So Far, Local, State, and Federal Authorities Have Taken Low-Key Approach to Malheur Occupation

Well, yeah, better to avoid a Democrat Party, Janet Reno-style massacre.

At the New York Times, "Cautious Response to Armed Oregon Protest":

BURNS, Ore. — Clad in boots, cowboy hats and camouflage, a small band of antigovernment protesters stood in the snow and subfreezing cold on Monday at a federally owned wildlife sanctuary they have taken over, called themselves defenders of the Constitution, and declared that they were at the vanguard of a national movement to force Washington to release its hold on vast tracts of Western land.

For its part, the federal government appeared content, for now, to monitor the situation and wait out the protesters.

The armed group, which said it had adopted the name Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, has occupied a handful of buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near here since Saturday and says it does not plan to budge until its conditions are met.

The group is small — an exact number is hard to pin down — but claims to have the backing of a long list of antigovernment groups. Its goals are ambitious: The protesters want “the federal government to give up its unconstitutional presence in this county,” said Ammon Bundy, one of the leaders, at a news conference on Monday.

Members of the group also want state and local officials to hold a hearing on what they say is the abuse of federal authority against one particular ranching family here, the Hammonds, two of whom surrendered to the authorities on arson charges on Monday and went to prison.

The confrontation at Malheur seems to be the latest iteration of a generations-old struggle between Westerners who make their living off the land, and the federal government that controls so much of it.

But for the protesters at the wildlife refuge — a preserve for native birds, “closed until further notice,” according to its website — there was no sign of the national groundswell of support they hoped to attract. While media attention was plentiful, there was no sign of officials trying to meet their demands or of law enforcement closing in on them. The F.B.I. said it would take the lead in handling the standoff, working with state and local agencies, but no effort was made to keep the occupiers from coming and going as they pleased.

In Burns, the nearest town to the wildlife center, people said they were exasperated by the activists, most of whom seem to be from outside the area.

“They’ve put us backwards,” said Patty Hodge, a bartender in this small town, who said the stream of patrons through the Central Pastime Tavern had expressed overwhelming disapproval of the protesters. “They’re here for their own agenda, not for the people of Harney County at all.”

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