State lawmaker Meets with Armed Oregon Group

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon state legislator has met with the armed group occupying a national wildlife area to protest federal land policies.

The Oregonian reports that Rep. Dallas Heard, a Republican from Roseburg, talked with the group Saturday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. Heard's legislative district is in western Oregon, outside the area where the standoff is occurring.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, the Republican state representative whose district includes the wildlife refuge, says he told Heard not to come because it would be "inappropriate." Harney County Judge Steven Grasty, another local official, says he too advised Bentz against the visit. Grasty says Bentz and five other out-of-state elected officials from Washington, Idaho and Nevada accompanied Heard.

It wasn't clear who the other elected officials were. Heard did not return a call Sunday from The Associated Press.

One of the members of the group at the refuge, Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum, told reporters Sunday morning that the meeting with lawmakers occurred but wouldn't identify any of the participants.