BREAKING: Oregon Ranchers Surrender

Monday, January 04, 2016

Brendan Murray, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Ammon Bundy

According to the Harney County Sheriff, the Oregon ranchers whose arrest inspired an armed militia to capture a federal wildlife office in a southeastern Oregon reserve turned themselves in to authorities on Monday afternoon.

“The Hammonds have turned themselves in today at 1:37 PM, in accordance with the law and are currently in custody at Federal Correctional Institution in California,” Sheriff David M. Ward said in a statement.

According to Ward, the takeover started “when people from outside the state arrived in attempt to prevent the Hammonds from returning to prison,” and began as a peaceful protest.

Ward also addressed the militia directly.

“You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County,” Ward said. “That help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed and unlawful protest.”

“The Hammonds have turned themselves in. It is time for you to leave our community. Go home, be with your own families and end this peacefully.”

READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW:

Good afternoon.

My name is David Ward, and I am the Sheriff of Harney County.

The Hammonds have turned themselves in today at 1:37 p.m., in accordance with the law, and are currently in custody at Federal Correctional Institution in California.

Harney County is a community of approximately 7,000 people; almost 5,000 of us live here in the community of Burns and Hines.

This event has had a significant impact on that community.

Our goal is to work together to restore calm and regular services for the people we serve.

This incident originally started when people from outside the state arrived in an attempt to prevent the Hammonds from returning to prison. This began as a peaceful protest.

It took an unfortunate turn when some of those people broke off and began an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The Harney County Commissioners and I have requested law enforcement assistance from Oregon State Sheriff’s Association and Oregon State Police.
Sheriff’s Offices from around the state have also sent resources to assist us.

We requested this additional support to make sure the citizens of Harney County are safe. This is our top priority.

I want to directly address the people at the wildlife refuge: You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County. That help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed and unlawful protest.

The Hammonds have turned themselves in. It is time for you to leave our community. Go home, be with your own families and end this peacefully.

Militia's Motivation

The occupation began on Saturday afternoon, after the group, led by Ammon Bundy, a rancher, took over the building. Bundy received attention in 2014, when his father inspired a standoff between local armed anti-government groups and federal officials over cattle grazing.

The building houses the offices of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and is operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It is about 30 miles southeast of Burns and is located in Harney County.

According to a spokesman from the wildlife agency, no employees were in danger due to the occupation.

According to the New York Times, in a statement, Bundy said that his group was “prepared to be out here for as long as need be,” and would only leave the building once the people of Harney County “can use these lands as free men.”

Ted Cruz

Presidential Candidates Weigh In

A pair of leading Republican Presidential candidates in Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (D-Florida) told armed militiamen holding a federal building in Oregon to stand down on Monday, according to reports.

The group has held the federal wildlife building on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Saturday. As GoLocal reported, the group has promised to hold the building “for as long as need be.”

Cruz spoke with reporters before a campaign event in Iowa, according to the Huffington Post.

"Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds, but we don’t have a constitutional right to use force of violence or threaten force of violence on others," Cruz said. "There is no right to engage in violence against other Americans, and it is our hope and prayer that that situation resolves itself peaceably sooner rather than later.”

Rubio similarly called for the end of the militia’s capture of the building during an interview with Iowa radio station KBUR.

“You can’t be lawless. We live in a republic," Rubio said. "There are ways to change the laws of this country and the policies. If we get frustrated with it, that’s why we have elections. That’s why we have people we can hold accountable.”

UPDATE 5:20 PM: Bundy: "We Will Defend Ourselves"

In a tweet following the Hammonds' surrender, Bundy said the militia had "no intentions of using force" but would defend themselves.

We have no intentions of using force upon anyone, but if force is used against us we will defend ourselves. #OccupyMalheur
— Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 5, 2016