One of the armed militants occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge is Ryan Payne. He’s a veteran of the Iraq war (and once erroneously identified as an Army Ranger), serving in a infantry unit specializing in “military intelligence.” He was Cliven Bundy’s “head of security” during the Nevada standoff at the Bundy ranch and he’s been in Burns, trying to organize locals and the takeover of the refuge since early December.
He’s a controversial militia member, even among fellow militia types, because of his aggression and apparent desire to do armed battle with the U.S. government. The Missoula Independent profiled Payne after the conclusion of the Nevada standoff and noted his belief in outrageous conspiracy theories, his goal post-Nevada to spend his time planning other ways to “defend freedom”, and the troubling notion that he (and others) have the legal authority to kill police officers who they believe are "unlawfully trying to arrest":
Payne came to believe the latter, that the government uses regulations to deliberately undermine the average American, "that they are purposely destroying industry, they are purposely taking this land from people." The more he looked, the more he saw a deliberate and nefarious plan being orchestrated by a small number of people wielding enormous power. He saw a pervasive conspiracy to control all aspects of the media, the financial system, the entertainment industry, the military and the government.
More specifically, he came to believe that slavery never really existed in the United States and that African Americans in the antebellum South "didn't view themselves as slaves." He came to believe in "an effort by some Jews to control the world." He came to believe the founders of the United States intended for the states to act as sovereign countries. He came to believe taxes are a form of "legal plunder." He came to believe names are spelled in all-caps on driver's licenses because U.S. citizens are actually "corporate entities." He came to believe U.S. courts are actually foreign admiralty courts. He came to believe that "in most states you have the lawful authority to kill a police officer that is unlawfully trying to arrest you." He came to believe when a newborn child's footprint is made on a birth certificate, that child is effectively entering a life of servitude to the U.S. government, which borrows money from China based on that child's estimated lifetime earning potential.
He came to see all aspects of government, culture and society as mechanisms of control. "And they've set everything up so they can maintain that control," Payne says, "because they believe they are God."
Eric “EJ” Parker watching federal agentsThis is exactly why the U.S. government has not gone in guns-blazing to arrest these men. They believe they have the full authority to try and kill law enforcement. In the same interview above, Payne bragged that during the Nevada standoff, they had two long-range snipers trained on every Bureau of Land Management agent. And speaking of those long-range snipers, the man in the pictured to the right, seen with his gun aimed at federal agents in Nevada, is also at the Oregon standoff. His name is Eric “EJ” Parker and he has his finger on the trigger, waiting for things to “go hot.” From his Facebook page late Sunday night:
It reads “The constitutional republic lives or dies in Burns Oregon” and “If it goes hot they will try to stop people in route at that time you’ll have to make a choice.” There seems to be escalating rhetoric from the militants as the public grows more anxious for the feds to take some kind of action.
There were initially 1-2 dozen armed militants at the refuge when they first took over the federal property. Oregon Public Broadcasting estimates there are now 50 at the refuge and that number may not include the many armed men in the city of Burns and the surrounding area. Meanwhile, just a few miles north of the refuge is Grant County, Oregon. The sheriff is Glenn Palmer, a so-called “constitutional sheriff” who is friendly to militias and Bundy’s goals. Just yesterday he called for the federal government to release Steve and Dwight Hammond from prison. Yes, this yahoo thinks the U.S. government is going to cave to armed militants and release the two men from a federally-mandated prison sentence.
Sheriff Glenn Palmer said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive that "the government is going to have to concede something" to end the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
He said freeing a father-son ranching team from prison "would be a start. Sending the FBI home would be a start." He referred to the FBI's lead role in ending the refuge occupation.
By the way, Sheriff Palmer is up for re-election this year.
Finally, the Harney County community meeting scheduled for tomorrow night has already been canceled. The venue had been changed from a high school in Burns to a senior center because the militants violated the “no guns” policy at the last meeting. Harney County Judge Steve Grasty said they are concerned for public safety:
Preparations by militants to protest and block the entrance to the senior center led Grasty to cancel the meeting to ensure the safety of the community, he said in a statement. “Further, I will not give these agitators what they want most, which is attention,” Grasty said.
From the statements posted above by Ryan Payne and Eric “EJ” Parker and the apparent escalation of aggression in general, it would appear Judge Grasty and community leaders are making the right decision to cancel. Stay tuned.