What’s Happened With The Oregon Occupation Since You Stopped Paying Attention

The legal battle

The occupiers that have been arrested are being charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers — essentially, that through threats and intimidation (for example, their armed occupation of a federal workplace), they have prevented federal employees from doing their jobs.

Ammon Bundy’s attorneys have set up a crowdfunding site to cover his legal fees. Their goal is $100,000 by February 27. The total is currently at a little over $13,000.

Although still incarcerated, Bundy sought release with a GPS ankle bracelet until his trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman ordered Friday that he and five of the other militiamen remain in custody, saying “I’m worried about him occupying another government building.” It seems that at least until the occupation he started is over, Ammon Bundy is still considered a threat.

Bundy was due to appear in court yesterday to challenge the judge’s order, but his attorneys withdrew the challenge moments before, saying that they needed to gather “further evidence of his statements encouraging a peaceful protest and civil disobedience.”

Despite starting the armed occupation, after his original court appearance, Bundy issued a video and subsequent statements through his lawyer calling for the remaining occupiers to stand down.

Father vs. son

Despite the incarcerated Bundy’s change of heart, the four people who are still occupying the refuge now have the blessing of another Bundy: Ammon’s father, Cliven, himself the leader of a different standoff in 2014 over grazing rights.

Cliven Bundy has attempted an armchair coup, saying in an interview with the Guardian that now he’s “taking control of things.” He told the remaining occupiers, who are refusing to leave the refuge without a guarantee of non-arrest and who say they are willing to die, to continue their takeover of the refuge.

Cliven was clear that he speaks for himself, not for Ammon — but he added that he has doubts that Ammon was sincere in his wish for the remaining occupiers to leave.

Ammon, on the other hand, released a statement yesterday through his lawyers saying that he has not been able to speak to his father due to the restrictions of his confinement. He reiterated that the four remaining occupiers (which he called protesters) should go home to preserve their lives.

Protesters sympathetic to the occupation co-opted the cry of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” from the Black Lives Matter movement, referring to the death of occupier LaVoy Finicum at a traffic stop last week. A video released by the authorities shows Finicum appearing to reach towards his side — where he had a loaded gun according to local law enforcement– when he was shot.

Across the street, local residents formed a counter-protest. They demanded that the outsiders go home, and show respect for their locally elected officials. As tensions rose, a police officer came to separate the two groups.

thinkprogress.org...
I am going to post what this mess has cost the county.

So any ATSer's willing to donate money to Ammon Bundy’s legal fees?

I now believe the Bundy's might have to sell their Ranch, and I am sure Harry Reed and BLM are celebrating right now.

edit on 4-2-2016 by Informer1958 because: (no reason given)

The cost

Aside from the local stress and tension, one of the biggest effects of the occupation is its expense to the local community. More detailed financial information has surfaced in the past few weeks, so we can refine our original estimate.

For schools, Superintendent McBride estimates that the district is out $247,500 — $179,500 for the week that they were closed, and since then, $4,000 a day for extra mental health counselors and security personnel. This cost has risen to $68,000 thus far.

Extra security and law enforcement was also brought in for the town. Originally, Harney county judge Steve Grasty estimated that security and closed schools and offices came to $70,0000 per day — almost $500,000 per week. Oregon Governor Kate Brown has a more conservative estimate for just law enforcement, but says that costs are still $100,000 per week to local and state agencies, bringing the total to over $400,000.

In addition to the security costs, there’s the cost of the Bureau of Land Management office, which remains closed, with its employees on paid leave. That means the government is shelling out $117,000 per week for no return in labor. Excluding federal holidays, the total in lost government work thus far is up to $491,400.

Finally, there’s the issue of lost tourism. Contrary to the ranchers’ claims, federal lands can be a huge economic boon to local communities. The Malheur Wildlife Refuge is a huge draw for recreational visitors, who spend $15 million a year in the local community. Averaged evenly, that’s $40,000 per day, though the exact number will shift season to season and be lower in the winter; the real risk is if the occupation stretches into the spring or recovery from it continues to impede preserve.

Malheur is especially popular with birders. Throughout the winter, the refuge is a concentration point for many species of raptors. Migrations are a huge draw — and in February, ducks, geese, swans, and sandhill cranes begin to arrive, and the birders with them.

However, according to local reporting, some local businesses have seen a rise in business, due to the concentration of law officers and reporters in the area. Although this uptick is a benefit for some in the local economy, the birders and other wintertime outdoor recreators, nonetheless, will be staying away while the refuge remains closed — and due to newly charged political climate, some are threatening to stay away forever.

Added up, the above costs to schools, in law enforcement, and in government work come to $1,138,900. A loss in recreational tourism could add to that, as will the necessary repair work each day the occupation continues.
Although the occupation has shrunk in size, it’s still going on — which means for Harney County, so is the headache and the expense.

thinkprogress.org...
I had no idea that protesting would cost a county so much money.

I believe there is a lot of financial damage done over this mess in Harney county, unbelievable.

So, ATS what is your opinion to the cost of damages from all this protesting?

edit on 4-2-2016 by Informer1958 because: (no reason given)

Has cost the County....! Rather ask....
What has it cost the Country.......
The line is drawn.....
Now we await the populace to take sides.....
Maybe not today....but sooner or later.....The reasons keep piling up....and it will come to some form of revolution eventually....
Whether that is violent or not depends on just how intelligent those who offer the alternative will be.....

The whole thing is smelling like a classic blackmail/false-flag set up from day 1.

a reply to: xuenchen

I have to wonder if Harney county is going to ask for money from the government for their lost.

Every day something new seems to come out about all this, It's going to be interesting how all this ends.

a reply to: Informer1958

So, ATS what is your opinion to the cost of damages from all this protesting?

I think that area and anyone that had an inkling to do with anything is going to get the third degree, dragged through the legal and bureaucratic quagmire until they die, give up or turn into good little Romans.

Like it or not.....well be hearing lots more about it for some time to come.....

originally posted by: Informer1958
a reply to: xuenchen

I have to wonder if Harney county is going to ask for money from the government for their lost.

Every day something new seems to come out about all this, It's going to be interesting how all this ends.

I bet some people may have already got some money.

I had no idea that protesting would cost a county so much money.

Well when you occupy a place like they did and force city money to go towards the protest it can.

Maybe the Bundy's can get those french mercs to pay for it...

The whole thing is smelling like a classic blackmail/false-flag set up

*SNIP*

Thanks to right wing politics and propaganda (like talk radio) and TV and other laziness, America is now full of idiots who believe stupid things like paying a few hundred or thousand dollars to graze a herd on gov't land is tyranny, but spending $40,000 on a monster truck is smart.

Reaffirming Our Desire For Productive Political Debate (REVISED)

a reply to: CB328

The Desert Tortoises getting classified as endangered got the grazing permits revoked, not non payment of fees.

Bundy owes fines for not pulling off the land (based on what "would have been" grazing fees).

Now he is being blackmailed because the Feds have not filed any new charges since the BLM boondoggle.

a reply to: xuenchen

Bundy owes fines for not pulling off the land (based on what "would have been" grazing fees).

Should he not pay for what he used?

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: xuenchen

Bundy owes fines for not pulling off the land (based on what "would have been" grazing fees).

Should he not pay for what he used?

Not my call.

I will say the lack of further legal pursuits is suspicious.

Great blackmail tactic if you ask me.

Especially after the BLM failure.

a reply to: xuenchen

They didn't fail, they took the high road IMO since people were ready to shoot them over a freaking freeloading welfare queen.

These guys say they don't want a ruby ridge, but yet are the ones that push it to the limit.

I guess you don't want to make 'the call' about him paying for using public land to feed his private property.
Would love to hear the mental gymnastics that explains how that isn't stealing.

a reply to: Sremmos80

They failed because they couldn't move the cattle to market.

That's why they let 'em go and left.

You remember right?

and your hysterical jealousy is showing.

a reply to: xuenchen
Jealous of what?

They failed because they couldn't move the cattle to market.

Enlighten me here.

a reply to: Informer1958

This was not a protest.

"We have basically taken over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. And this will become a base place for patriots from all over the country to come and be housed here and to live here. And we're planning on staying here for several years." Calling his group "the point of the spear," Ammon Bundy called on like-minded militants to "bring your arms."

Source

originally posted by: Gryphon66
a reply to: Informer1958

This was not a protest.

It was a petition to government for redress of grievances.

a reply to: xuenchen

Anything?
www.cnn.com...

"Due to escalating tensions, the cattle have been released from the enclosures in order to avoid violence and help restore order," the BLM said in a prepared statement.

This is an example of backing up a claim made.

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: Gryphon66
a reply to: Informer1958

This was not a protest.

It was a petition to government for redress of grievances.

No, it was an armed occupation intended to create a training camp for militants.

See Ammon Bundy's comments.

Redress of grievances follows the rule of law and goes through the court system. It does not involve the armed seizure and shutdown of a Federal facility, preventing Federal employees from doing their jobs, or vandalizing the People's property.