Reporter Says Sheriff Condones Threats Made Against His Family

Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer, the subject of a criminal investigation for his association with the militants who staged an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, has reportedly condoned a YouTube attack on the wife of a reporter.

The reporter, Les Zaitz of the Oregonian, has consistently led the pack in reporting on the situation in Eastern Oregon.

He was the first to report that Sheriff Palmer had met with members of the militia while they were occupying the refuge and that Palmer had come under investigation for his actions.

"In 40+ years of reporting in Oregon, I've tackled powerful interests, dangerous interests and those who can't stand for the truth to get out," Zaitz wrote on Tuesday.

"That puts me in the crosshairs of sometimes very personal attacks. Not fun, but part of the territory."

That night, according Zaitz, supporters of Palmer's posted a video attacking Zaitz's wife to the sheriff's personal website.

The video - posted by someone who calls herself Call of Duty Goddess - implies that Zaitz and his wife were out to get Sheriff Palmer "they stand to lose a lot of money" which they make off of the federal government."

The woman never explains how Zaitz and his wife supposedly make that money and why the sheriff would cause them to lose it.

The woman also says that Zaitz's wife helped set up Sheriff Palmer.

She ends her video by asking: "Now that they you know the truth what do we do with it?"

Zaitz writes that the sheriff responded on the website by complaining his name was misspelled, adding: "I often get my fingers moving too fast and spell it the same way......LOL!!!!! It's cool."

Zaitz writes that: "For the sheriff to condone a personal attack in such a fashion is stunning. That a man who says he defends the rights of all citizens would stand for the attack on someone who is supposed to live under his protection is even worse."

Zaitz later wrote that "attacking a man's family to attack the man is just plain cowardly."

In a separate post, Zaitz quotes Palmer making an implied threat.

Calls to Zaitz and Palmer were not returned.

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