Oregon Police Arrest Man Over Federal Vehicles Stolen From Refuge

Authorities say they have arrested an OR man who was driving a government vehicle stolen from a wildlife refuge that an armed group has occupied for almost two weeks.

Oregon State Police officers took Kenneth Medenbach, of Crescent, Oregon, into custody just after noon at the Safeway in Burns.

It's unclear whether the 62-year-old Medenbach was one of the men occupying the refuge or if he has a lawyer. A spokesman for the Harney County Joint Information Center could not confirm whether Medenbach was part of the Bundy compound, but people camped out there have been making regular trips into Burns for supplies.

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He appears to have driven to the supermarket in a vehicle allegedly stolen from the the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the refuge for rare birds.

The rightwing militia, which is made up of mostly out-of-state anti-government activists, first took over the refuge on 2 January in protest of the federal government's land-use regulations and the recent imprisonment of two Harney County ranchers, Dwight Hammond, and his son Steven. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported the vehicles stolen to the Harney County Sheriff's Office.

Meanwhile, occupiers at the refuge said they were hopeful a meeting could be arranged for Monday evening.

Though they are often, incorrectly called "public" lands, the "public" has no fundamental right to enter them or utilize their water and other resources.

The group had planned to meet with the community and explain their actions and timetable for withdrawal Friday evening, but Finicum said Harney County Judge Steve Grasty has prevented them from securing a meeting place. Some are angry with what many consider overly restrictive policies on federal lands but aren't enthused about the armed group that took over the refuge.

Local residents express a mix of feelings about the standoff.

The chairwoman of the Burns Paiute Tribe has asked federal officials to bring criminal charges if any ancient artifacts are damaged or missing from a wildlife refuge now occupied by an armed group.

The group has previously said they would not leave until a plan was in place to turn over federal lands to local authorities. From May to November 2015, Medenbach lived in a small cabin he built on Bureau of Land Management property near the Sugar Pine Mine on Peavine Road in the Southern Oregon town of Galice.

But McCanna, 54, also said the ranchers' return to prison was wrong, and that he was irked that the U.S. Forest Service closed off access to one of his favorite camping spots in nearby Malheur National Forest.

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