Wife of man killed in standoff is cause celebre

capitol. The Tri-State Livestock News, based in South Dakota, recently ran a story describing her dispute with the Bureau of Land Management over grazing fees. The agency administers 245 million acres of public lands and manages livestock grazing on 155 million acres of those lands.

“It’s been a horrific year,” Jeanette Finicum said in a phone interview from her Cane Beds, Arizona, home. “There’s been so much going on that most people don’t have to deal with when they lose a loved one, like we did.”

She met LaVoy at a barn dance. He told her he was a bad dancer.

“He was right. He had no rhythm,” Jeanette Finicum said with a laugh. They got married 14 days later.

“There isn’t anyone like him that I met in my lifetime, and I don’t expect there will be anyone else who will measure up,” she said, choking up with emotion.

She was a stay-at-home mom all 23 years they were married.

“With him gone, all of the responsibilities have fallen to me,” she said. “I spent the year rounding up, branding and calving.”

Oregon State Police shot LaVoy Finicum three times on Jan. 26, 2016, after he exited a vehicle at a police roadblock in the snowy Malheur National Forest, held up his hands and then reached toward his jacket.

Authorities concluded the officers

RICK BOWMER/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LaVoy Finicum, middle, a rancher from Arizona, talks to reporters Jan. 6, 2016, at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore. Finicum’s widow, Jeanette Finicum, and their children are planning to hold a meeting later this month in John Day,...