Robert LaVoy
Finicum. What can I say? There was a man who knew his mind and saw his destiny
unfolding before him even as a small portion of the American people came to
know him as Blue Tarp Man. Now better known in ignominious death than in life,
he sacrificed all in the hopes of a glorious demise at the hands of the evil
Federales who were bound and determined to take him down.
I am
reminded of the legendary Pancho, the one who "met his end, you know, on
the desert down in Mexico." As with Pancho, for LaVoy "nobody heard
his dying words. But that's the way it goes." Surely Lavoy knew that
country-western song and internalized it to his life and his plan for
immortality.
LaVoy, a
rancher from Chino Valley, Arizona, hooked up with two Bundy boys from Nevada
and took over the isolated location of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in
Warner County, Oregon. Right from the beginning he positioned himself front and
center in the lights of news camera crews to proclaim his position. From under
a blue tarp he participated in interviews regarding his stance on the
occupation and his willingness to die for his cause. With a sheathed rifle and
two sidearms at his hips, he announced that he would rather die than be caged. At
that point in time there was only two outcomes from his actions: be caged or be
killed. There was no opportunity for the FBI to opt to waive arrest and
prosecution of Lavoy Finicum.
Although
LaVoy repeatedly said that he would not shoot first, he did assert that if
anyone pointed a gun at him he would point his back. Thus the lethal conditions
were set in stone. After the federal, state and county authorities worked 23
days to reach a peaceful resolution to the standoff at Malheur, the FBI staged
a roadblock on an equally isolated stretch of Highway 395 where only the
perpetrators and the law enforcement officers would be within bullet range.
Two vehicle
traveling from the Refuge to the town of John Day were stopped at a roadblock.
One vehicle containing several of the leaders of the occupation of Malheur
surrendered and were taken into custody. After a few minutes of being
stationary the second vehicle driven by LaVoy Finicum sped away from the scene
of arrest only to ne sidelined by a secondary roadblock further down the road.
He swerved his vehicle and left the pavement ending up stopped in a snow drift
on the left side of the road. Although there were three male adult and an 18 yo
girl in the vehicle, LaVoy was the only person to exit the vehicle and stop about
10 yards from the snowbound vehicle only to be shot while doing what looks like
reaching for a weapon at his hip.
Left-handed
or right-handed draws notwithstanding, the Officers all knew LaVoy wore two
guns as part of his daily attire and they he repeated vowed to not be taken
alive. Now LaVoy was not an evil man, even if he was delusional about his importance
and had a death wish, he did not want to jeopardize the lives and safety of the
other people in his truck. They had to choose for themselves their fates. Even
misguided criminals have a sense of propriety.
Lavoy moved
a reasonable distance from the vehicle that contained co conspirator Ryan Bundy,
another adult male and a young girl before making his last act of defiance.
Finicum's Last Stand played out as it was destined from the first day of his
arrival at the failed insurrection at the Wildlife Refuge. Even Butch Cassidy
and Sundance knew they would end up in a cold grave at the end of their run. All
the militants occupying the bird sanctuary buildings a Malheur sought enduring accolades,
but all any of these three people could really hope for is a paragraph in an
American History textbook. Well, they could hope for more, but the state of
American education is such that nobody reads long enough to get to the denouement, let along even know what
that is.
For now the
jury is out on whether or not the protest yields any positive outcomes. The saying
that to a hammer everything looks like a nail, is true in this case. These
"Constitutional Patriots" believe they are taking back the country
from the government. They fail to realize the government they seek to fight is
the one they keep electing by voting for the "Conservatives" who want
to wrest control of the land so it can be sold off to the very entities they
seek to keep it from.
