Oregon Town Torn Apart by Protest at Wildlife Refuge

[struggle4progress]

By JULIE TURKEWITZ and KIRK JOHNSON
JAN. 29, 2016

BURNS, Ore. — The courthouse is still blocked by concrete bollards. Tires have been slashed. Family members and old friends have argued and refused to speak again. Fights have broken out in church ...

“This county is so tore up, it will never be the same — ever,” said Jeff Dixson, 68, a wildlife photographer and former truck driver who said he supported many of the occupiers’ goals, making him unpopular with many neighbors. “There’s a lot of people that have told me they ain’t never going to talk to me again” ...

On Thursday, the F.B.I. released a video showing Oregon State Police troopers shooting Mr. Finicum, 54, after he tried to drive around a roadblock and reached for his gun. The authorities hoped the video would quell accusations that Mr. Finicum was gunned down with his hands up, but not everyone was satisfied. Many citizens who watched the video do not accept the F.B.I.’s account of what happened.

“It is absolutely another dividing line with one side saying it was coldblooded murder and the other side is saying it was completely justified,” said Linsay Tyler, 33, a rancher who was born and raised in the county ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/us/burns-oregon-protest.html?_r=0

[onecaliberal]

1. The video is unedited and speaks for itself. It doesn't matter what the whack-jobs believe

[struggle4progress]

2. I think it's clear enough. But the article is really about the small-town dynamics here.

[onecaliberal]

3. It's so sad that people from different states came in there and divided local people.

These government hating gun bumpers need to be dealt with. Maybe the example of these people will deter more of them.