A Redmond’s BJ Soper addresses the crowd while holding a rally to protest the governor’s stay-at-home order outside the shuttered Redmond City Hall on Friday, April 17, 2020.

Members of the local chapter of People’s Rights, a right-wing organization founded in the aftermath of the Malheur Occupation, have purchased a former school outside Terrebonne for use as a church, meeting space and possibly a future charter school.

The property, located in Crook County at 8483 Lone Pine Road, will be owned by Lone Pine Legacy LLC. According to People’s Rights member Scott Stuart of Redmond, that corporation was formed and funded by members of People’s Rights Oregon Fifth District. According to the state, the LLC’s registered agent is Jim Dunn and its manager is BJ Soper, a close confidant of Ammon Bundy and a former political candidate in Redmond.

“There’s a board of directors, they’re going to make the decisions about what to do with this property (and) how to move forward,” said Stuart, who is also chair of the Deschutes County Republican Party.

The property had originally been listed for $1 million. About eight miles east of downtown Terrebonne, the spread includes a main residential home, guest house, commercial kitchen, gymnasium, shop, outside restrooms and showers, a large gravel parking lot, RV hookups and more. It was built in 1950 to house the Lone Pine School. When that closed, the property was remodeled into a residential home and shop for decades, and eventually into a military museum that had been closed for a number of years.

People’s Rights hopes to make the property their local branch headquarters — and a source of income. Stuart said they hope to open a school on the property and possibly use it as a wedding and events venue.

“We have the opportunity to make this our permanent home,” said BJ Soper, a leader of the local People’s Rights group in an online video.

According to Stuart, the main immediate use of the property will be to host Sunday services for Hub City Church, the People’s Rights-aligned Christian ministry that had been meeting at Just Cut Juice Bar in Redmond. Stuart noted that monthly People’s Rights meetings can be held at the new location, but he said no work for the Republican Party will be done there.

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Stuart said turning the property into a school is a short-term goal. He said it’s possible that a hybrid online and in-person instruction could begin as early as 2024.

The broader People’s Rights network claims to have 60,000 members since it was formed in the aftermath of the Malheur Standoff in Eastern Oregon in 2016. The Central Oregon-based 5th District is one of the organization’s largest, with more than 4,000 members according to local leaders.