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BURNS — An unknown number of militia have broken into and are occupying the headquarters building of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of here. A government official speaking on background said initial reports had the militia entering a building that was closed for the holiday. He said they apparently brought support trailers with them. Law enforcement officials couldn't be immediately reached about the situation. Brandon Curtiss, an Idaho militia leader who helped organize a protest parade Saturday, told The Oregonian/OregonLive he knew nothing of the occupation. He said he has been told that Ammon Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, is one of the occupiers. "This has nothing to do with us," said Curtiss, who had been attending a post-parade gathering at the Harney County Fairgrounds with many of the militia members who participated. The parade had ended with militia members making their point with pennies. Members from Oregon, Idaho and elsewhere had converged on this ranching town in recent weeks to make the federal government the target of their anger. They came to protest and perhaps even block the imprisonment of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, local ranchers convicted of arson. With their side arms and sometimes hot talk, militia members had unsettled the community, creating fears that Saturday's rally would involve more than speeches, flags and marching. The militia was joined by local residents for a parade that trooped up Court Avenue to the sheriff's office and then a few blocks more to the Hammond home. They marchers circled back through downtown, ending up back in the grocery parking lot where it all had started an hour earlier. The Hammonds were at the heart of the protest. Militiamen had been saying for weeks that the federal government had no authority in Harney County. They insisted that since that was true, the Hammonds should never have been prosecuted on arson charges for burning federal range south of town. They had once talked of sanctuary, and indeed that notion got a last-minute boost from an unlikely source. Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who stood down federal agents last year, urged the Hammonds to turn themselves in at the county jail and stay there. He wrote a letter Friday urging Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward to put the men in protective custody while investigating how it was that the Hammonds had been charged. But on Saturday the marchers, perhaps 300 strong, found only locked doors at the sheriff's office, on the back side of the county courthouse. There was no sign anyone was there. The parking lot was nearly empty of patrol vehicles. A snowbound patrol pickup was all that was left. But while Cliven Bundy's notion went nowhere, one from Ammon Bundy did. He arrived at the protest to hand out rolls of pennies. As the marchers reached the courthouse, they tossed hundreds of pennies at the locked door. The idea, militiamen said, was that civilians were "buying back" their government to serve the people. But the message didn't last long. Two young girls swooped in after the march passed on to scavenge the pennies. Protesters reached the Hammond home a few blocks later. Dwight and his son are supposed to report to federal prison on Monday to serve their sentences. They have said they intend to surrender. But the senior Hammond and his wife Susan greeted marchers who paused outside their modest home. They planted flower bouquets in the snow bank. They sang "Amazing Grace." Many went to the front stoop to hug the Hammonds and wish them well. Dwight Hammond, clearly stirred by the support, told the crowd, "Remember, this is not about me. It's about this country." The marchers cheered. He kept up a banter with one protester after another, leaning towards one to say, "I'm no angel." Marchers carried signs supporting the Hammonds, attacking the government, and urging citizens to act. They marched along in relative silence, conversing quietly among themselves. Besides the conversational tones, the only sound was the crunch of hundreds of feet on the icy streets of Burns. The prostesters started staging mid-morning Saturday as the temperature worked to recover from an overnight reading of minus 15. As the grocer's parking lot filled, protesters strayed across the street to stand outside a funeral home. The operator asked them to clear the property because a family was coming in. Militia organizers ushered the trespassers back to the grocery parking lot. They waited for the arrival of additional militiamen – a convoy of maybe 40 vehicles that had trekked 100 miles or so from Bend to join the cause. And as if they were starting a sporting event, organizers launched into the National Anthem, joined by most in the crowd. Several had handguns on their hips, advised by organizers to be lawful about how they carried them. From the start, one element was obvious for not being present.
