BURNS - The divide among friends and neighbors over the refuge occupation boiled into the open here Tuesday night in a community meeting that crackled with emotion.

What residents have feared and only whispered about in recent days took center court at the Burns High School gymnasium.

In sometimes highly personal remarks, speaker after speaker vented anger - at public officials, at the federal government and at the man in the brown cowboy hat sitting high in the bleachers to take it all in - Ammon Bundy.

He and other armed militants on Jan. 2 seized the headquarters compound of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, situated 30 miles southeast of Burns. The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

He sat on the second row from the top as County Judge Steve Grasty, microphone in hand, strode to the foot of that bleacher section.

"It is time for you to go home," Grasty said to Bundy, vowing to meet with Bundy anytime, anyplace - outside of Harney County.

A chant then grew in the gymnasium: "Go, go, go, go, go."

That was a message Bundy heard repeatedly through the evening, one he once vowed to heed. He sat expressionless, making no move to respond or to comment.

But the audience of perhaps 300 people had plenty to say, and it seemed the cork had come out of the county.

One woman said she appreciated the attention Bundy has brought to rural issues but told him, "Get the hell out of my county."

Another man gestured at Bundy and gave him the same message.

"Are you happy you did this to our community?" he said.

Another woman, shaking in anger, called out Bundy for the fear he's caused in local schools, which closed for a week after the occupation began. She yelled across the gym at him, telling him to leave and "go to jail where you deserve to be!"

At one point, someone yelled, "Let Ammon speak." Another retorted: "He's not from Harney County."

Bundy's brother, Ryan, and a leading militiaman, Jon Ritzheimer, sat in bleachers across the gym. After one woman gave an impassioned speech, Ryan Bundy stood, shook her hands, and sat down. Ritzheimer raised his hand for a turn to speak but didn't get the chance.

Police presence was heavy, with uniformed officers inside the gymnasium, lining the entry hall, and posted outside.

Ammon Bundy wasn't the only one catching brickbats. Public officials, particularly Grasty and Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, took a verbal pummeling.

One man, who said he was from Eugene, pressed Ward about what he was doing to end the occupation and what was the role of the FBI.

"Just tell the truth," he barked.

One speaker pressed Grasty and others to not ignore questions posed by the audience.

"We deserve a response when we ask a question of our local officials," said the woman, shaking and in tears as she spoke.

But the prosecution of rancher Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven also drew heated comments. Some speakers were incensed that the Hammonds had to return to prison recently to serve a longer sentence after a court found their original sentencing was illegal.

One speaker said the sentence revealed "an overreaching federal government." Instead of talking about who needs to go home from Harney County, she said, "we need to talk about who needs to come home."

A 25-year resident of Harney County said Bundy "hijacked the Hammonds" for his own cause. He said as long as Bundy and his group hold the refuge, the Hammonds have no hope for clemency or any other relief.

Rancher Tom Sharp noted that Bundy and others had "lectured" local ranchers the night before on the need for them to repudiate their federal grazing permits.

Such a move would be "terribly destructive," Sharp said.

He noted that Bundy's impact on the community hasn't been good.

"Our personal relationships have been damaged," Sharp said.

He said it was time for patient law enforcement agents to act against "an active crime scene" at the refuge. He urged the refuge be isolated, services be cut off, and supplies no longer allowed in. His proposal drew applause and cheers from some in the crowd.

The community meeting was the second in a row sponsored by county officials, who vow to keep them up weekly as long as residents attend.

When it ended, the Bundy brothers left as quietly as they had entered, striding silently to an SUV with Nevada plates, and driving off without a word to the throngs of reporters and onlookers who trailed behind.

-- Les Zaitz

@leszaitz



-- Kelly House

@Kelly_M_House