Federal land protest moves to federal court

By Kirk Johnson, New York Times News Service

Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016 | 12:01 a.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The standoff at a remote federal wildlife refuge that pitted armed militants against law-enforcement officials began its next chapter in a federal courtroom here on Friday, a day after the final occupiers of the refuge surrendered. But the tough talk and the posturing about the government’s powers to oppress — the occupation group’s main ideological thread — continued in the street outside the courthouse, undiminished but now in a new setting.

“Our next battleground is in these courts,” said Michele Fiore, a Nevada assemblywoman from Las Vegas and a supporter of the occupiers, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing.

About 20 other people gathered as well to support the defendants, some waving flags, and sometimes cheering or exchanging words with people driving or walking by who disagreed with their positions or their signs.

“Are you an American?” several of them shouted to a pedestrian who had challenged them from across the street.

At one point, as the hearing was going on inside, a person in a gray Mini Cooper drove by, yelling “The Bundys are traitors! The Bundys are traitors,” referring to the family of Ammon Bundy, the leader of the occupation group. Bundy, his brother Ryan and their father, Cliven, are all in federal custody. Bundy supporters mostly just laughed.

Friday’s hearing, before Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta, was the first one for the final four holdouts at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, who walked out peacefully and unarmed on Thursday after 40 days of armed occupation.

All four are charged with federal felony counts in holding the refuge and, prosecutors said, keeping federal workers from doing their jobs. The four — Sean Anderson, 47, and Sandra Anderson, 48, both of Riggins, Idaho; Jeff Banta, 46, of Yerington, Nevada; and David Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio — were ordered to be held pending a detention hearing, and none of them spoke to the court except to answer yes or no to Acosta’s questions.

Two other men charged with participating in the illegal occupation appeared as well, with one held and another released with strict conditions by the judge, including possession or even handling of firearms. Altogether, 25 people connected with the occupation have been indicted. Ammon and Ryan Bundy were arrested peacefully last month near the refuge.

But in the same arrest operation, another prominent member of the group, LaVoy Finicum, was shot and killed after he attempted to run a police blockade and then, the FBI agent in charge of the operation said, reached for a weapon. Cliven Bundy was arrested Wednesday and faces charges in Nevada related to a dispute in 2014 with authorities there over cattle grazing rights on public land.

The standoff ended peacefully but with high emotional drama after the final four holdouts surrendered to authorities after hours of conversation over the phone with Fiore and the Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, who were both acknowledged by the FBI for their help in bringing a resolution without more bloodshed.

What the new environment of Portland — famous itself for protesters, often leaning to the left — might mean for the criminal cases is uncertain. Several people who had gathered on the sidewalk outside the court said they would be back, as often as they could. Jury trials for the four defendants could start in April.

Brandon Williams, 32, a construction contractor who said he lives on the Oregon coast, said he was there to support the occupiers, but also free speech. He said people who disagree, like the passers-by who sometimes shouted, also had that right.

“We should not engage in dialogue,” Williams said. “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression.”

Sean Stevens, the executive director of Oregon Wild, a conservation group that helped organize a counterprotest to the occupation that drew hundreds of people last month, said there were no immediate plans to protest against the occupation supporters.

However, he added in an email, “If folks felt the need to rally/protest again, there would be plenty of folks interested.”

Stevens said that about 1,500 people have signed up, in an effort coordinated with other environmental groups, to volunteer at the Malheur refuge in the weeks ahead to help the refuge staff restore damage and or clean up.

“One thing that the occupation has done is galvanized our movement to work more closely together,” Stevens said. “People who have been sitting on the sidelines to realize they can’t take these places for granted.”

Ammon Bundy, in a statement released Friday by his lawyer, expressed in some respects a similar sentiment: that nothing should be taken for granted.

“This land belongs to the people,” Bundy said.

Fiore angrily rejected the description of what happened at the refuge, as an “armed takeover.”

“Show me one picture where someone is pointing a gun at someone,” she said in response to reporters asking if she would support armed takeovers at other federal facilities.

“This was a bunch of cowboys camping out in the middle of nowhere. They were exercising their constitutional rights to assemble, to free speech; their right to bear arms,” she said.