Surreal in Oregon
By Rob Kerr
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon, US, February 24, 2016 -- Four days into what became known as the Oregon standoff, I stood in freezing fog at the Harney County Fairgrounds and wondered how long it has been -- if ever -- that the place had been that busy ...
In Oregon, the resentment of Washington is also fueled by the decline of the timber industry, which used to employ a massive amount of people in the state. At the end of the 1990s, logging on federal land was reduced to protect endangered and threatened species. Communities were given federal subsidies to help make up for the lost revenue. The money was temporary, as those communities established new economies. But many hadn’t when the subsidies started to expire a few years back. So the locals blame “the feds” for cutting their livelihoods, the timber industry, then cutting back on the subsidies that kept them afloat. There is often a sense of powerlessness here.
That sense was on display that night at the fairgrounds, when authorities held a community meeting to discuss how they were dealing with the armed takeover. In the days immediately following the takeover, confusion reigned -- noone knew exactly how many people were at the refuge, who they were, or what they wanted. Schools shut down for safety reasons. The local hospital boosted its staff, just in case. The nearby town of Burns was flooded with police. People stayed home with their curtains shut ...
I arrived the day after the occupation began, in the evening. I was chasing daylight and felt nervous approaching the wildlife refuge headquarters located 30 miles on an icy two-lane highway from Burns -- I had no idea how the armed men inside would feel about a photographer coming to take pictures of them. And then there was the watchtower ...
http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post/surreal-in-oregon
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That's another interesting side to the story. I wonder if all of the facts and truth will ever be known. Good photos . . . beautiful country. Anyway . . .
There's a video online of Finnicum speaking to Native Americans about the artifacts at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. It caght my attention on the night I had been watching a livestream and, then, discovered the Bundy Ranch Facebook page. That's where Finnicum's video was posted, that same night, shortly before he was killed. have no idea how to link to that video; but, if you're interested, the video is still there---I just checked to be sure. It took a bit of scrolling down the page, but it's there.
