Finally

A whole lot of people, including us and the governor of Oregon, have been wondering when the feds (meaning principally, the FBI) would act and bring the crazy occupation at the Malheur bird refuge under control. Now finally it has, at least mostly. And the approach, if late, seems to be about what was warranted.

The feds seemed to have hoped that they could simply wait out the group and maybe make some arrests after the occupation had disbanded. From the standpoint of avoiding bloodshed, that could make some sense. But the occupation was bringing in a steady number of outsider agitators. Intimidation and outright threats to law abiding people in the Burns area were on the rise; a good many residents had fled. The place was becoming decidedly not safe, ad was getting less so. That was the situation that led Oregon Governor Kate Brown a few days ago to call on the FBI to, at long last, act.

And last night, they did. A community meeting had been set up at John Day, about an hour north of Burns (a pretty drive, by the way, if you’ve not been out to that country), and most of the occupier leaders piled into a couple of cars to go. Why not? They’ve been coming and going to Burns for weeks with impunity. This time, though, they were stopped and arrested. /Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press. More here.

Question: Do you agree with the method used by federal agents to arrest the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupiers, even though one occupier was killed in the process?