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Police, SWAT team subdue man after standoff at Medford TV station Wednesday Feb 7, 2007 at 2:00 AM Jan 4, 2011 at 11:10 PM Man in van was from Cave Junction (1:45 p.m.)Meg Landers | For the Tidings Police have identified an agitated man involved in a nearly-five-hour standoff outside KTVL Channel 10 in Medford this morning.They arrested Mark Allen Dickey, 50, of Cave Junction outside the TV station off Highway 238 at about noon, just after he stepped from the van he drove into the station parking lot around 7 a.m. He was "very angry and wasn’t going to be taken alive and (was) willing to die for his cause," said Sheriff Mike Winters. Winters said officers were unsure what Dickey wanted. The sheriff said he expected the case to be under way "for a long time." Dickey was convicted in 2001 of reckless endangerment and driving under the influence of intoxicants, court records show. Today’s ordeal started when the man drove the graffiti-covered white van topped by a red gas can with wires sticking out of it into the station parking lot just after 7 a.m. He said he had "classified information" and demanded "political asylum." He was in the van for several hours while police agencies waited in the area. Police closed Highway 238, the thoroughfare that runs in front of the station, between Ross Lane and Hanley Road. It has since reopened. Agencies that sent officers to the scene included Medford, Oregon State Police and Jackson County, along with the FBI. Firefighters also were at the TV station. ___________ Police rush man just outside van (12:25 p.m.) A man involved in a standoff with police at KTVL Channel 10 in Medford this morning came out of his van and was rushed by a SWAT team just before noon. The man had opened the driver’s side door and was tossing objects from the van. Then he emerged holding a phone, a handset and base with a cord. He stepped from the driver’s side and walked about 10 feet before he was rushed by SWAT team members. The ordeal began just after 7 a.m. when an employee of the television station saw the van, covered with graffiti and topped by a red box with wires sticking out from it, pull into the station parking lot. The man said he had "classified information" and demanded "political asylum." He was in the van for several hours while police agencies waited in the area. Police closed Highway 238, the thoroughfare that runs in front of the station, between Ross Lane and Hanley Road. 'It's real,' man in van told worker (10:50 a.m.) A man who parked his van at the front door of KTVL Channel 10 in Medford this morning and told a worker, "Get the hell out of here. It’s real," remains in a standoff at the station with police. A SWAT team remains a stone’s throw from the man, who is in the van and repeatedly has opened its doors, gesturing wildly and yelling. He has brandished a propane torch and a gas can, according to Garth Harrington, a host for KCMX radio, which has a station next door. KTVL is at 1440 Rossanley Drive, also known as Highway 238. The highway remains closed between Ross Lane and Hanley Road. KTVL local sales manager Bruce Workman called 9-1-1 just after 7:15 this morning after he arrived at work to find the van in the parking lot. He said it was topped with a red container with wires coming out of it. The white van was covered with messages in blue, including "Napalm morning" and "No. 2 North." "That’s when I said, ‘What’s going on?’ " Workman said. " ‘He said, "Get the hell out of here. It’s real.’ So I did." KTVL workers evacuated the building, and employees of the radio stations next door were evacuated later. Apparent bomb threat clears KTVL (10:05 a.m.) Police called a bomb squad after a man in a van parked near the building at . Karen Lollis, wife of KTVL weatherman Kevin Lollis, said workers were able to safely evacuate the building sometime before 8 this morning. Police have closed Highway 238 between Ross Lane and Hanley Road. Several area police agencies, the FBI and a SWAT team are at the scene. Access to a subdivision along the highway was closed earlier, but residents now are able to come and go. A bomb squad is at television station, and police have asked for a negotiator. (9:12 a.m.) Police from several area agencies and a bomb squad are at KTVL Channel 10 television station on Highway 238 in Medford this morning, and the highway is blocked between Ross Lane and Hanley Road. Access to a subdivision along the highway was closed earlier, but residents now are able to come and go. A bomb squad is at television station at , and police have asked for a negotiator. Westbound traffic along the highway is being diverted at Ross Lane. Earlier, police had closed access to Hampton Estates subdivision just west of the TV station, but they have reopened it to residents at the request of several parents taking children to school. Resident Audra Titman, who had dropped off a daughter at Grace Christian School and had a 13-year-old daughter at home alone, persuaded sheriff’s deputies to open access to the neighborhood. The TV station is east of that subdivision.