Posted on 01/15/2016 4:47:28 AM PST by Nextrush
Grant County, Oregon Glenn Palmer called the group occupying buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 'patriots'.
He was interviewed by the "Blue Mountain Eagle".
Palmer has been an outspoken critic of federal government overreach and he's even written to Vice-President Joe Biden about gun control.
Members of the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom group at the refuge traveled to Grant County to ask Palmer to come over to Harney County to help them.
But Palmer said he wouldn't come there without permission from Sheriff Dave Ward, but Ward told Palmer he was only welcome if he would 'shame and humiliate them into giving up.' Palmer told the newspaper he wasn't willing to do that.
When Ammon Bundy spoke to the media yesterday, the Associated Press reports Bundy saying it was difficult to arrange for a public meeting place without the cooperation of the county, which refused use of the fairgrounds for a meeting tonight at 7. But Bundy said efforts will continue to arrange a meeting at some time.
"Oregon Live" reports that the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom group is working on bringing charges against government officials through its own court system. The "Oregon Live" report claims "The process could end in an attempt to arrest those government officials".
Judge Brian Doucette is supervising the work of a 'citizens grand jury' hearing evidence against officials.
The demands of those occupying the refuge are reported to still be the same, the release of jailed ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond along with return of the wildlife refuge land to local control.
Former Harney County Fire Chief-Fire Marshal Chris Briels says his resignation came after he was rebuffed by County Judge-Commissioner Steven Grasty over the presence of undercover FBI agents at the National Guard Armory in Burns.
Briels says he confronted the men because they looked like militia but when he checked with the local 911 dispatch center the operator ID'ed them as FBI.
"Oregon Live" reports the people at the refuge see this as a federal government attempt to sow discord in the community by pretending to be militia.
May God Bless All and may there be peace at the end of this whatever turns it takes.
True Americans need to ‘league-up’ and tell the central government to piss off.
After Trump gets elected president, with Ted Cruz as Vice-President, he needs to begin immediately to dismantle the burgeoning central socialist government. Rip out the agencies by their very roots. Put the bureaucrats out the door and never replace them.
Dump the DOE, EPA and a host of other alphabet soups in the garbage where they belong. Then work towards cleaning up the Supreme Court as well as streamlining the entire convoluted system of courts.
States must clean up their own messes where so many are employed by government.
The newspapers in Oregon have published stories indicating large numbers of the total number of people employed in Harney County are government employees-there are 240 federal and 750 state and local government employees among a population where only around 2,000 people in total have jobs.
Those are stunning figures. Things started going down in this county 40 years ago when the logging industry shut down causing big time unemployment and a decline in population.
Why can t some lawyer start a suit to bring this to a conclusion?
the Constitutional ISSUE is ... the Federal government is supposed to give federal land in former territories to the states that emerge from those territories. In many cases ranchers have used grazing land on or adjacent to their property and in many cases they may even have legitimate claim to the land.
So having the BLM dictate the use of the land appears to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL and they dont ahve legal authority. That is another ISSUE. THe local sheriff is the ONLY LEGAL authority in conflicts between the federal government and local officials or ranchers.
That is the real reason the BLM backed down in the Bundy case and is not taking aggressive aciton in Oregon. In Oregon the occupation fo a federal building is a seperate legal matter. Dont mix the issues.
the Federal government is allowed to keep territorial land for military bases and other Constitutionaly defined uses, but not to keep 1/3 of the United States and then dictate the ise fo the land.
I hope the ISSUES are settled through the LAW and lives are not lost in the process.
This is ONE EXAMPLE of FEDERAL OVERREACH. Legislation by bureaucratic mandate in the multiple government bureaus and agencies has to be eliminated as well as EXECUTIVE ORDERS by the president.
All rules having the effect of laws should be referred to the appropriate legislative body federal, state or local and be debated and made into law by the legislative process..... NOT BY SOME UNELECTED BUREAUCRAT...
Trump wont do that. He is a big government liberal, always has been and always will be.
The ONLY guy in this primary who WILL attempt to scale back the size and scope of the federal government is Cruz.
I admire Trump’s backbone on a number of issues (immigration, political correctness, the Clintons, etc),
but Trump is a land-grabber. He’s a supporter of the Kelo decision.
Both Trump and Cruz have asked the militia to stand down. They are both wrong.
First off, the Hammonds were convicted in court. Cliven Bundy lost in court, numerous times. Now, some don't recognize the court and are pursuing it with guns, like they do in Somalia, Yemen, and Afghanistan. Bundy is a warlord.
Second, Utah's Transfer of Public Lands Act is the leading legal attempt. That act required the feds to turn over the land on Jan 1, 2015. And of course the feds didn't turn over the land. Now the GOP controlled govt of Utah needs to make the next move, what ever their next move will be, and how much money are Utah taxpayers willing to waste, to pursue the next move.
You say the BLM is dictating use of the land, and/or the prez is using executive orders. Not true.
Congress enacted the Federal Lands and Policy Management Act of 1976, which determines how the federal lands are managed. FLPMA started the sagebrush rebellion. BLM was created in 1947 by merging the General Land Office and the Grazing Service, and was a relatively small agency. After FLPMA, BLM grows into a very large agency.
And it is other congressional act as well. Combine FLPMA and the Endangered Species Act and Cliven Bundy was required to reduce his herd.
Combine FLPMA and the Wilderness Act. In 1976 there were no Wilderness Areas. Now there are huge numbers of acres as wilderness and wilderness study areas.
There are also today a lot more recreation areas, campgrounds, and archeological sites than there was in 1976.
Combine FLPMA with the clean air act and there is a lot more coal mining on these federal lands than there was in 1976.
Combine FLPMA with the Wild Horse and Burro Act, and the grazing lease holders have to let these wild horses eat some of the grass and drink some of the water.
One of the main complaints is that there are fewer grazing leases and fewer acres being grazed than there were in 1976. But FLPMA says these lands have to be managed for multiple use, so Cattle grazing is not King, although the Cow-Calf economy through-out the west is huge.
Apparently there are more protest resignations coming from the school board as well. The problems are all stemming from the corrupt county judge who also serves as county commissioner (is that legal?) and is tied at the hip to the Eco-Nazis in the BLM, NFS, and EPA. There is also the matter of a BLM higher-up being married to the manager of the wildlife refuge. There are lots of Fed bedfellows in this county.
Is the Sheriff of Harney County a former employee of the BLM?
IF so, I think he has a serious Conflict of Interest problem.
Ben, buddy, please review your post #7. I’m not trying to be condescending or rude here, but your post was a bit off the mark.
Before you re-read your post, please read two other things first: Article I Section 8 of The Constitution of the United States (also nicknamed “the Powers of Congress”) and Amendment X of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
Article I Section 8 lists ALL of the powers given to Congress (along with a few others scattered around the Constitution). That’s it. Those are the ONLY things Congress may control.
Amendment X (”the Tenth Amendment”) says any power not SPECIFICALLY given to Congress, in writing, belongs to the States or to the people.
Now, back to your posting.
Yes, the Hammonds were convicted in a court of law. But this whole case highlights the AWFUL level of federal overreach involved. Were ANY of the federal laws they were prosecuted under actually legal according to the Constitution? One can argue that NONE of them were.
In your post you mention the Federal Lands & Policy Management Act. Where does that appear in Article I Section 8, unless you mean the “... Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful Buildings” which the central government had to PURCHASE with the CONSENT of that state’s Legislature?
The land in question was simply confiscated by the government, none of it purchased, when Oregon became a State. The land, all of it, rightfully belongs to Oregon. Huge swaths of all of the Western States are illegally owned by federal government.
The Endangered Species Act? Unconstitutional, according to the Tenth. This should be a State matter, not federal.
Wilderness Act? Same
Clean Air Act? Same
Wild Horse & Burro Act? Same ... again.
There is a storm brewing over a government that flips off the Constitution and passes any damn law it wants or writes regulations without oversight. Every aspect of your life is regulated, taxed, controlled, licensed or inspected by some federal entity or other, from the toothpaste you use in the morning to the energy-saving light bulb you switch off before you lay your head on your approved fire-retardant pillow. Enough!
So yes, the Hammonds were convicted by a court. And ... ?
The next big issue, if and when you wrestle the land away from the feds, is who gets the land, the state or the county, so maybe you better settle that dispute first.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.