American flags lined
the main streets of Burns and Hines by early Thursday afternoon. Typically
reserved for national holidays, the display marked a special occasion:
Emancipation from the fear and disruption that had plagued people here for
weeks as armed militants moved among them. The militants were no more. The four
holdouts who controlled the headquarters compound of the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge gave up just hours earlier. For the first time since Jan. 2,
the refuge 30 miles southeast of Burns was in government control, cleared of
dozens of men and women from outside Oregon who insisted the refuge would never
be federal property again. The end came with breath-holding moments as a Nevada
state legislator and a North Carolina evangelist worked with FBI negotiators to
keep the last anti-government protester from killing himself. After about an
hour, they convinced David Fry, 27, of suburban Cincinnati, that the prospect
of federal prison was better than suicide.
Now, the community, the
refuge and Harney County's ranching community turn to the job of healing deep
divides. Members of self-styled militia and patriot groups from throughout the
region appear to have mostly melted away, never mobilizing as the final four
had hoped to defend them from arrest. One of them asked in the closing hours:
Where are they? The holdouts insisted almost to the end that they had done
nothing worse than peacefully protest constitutional violations by their
government. But they joined 21 others facing federal charges for the refuge
takeover. Besides Fry, the last insurgents included Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko,
Nevada, and Sean Anderson, 47, and his wife Sandy, 48, of Riggins, Idaho. The
FBI investigation is far from over, with more defendants and charges expected
in coming weeks.
They surrendered as the
man who could be considered the grandfather of the Oregon occupation felt the
grip of FBI handcuffs himself. Cliven Bundy, 74, of Bunkerville, Nevada, was
arrested as he stepped off an airplane Wednesday night in Portland. He faces a
string of felony charges related to his armed standoff with federal agents near
his Nevada ranch in 2014. Three of Bundy's sons -- Ryan, Ammon and Mel – helped
orchestrate the occupation, spurred by their claims that two Harney County
ranchers had been wrongly prosecuted for setting fires that burned federal
land. Mel Bundy left the refuge days after the takeover and hasn't been
charged, but Ryan and Ammon Bundy were arrested Jan. 26. In the end, the Bundys
played little role in ending the occupation that had drawn national and
international attention to a county better known for its spring bird festival.
The stage for the final
curtain was set Wednesday, when Jeff Banta took an ATV for a run from the
ramshackle camp that he and the three others had constructed in a refuge
parking lot from pickups, tarps and wood. He discovered FBI forces massing in
armored trucks and raced back to the compound to raise the alarm before agents
could catch him. Before then, the FBI had negotiated out of sight with the
four. During most of the occupation, protesters had moved freely between the
refuge and Burns, but the FBI set up roadblocks to corner the last ones in
camp. Now, the FBI decided agents had to act. They moved their armored rigs
near the occupiers' encampment. Over the next five hours, the public listened
as the holdouts negotiated with the FBI. An ally of the group broadcast the
real-time drama via an open phone line carried on YouTube, with more than
60,000 people eavesdropping at one point.
The four eventually
agreed they would surrender in the morning – but only in the company of Nevada
Assemblywoman Michele Fiore and evangelist Franklin Graham, president of the
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association named for his father. Fiore drove through
the night from Portland and Graham flew across country, landing in a corporate
jet at the Burns Municipal Airport. Graham had talked by phone with the
protesters daily in the week before his arrival. On Thursday morning, another
public broadcast revealed tense and then frantic moments in the unfolding scene
to end the siege. The surrenders started after Fiore and Graham headed to a
spot near the encampment in one of the armored trucks, witnesses said. The FBI
kept media at a roadblock six miles away. Fiore and Graham took turns
addressing the protesters over a loudspeaker on the truck. Fiore told The
Oregonian/OregonLive that she could see the camp through a bullet-proof window.
"We told them, 'We're here for you,'" Fiore said. At some point, the
truck carrying Fiore and Graham retreated up the sloping road that leads to the
refuge headquarters.
Sandy Anderson was the
first to walk out, leaving with her hands raised, heading toward another
armored vehicle. She was handcuffed and then searched by a female FBI agent,
later telling Fry by phone that she had been treated kindly during the arrest.
Her husband was next to give up. Fiore said she and Graham were allowed to get
out and talk to the Andersons. "We hugged them. We prayed with them,"
Fiore said. "It was such a calming feeling to know they were safe."
Banta, known as the loner of the group, came next and was allowed to meet Fiore
and Graham. According to Fiore, he told the two simply: "Thank you."
Fiore, Graham and the FBI agents turned to the last person: David Fry. Fiore
reached him by telephone, engaging in a lengthy discussion of political issues
ranging from Obamacare to taxes. Fiore, a conservative Republican legislator,
said she shared Fry's concerns. "I'm speaking truth to him. I understand
him," she said. "When I spoke to him, I spoke with him as if he was
my son."
At one point, Fry
appeared to move to surrender. He walked out of the compound toward the waiting
FBI agents. Half-way there, he reversed course and ran back to his tent. The
online broadcast captured Fry's increasing agitation as he talked about putting
a gun to his head. Fiore urged him to surrender, remembering the cause of
changing government. "I told him if he was dead, I would not have his
voice," Fiore said. "I pleaded with him to please help me by giving
his voice and coming out." Graham also talked to Fry, asking him to give
up. Then the other occupiers stepped in to help, with the Andersons and Banta
all taking turns talking to Fry. They told him that they had been a group of
four and he should join them again. Fry had to help press the case that
constitutional violations had occurred, they said.
We can't do this
without you, one of them said. Fry seemed to settle down. He made the FBI an
offer. "If everybody says 'hallelujah,' I'll come out," he said. He
mentioned having a cookie and cigarette while the negotiators considered his
request. The FBI agents kept silent, but others online did yell
"hallelujah." At the same time, according to Harney County Sheriff
Dave Ward, all those working in the police command post in Burns also shouted
the word. Finally, Fry stepped toward the FBI truck again, hands raised.
"Keep walking, my friend," said an FBI agent. "Hallelujah."
As with the other
three, Fry had a moment with Fiore and Graham. "I gave him a hug. I gave
him a kiss on the cheek," Fiore said. Graham hugged Fry and put his hands
on Fry's face. He then led the three in prayer. Fry looked at the two. "I
hope I did the right thing," he said, before the FBI took him away for the
long ride to Portland and an appointment Friday with a federal judge.
