(5 Jan 2016) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

AP TELEVISION – AP CLIENTS ONLY
Burns, Oregon – January 4, 2016
1. Sheriff arriving at podium
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sheriff David Ward, Harney County
"I want to talk directly to the people at the wildlife refuge. You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County. That help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed occupation. The Hammonds have turned themselves in. It's time for you to leave our community, go home to your families and end this peacefully. Thanks for your time."
3. Various of law enforcement at press conference.
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sandy Volley, local county resident
"The thing is, in Harney County, we work with the federal government. These people are our friends, our neighbours. A lot of them grew up in ranching families right here. We don't have a beef with them here. Nobody agrees with everything the federal government does, but the way they're handling this is not the right way."
AP TELEVISION – AP CLIENTS ONLY
Harney County, Oregon – January 4, 2016
5. Various of Ammon Bundy and armed ranchers arriving
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ammon Bundy, rancher and protest leader:
"Because we have allowed our federal government to step outside the bounds of the constitution they have come down upon the people and are prosecuting directly."
7. Group of ranchers walking, UPSOUND: (English) "We're in it for the long haul."
8. Various of armed ranchers at refuge
9. SOUNDBITE (English) LaVoy Finicum, rancher:
"We would like to see them (land) returned to the ranchers. Ranch again, log again, live again as free people."
10. Various of refuge and armed ranchers
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ammon Bundy, rancher and protest leader:
"I love the Hammonds. I can sympathise with them. I can empathise with them."
12. Refuge sign
13. Wide of landscape
14. Various of refuge and US flag and birds
15. Sign put up by ranchers
16. Watch tower
STORYLINE:
Federal authorities made no immediate attempt to retake the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the remote high desert of eastern Oregon, which about two dozen activists seized over the weekend as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West.
There appeared to be no urgent reason for federal officials to move in.
No one has been hurt. No one is being held hostage. And because the refuge is a bleak and forbidding stretch of wilderness about 300 miles (483 kilometres) from Portland, and it's the middle of winter, the standoff is causing few if any disruptions.
The activists have taken up the cause of father-and-son ranchers convicted of setting fire to federal grazing land. The two ranchers reported to prison on Monday.
The group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom demanded a government response within five days related to the ranchers' extended sentences.
Ammon Bundy — one of the sons of rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the government over grazing rights — told reporters that Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, were treated unfairly.
The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago for fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006, one of which was set to cover up deer poaching, according to prosecutors.
They said they lit the fires to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.
The men served their original sentences -three months for Dwight and one year for Steven.
But an appeals court judge ruled the terms fell short of mandatory minimum sentences that require them to serve about four more years.
Clients are reminded:

Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ] ​​
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]


You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]

свернуть