubstantial evidence鈥 of the defendants鈥 guilt, prosecutors said in court filings.
In June 2012, after an eight-day trial in Pendleton, Ore., a jury convicted Steven Hammond and Dwight Hammond guilty of 鈥渋ntentionally and maliciously starting fires on Sept. 30, 2001, [that] damaged and destroyed property of the United States within the Hardie-Hammond grazing allotment in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Protection Area.鈥
Before the jury could complete its deliberation on four additional counts, the Hammonds agreed to accept 5-year minimum sentences to avoid the possibility of even longer sentences if additional convictions were returned.聽 Federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining counts that the jury hadn鈥檛 agreed upon.
After their 2012 trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank R. Papagni Jr. told the Hammonds in court that he would be recommending 5-year sentences for both.聽 When the sentencing judge later handed down lighter sentences, the U.S. Solicitor General appealed, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court agreed those sentences were illegal and ordered resentencing in line with the 5-year minimums mandated by Congress for the crime.
