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‘Oath Keepers’ Join Oregon Miners In Stand-Off With BLM
Image for representational purposes only.
A potential showdown is brewing in southwest Oregon between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and local miners. The owners of the Sugar Pine Mining Claim have asked the constitution rights group Oath Keepers to come to their aid after receiving a “cease and desist” order from the BLM.
The BLM stated that the owners, Rick Barclay and George Backes, lack the proper paperwork, including an operations plan. The owners’ response is that the land has been mined continually for over 100 years; and the claim itself goes back to 1858, even predating the establishment of the BLM by decades. They argue that the federal government has not taken any action over the years that overrode their surface rights to the property.
The gold miners believe that if they can get their day in court, the law will be on their side:
This case is headed in a direction that presents what is probably a once-in-a-generation prime opportunity to strike at the heart of the very surface management authority of the [Department of the Interior] and USDA and to restore the “as patent” rights of every mining claim owner in the United States by striking down the actual source of that intrusive authority.
Concerned that the BLM would come and seize his mining equipment, Barclay contacted the local chapter of Oath Keepers.The group agreed to stand with the miners and set up a base camp on the property, with armed members patrolling the area. It also put out a call nationwide for more volunteers to come.
According to the group’s national website, “Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to ‘defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’”
“Because we are constitutional group,” Mary Emerick with Oath Keepers said, they agreed to come. “We defend the Constitution…And we are here just to make sure that [the owners] receive their Fifth Amendment rights which is due process.”
The miners have until April 25, 2015 to appeal the BLM’s decision or remove their mining equipment. A BLM spokesman says his agency has no plans of forcing a confrontation at this point.
The BLM has received threatening calls, but the spokesman would not give details because they are being investigated.
The local county sheriff is acting as a mediator between the miners and the BLM. He said the only reason his office would step in would be for public safety, if the situation escalated.
“We are not looking for Bundyville. We are not looking to challenge anything. We are just holding our constitutional rights and property rights in reserve until we get our day in court.”
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/oath-keepers-join-oregon-miners-in-stand-off-with-blm/
