Last week, Ammon Bundy met Harney County Sheriff David Ward on the side of Lava Bed Road near Highway 78.
Ward was attempting to negotiate a peaceful end to the protracted standoff that began two Saturdays ago when Bundy and a handful of armed militiamen “seized” a remote bird sanctuary in Oregon.
Bundy and his followers decided to occupy the federal building as a show of solidarity with Dwight Hammond and his son Steven who were sent back to jail last week in connection with fires they set back in 2001 and 2006.
Bundy’s militia – who now call themselves the “Citizens for Constitutional Freedom” – say they are standing up for state’s rights in a kind of ad hoc, haphazard rekindling of the Sagebrush Rebellion.
Following the meeting with Ward, Bundy said he felt like the group’s demands were being ignored. The Sheriff agreed. “I don’t feel like they think they’re getting enough attention yet,” Ward remarked.
