Malheur wildlife refuge is still closed. After Mr. Finicum was shot by police January 27^th most of the occupying army left. Four holdouts remained and last night, the FBI served an eviction notice as Oregon Live stated

FBI agents in armored vehicles moved in Wednesday night on the last four occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, hemming them into their rough camp and insisting they put down their guns and surrender.

A picture of their campsite which is close enough to the Wi-Fi to stream…….

The demands prior to surrender were that Franklin Graham and a Nevada State Legislator be there when they do so. Wait: Nevada? Well none of these folks are from rural Oregon or even Portland. In fact, the Oregon 3% groups, militias, Paiutes (the people who were actually run off the land) and residents of Burns and surrounding communities asked and implored the Bundy bunch to just go away.

The four Malheur parking lot campers are surrendering at 8AM to the FBI. So who are these folks? Well Oregon Live has their bios which are… interesting. There are two ex-felons (one of whom has a bench warrant in Wisconsin) from Wisconsin and Ohio, a wife of one of the felons and a guy that just does not like the government. Okay… and the second felon tweeted such statements as “Hitler was right” and praised ISIS. Can you say dealbreakers? I sure can.  Oh and Felon with a firearm is a guaranteed 5-year federal sentence on top of their laundry list of charges.

In a statement released in the middle of the showdown, Greg Bretzing, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Oregon, said: “It has never been the FBI’s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully.”

The FBI was patient and really did give these folks every opportunity to go home. The YouTube feed is quite educational and profane. Sort of like an inmate tantrum.

But, Bretzing said, “we reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area.”

The ranchers cannot let their cows on the refuge to graze. Which was the point of the original occupation: let the ranchers use the land. But this was never about the ranchers of Harney County. Or the people of Burns. This was a Live Action Role Playing game (LARP) which is ending with a whimper and a lot of cops.  Hopefully the fish and wildlife groups can clean up the mess left by these charming folks in time to open the Malheur refuge by summer.