High Noon in Harney County: Links of interest

• The Last Post
  
  I want to end this series with the words of Sheriff Dave Ward. Along with the people of Burns and Harney County, he refused to be bullied by ideologues, quietly resisted violence, and insisted on open meetings where every voice could speak. If we want American heroes, he and they will do just fine.
  
  He said to them today,
  
  “I’m proud of this community. I’m proud of my friends and neighbors. I’m proud of the way you stood up to this stuff. It’s torn our community apart. I see it tearing our country apart. But right now we have the opportunity as people in this great nation . . . to come out and work through our differences and start getting things back together. A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
  
  Amen, Sheriff Dave!
  
  And Hallelujah for peace and freedom in Burns and at the Refuge!
  
  — UKL

12 February 2016

• It’s a good day at MFS. — Vern
  Malheur Field Station
  
  
  Malheur Field Station newsletter

11 February 2016

• Wakening the Sleeping Giant:
  “Defending our common ground” and “Rebuilding and Renewing Malheur,” from Oregon Wild

9 February 2016

• 110. High Noon in Harney County: Thirty-Five Days, a blog post by UKL

5 February 2016

• “I Am Home” — Photo by Peter Walker
  



Reprinted with the kind permission of the photographer.
Click for more photos

5 February 2016

• A DIVIDED COMMUNITY, OR AN INVADED COMMUNITY?
  
  In Burns, on Sunday Jan 31, there were two conflicting demonstrations, one by anti-government agitators mostly from outside Harney County, many of them armed — and one by local citizens, none visibly armed, demanding that the outsiders go home. These photographs by Peter Walker are mostly of the local people.
  
  Peter Walker’s photos, on Facebook

2 February 2016

• “We have to rely on what’s in the hearts of others.”
  
  That’s what Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said in the midst of the armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge by a group of radical militants dressed up as cowboys. It was a remarkable thing to say, at that point. Sheriff Ward is a remarkable man. His conduct throughout the intensely divisive, always potentially violent siege has shown steadfast compassion, courage, and loyalty to the democratic principle of free speech. The Oregonian says it well in this editorial:
  
  Sheriff Dave Ward, the true patriot in Harney County’s spectacle, Editorial by The Oregonian Editorial Board, at oregonlive.com
  
  The occupation of Refuge headquarters drags on, maintained by four loons with no intelligible program beyond posing, posturing, stupid defiance, and wanton destruction, while they rely on the laws and lawmen of the government they despise to keep them safe.
  
  Until they’re cleaned out, we won’t even know the extent of the immediate damage to our property — your property and mine, federal property: this very fragile wildlife refuge, with its ongoing scientific work and its successful collaborations with local ranchers and the Wadatika Paiute people.
  
  So what Sheriff Ward said after the FBI arrest of the ringleaders last week still stands:
  
  — UKL
  
  “This has been tearing our community apart. It’s time for everyone in this illegal occupation to move on. It doesn’t have to be bloodshed in our community. If we have issues with the way things are going in our government, we have a responsibility as citizens to act on them in an appropriate manner. We don’t arm up and rebel.... This can’t happen anymore. This can’t happen in America. And it can’t happen in Harney County.” — Sheriff Dave Ward

31 January 2016

• Harney County High Noon Update
  
  We can now make our own eyewitness report of what happened on the road north from Burns, thanks to this 25-minute video the FBI has released, made from their plane following the chase, roadblock, shooting, and arrests. Though the scene must have been a madhouse of bullhorns and gunshots, the film is eerily silent — as silent as the miles and miles of snowy, forested hills surrounding that stretch of road.
  
  Mr Finicum had said clearly that he’d rather get shot than go to jail. What he did is on the video, and we can all read it as we see it. What I see is a man getting what he wanted.
  
  — UKL

  30 January 2016

• Bundy Siege: No Win in Sight, by Diane Rapaport

  30 January 2016

• Unedited FBI video:
  
  

  30 January 2016

• Burns Paiute Tribe Calls on U.S. Attorney General to End Free Passage for Malheur Refuge Occupiers, by Charlotte Roderique, Tribal Chair, Burns Paiute Tribe

26 January 2016

• Malheur occupation could set conservation efforts back years, by Ben Goldfarb, High Country News

26 January 2016

• What you can do with a gun and copy of the Constitution, by Ron Eachus, Statesman Journal

26 January 2016

• A Judge Asks for Federal Action Against Lawlessness , by Harney County Judge Steve Grasty [PDF]

25 January 2016

• Do the Malheur renegades have a legitimate beef?, by Mitch Rohse, Statesman Journal

24 January 2016

• Malheur Field Station director left after learning: ‘You have an armed militia down the road’, by Les Zaitz, The Oregonian/OregonLive

23 January 2016

• High Noon in Harney County: Twenty Days, a blog post by UKL

22 January 2016

• Bundy Siege: The Real Refuge They Have Robbed, by Diane Sward Rapaport

21 January 2016

• An open letter to Rep. Walden, by Martin J. Birnbaum, retired district attorney and a retired public defender, at La Grande Observer

21 January 2016

• Malheur National Wildlife Refuge open letter (May require Facebook login)

20 January 2016

Having blasted The Oregonian for an irresponsible headline and article, I’d like to thank the paper for mostly trying to give serious attention to the complex situation in Harney County, seeking real information rather than rant, and letting the local community speak for itself. This link is pretty characteristic of their coverage.
• Oregon standoff Day 19: What you need to know Wednesday, at The Oregonian/OregonianLive

20 January 2016

• Burns Paiute tribe response: Oregon Militia Nuts Hold Paiute History, Artifacts Hostage, by Jacqueline Keeler, at Indian Country Today

20 January 2016

• Power for the Loons: A small electric co-op considers what to do with the Loons at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, at the Desert Beacon

20 January 2016

• Letter to the Oregonian followup: Novelist Obliterates The Bundy Militia – And Oregon’s Largest Newspaper – In 194 Words, by Ryan Koronowski, at ThinkProgress.

20 January 2016

• Letter to the Oregonian followup: Ursula K. Le Guin has written a spot-on letter about the Bundy mess in Oregon,by Ryu Spaeth at the New Republic.

20 January 2016

• Letter to the Editor, by Ursula K. Le Guin, at The Oregonian.
• Letter to the Editor, by Ursula K. Le Guin, permalink at this website.
• Refuge rallies planned for Tuesday, by George Plaven, East Oregonian

• #RefugeRally to Support Malheur and Public Lands, by Arran Robertson

• Bundy Siege – Sorting Carp from Crap, by Diane Sward Rapaport

“I shouldn’t have to be scared in my own hometown,” says Burns High School Student

• Oregon standoff: Harney County residents put disagreements aside, ask Bundy to leave, by Luke Hammill, the Oregonian

• If It Happened There: Armed Rebel Faction Occupies Government Building, by Joshua Keating, at Slate
• I have a lot in common with the Bundys. Here’s what I’d like to say to them, by Chris Dempsey, at High Country News
• What it’s Like to be a Harney County Hostage: The Bundy Bunch: Preposterous Ransom Demands, by Diane Sward Rapaport

• Where Land and Water Meet: A Western Landscape Transformed, by Nancy Langston
• In Oregon, Myth Mixes With Anger, by Nancy Langston, at The New York Times (May require login)
• Siege of an Oregon Birder’s Paradise, by Diane Sward Rapaport
• Oregon Natural Desert Association statement on occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by militant extremists

• Bundy Erotic Fan fiction Twitter Feed
• Letter from an Oregon Militiaman at YouTube

• Enough of Hate, by Bette Husted
• “This Refuge, from Its Very Inception, Has Been a Tool of Tyranny” by Pepper Trail