Some light moments provide breaks in tension

A young journalist for The Desert Rat newspaper queries militia leaders about their intentions

BURNS — It was a semi-exclusive interview for 11-year-old journalist Monte Kingen.

About a half-hour after militia leaders ended their daily morning press conference at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, a young ranching family wandered down the long road that leads to the refuge’s headquarters.

Monte, with red hair and freckles and dressed in a cowboy hat, boots and a jeans jacket, is from Fields, a tiny outpost about a two-hour drive south of the refuge. He had a pencil and notebook in hand and said he was a scribe for his school’s newspaper, The Desert Rat.

Militia spokesman Ryan Bundy was more than happy to oblige, and a horde of cameras encircled the two.

“Where are you from?” asked Monte, his sister, Reata, 7, by his side and his parents, ranchers Joe and Becky Kingen, nearby.

“I’m from Southern Nevada,” Bundy said. “And I got a ranch down there, too.”

“Are you moving here forever?” Monte asked amid much laughter.

“Nope,” Bundy said. “We’re just here to establish some rights and help you people out.”

“And we appreciate that,” Monte said, before asking more questions, about riding and roping and such, and jotting them down in his notebook.

Ryan Bundy then took the family inside one of the buildings to meet his brother, Ammon.

Monte’s mom, Becky, said she doesn’t see anything wrong with the militia’s presence or strategies.

“We’d like to thank them for what they’re doing here,” she said.

The standoff, which has had its sublime moments, continues to capture the nation’s imagination — and provide fodder for late-night comedians.

Stephen Colbert made fun on his “Late Show” on CBS on Tuesday, donning a cowboy hat and strumming a guitar as he sang about “the Bundy family tree.”

It was Seth Meyers’ turn on Wednesday, on his “Late Night” on NBC, doing a bit about militia member LaVoy Finicum sleeping under a blue tarp while armed, his body completely covered.

One of the more colorful things to happen on the refuge on Thursday involved a cowboy on horseback who seemed to wander in from out of nowhere.

“I’m an Oregonian!” Duane Ehmer hollered at media members, from atop his horse, Hellboy, as he begged the press to approach only one at a time for fear the horse would get too skittish.

“And I came down here and met all the people, and they are nice people,” said Ehmer, who held a U.S. flag in one hand and was dressed in a red, white and blue jacket with “USA” on the back.

“So that’s why I came.”

Asked if he supports the militia, if he thought they were doing the right thing, Ehmer said: “It’s probably what it took to get the truth out there.”

Ehmer would say no more, as he and Hellboy tromped off in the snowy sagebrush, beneath the refuge’s watchtower, Old Glory waving in the wind.

At the press conference that preceded Ehmer’s arrival, Finicum served as the militia group’s designated spokesman. Both he and Ryan Bundy either sidestepped or minimized questions about a town hall meeting in Burns on Wednesday, where most of the 500 residents there said they want the militia to leave.

Finicum, a 55-year-old Arizona rancher, focused instead on a more personal matter: He said two of his children, 8-year-old girls, are coming to visit and he is concerned that they arrive safely.

“All I am asking is that federal agents allow safe passage for my daughters to come and see me,” Finicum said. “It would be a wonderful thing for me.”

Finicum then expressed concerns about how he said the group is being portrayed.

“It’s very important that you all know that this is intended to be a peaceful occupation,” Finicum said. “We want all people to be safe. We want all law enforcement to be safe. We want our lives to be safe.

“The only reason we have guns here is for our own personal protection. We should never, ever point guns at each other. So let’s make sure that’s the understood thing.”