Community divided by a long-overdue dialogue

For whatever that means since it's not clear from the report what these divisions are about.

By Luke Hammill (OregonLive, January 05, 2016) {

"I've lost friends. ... I've never seen our community so divided," said Karmen Schatz, a local Safeway employee who has lived here for 31 years, at the meeting hosted by county officials in the Burns High School gymnasium.

It was the latest in a series of public meetings held in response to the ongoing occupation of the refuge by Arizona businessman Ammon Bundy and his band of militants. Hundreds of people filled the gym and spoke passionately about the plight of ranchers and loggers in Harney County, local residents' attitudes toward the federal government and most of all about the community's full-throated desire for Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, to leave.

[...]

Even Bundy's most vocal opponents had to acknowledge that he has started a conversation about federal land-use policies that many locals think is long overdue.

Grasty called the militants and the other self-styled patriot groups that have arrived in Harney County "armed thugs." But, he said reluctantly, "there's no way to deny" that Bundy has started a long-overdue dialogue.

The militants are protesting the imprisonment of local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven, for setting fires that spread to public land. They are also demanding that the federal government hand over publicly owned land to local ranchers and loggers.

Cory Shelman, a rancher from northern Harney County, said he also thinks Bundy and the militants should go home. And he said local federal employees – who have reportedly been followed and felt rattled by the out-of-town visitors and anti-government rhetoric – have "a right to their jobs" and should be treated with respect.

But he also said he doesn't think it's constructive to label Bundy a "thug" and believes Bundy has committed a public service by raising the issue of federal land management.

"Harney County, to a degree, owes [the militants] a 'thank you' for taking a stand that needed to be made," Shelman said.

Bentz, a Republican from Ontario whose district includes Harney County, encouraged residents to honor the rule of law and make changes through the political process rather than supporting armed occupation.

"What I hope as I listen tonight is that I'll hear a reaffirmation of the hard work of government," Bentz said. "Not the siren song of a gun."

Source = Harney County residents put disagreements aside, ask Bundy to leave

From our perspective, however, the last part is the most important.

Bentz, a Republican from Ontario whose district includes Harney County, encouraged residents to honor the rule of law and make changes through the political process rather than supporting armed occupation.

"What I hope as I listen tonight is that I'll hear a reaffirmation of the hard work of government," Bentz said. "Not the siren song of a gun."

The Bundy brothers have awakened certain expectations. Hammonds are reported to be seeking presidential clemency. Some people are already piggybacking on the publicity achieved by Bundy while distancing themselves from the militia and expecting their good behavior to be appreciated and rewarded. But "making changes thru the political process" is not going to work here for the same reason it hasn't until now. The following map may go some way to illustrate the reason.



It's basically about majority of population concentrated on a fraction of the land in urban centers forcing its idea of environmentally responsible resource management upon a rural minority thinly spread over a lion's share of the country. In some respects, the Bundy family does have a point that the system can't be cajoled into concessions by conventional means.

What remains to be seen is if the Bundy family has succeeded to create expectations on the part of the countryside that the "long-overdue dialogue" is about be held at the national level and their grievances heard and addressed. If it happened, these expectations will soon hit the wall of demographic/electoral imbalance, cultural divide and environmental fundamentalism. Then we'll see how many of these people continue arguing that Bundy are right in principle, but wrong in methods.