Protester slain in Oregon called hero at Olympia rally

OLYMPIA – Federal land-use protester Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was lionized Saturday as a dedicated patriot and fallen hero while government officials were denounced as parasites and predators at a rally on the steps of the state Capitol.

About 150 demonstrators prayed, sang songs and listened to poetry about the member of the group protesting federal land-use policies who was killed in Oregon during a confrontation with law enforcement.

Some were armed with handguns or rifles, while others were carrying only helium balloons that were released at one point during the service in Finicum’s honor. A bugler played taps, a bagpiper “Amazing Grace,” and demonstrators folded a flag into the ceremonial triangle to send to Finicum’s family.

“LaVoy was killed for trying to expose the truth of the unlawful incarceration of the Hammonds,” Jimi O’Hagan, of Grayland, Washington, told the crowd.

Law enforcement officials have said Finicum was killed when he reached for a gun in his waistband after he and other members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Reserve were stopped on a remote Oregon road on their way to a public meeting about their protest that started after ranchers Dwight and Stephen Hammond turned themselves in to serve an extended prison sentence.

O’Hagan said he spent more than a week in Oregon with Finicum and other protesters at the refuge after seeing the demonstration on the news. “I went down to see if I could help,” he said, adding that he talked to ranchers in the area as well as FBI officials, and has filed a friend of the court brief on the Hammond case.

Kathy Talbot, of Yelm, Washington, attended the protest with her horse, Big Bill, carrying an American flag around the Capitol’s flag circle as speakers talked to the crowd. Talbot said she does six or seven parades every year and came to the demonstration at the request of a friend. But she said she’s a supporter of the fight to free up more federal land.

“We have to have land for the horses,” Talbot said.