JOHN DAY, Ore. (AP) — The widow of one of the leaders of an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in rural Oregon drew about 500 people to a small town to hear her message that federal lands should be turned over to states and counties.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Jeanette Finicum on Saturday at the meeting in John Day said her husband's voice had been silenced but that created 13 loud voices counting herself and the couple's 12 children. LaVoy Finicum was the spokesman for several dozen occupiers during the 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter.

He died Jan. 26, 2016, when police shot and killed him as he and others traveled to the town of John Day for a meeting. Jeanette Finicum has become something of a cause celebre in the year since her husband's death.

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