Schools Near Militia Showdown Site In Oregon Reopen

A sign tacked outside a Burns. Ore., home reflects growing community sentiment that outsider militia aren't welcome, in mid-December 2015. Self-styled patriots and militia say they are in the area to help ranchers Dw... A sign tacked outside a Burns. Ore., home reflects growing community sentiment that outsider militia aren't welcome, in mid-December 2015. Self-styled patriots and militia say they are in the area to help ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, convicted of arson for burning federal land. The sign refers to Ammon Bundy, whose father Cliven Bundy was at the center of an armed standoff in Nevada in 2014. (Les ZaitzThe Oregonian via AP) MORE LESS

Harney County, Oregon schools are reopening today after an unknown number of militiamen calling themselves the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom took over a nearby wildlife refuge just dozens of miles away.

The reopening of schools signals some return to normalcy for a community that has been disrupted by an armed protest against the federal government. While the militiamen have claimed they are stationed at the wildlife refuge on behalf of Dwight and Steven Hammond–local ranchers who were convicted of lighting fire on federal lands– even the Hammonds are opposed to the the militiamen’s actions.

According to the Oregonian, school may be in session, but county office buildings and the school’s district office is still closed and schools in the area have bolstered their security.

The state paper is also reporting that federal offices in the community like the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management are also still keeping their doors shut for now.

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  1. According to the Oregonian, school may be in session, but county office buildings and the school’s district office is still closed and schools in the area have bolstered their security.

    Sounds like “some return to normalcy” to me. NOT!

    Thankfully, the kids will have to make up only one week of school.

  2. So, Ammon Bundy and his little band of nitwits aren’t impressing anyone with their fight for “constitutional freedom.” Instead, they’re seriously disrupting the daily lives of citizens presumably, and ironically, on whose behalf they’re protesting. Just hilarious.

  3. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    So what’s the problem? The militia guys barely went to school and look how they turned out.

  4. Why were the schools closed in the first place? The NRA told me that more guns = safer schools.

  5. will they be collecting supplies for the intrepid demonstrators as part of their community service projects?

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