BURNS – Oregon State Police on Friday arrested one of the protesters holding the wildlife refuge, charging him with having a stolen vehicle after he drove into town, authorities said.

The man was identified as Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent. He was accused of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Law enforcement officials said Medenbach is currently on federal probation stemming from another militia-style episode in southern Oregon last year.

He is the first person arrested in connection with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, taken over two weeks ago.

He was arrested in the Safeway parking lot in one vehicle bearing federal government license plates. A second federal vehicle was parked next to him, but the man police suspect of driving that into town already had gone into the grocery before police arrived.

The refuge is wonderful and the flora is representative of the region but there appears to be an influx of invasive wildlife.

The species is slow witted and easy to avoid but none the less caution is advised. Even when a bark is worse than a bite remember... there's still a bite. In the event one of these lower primates sees you and approaches there are ways to escape the interaction unscathed.

The easiest way is the dumb down your language and start spouting far right political nonsense. Phrases like "gold standard" and "sovereign citizen" should be used amid random one syllable connectors. But use caution. A broad vocabulary or use of "snotty, big-city words" could indicate higher education or as they say "too much time with the teachin lady". They don't seem to like this.

If exposed in this way you can throw a tin of chewing tobacco to lure them away or just point and yell "Obama!". Either should buy you enough time to flee. If they see a library card prepare to defend yourself. Their attack is reflexive and to the death.

One upside of their unwanted presence is park hours. Malheur is now open 24/7... for white people wearing camo.

Another day, another meme mocking the self-styled militiamen occupying a wildlife refuge in Oregon.

Jon Ritzheimer, the notorious anti-Muslim activist and one ringleader of the ongoing protest, posted a video Dec. 31 which he addressed to his children. Sitting behind the wheel of a car, Ritzheimer tearfully explained he couldn’t be home for the holidays because “your daddy swore an oath.”

“He swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, against all enemies foreign and domestic,” Ritzheimer says in the video, while thrusting a pocket copy of the Constitution at the camera from the front seat of an apparently parked car.



After John Darnielle, frontman of The Mountain Goats and all-around good internet presence, posted a parody of the video, #DaddySworeAnOath was born.


Dads across the internet answered Darnielle’s challenge with videos of their own.

A few of the best entries: