Praise God...Hold on: Treesitters Might Be Coming Down
by BearsNecessity on Jun 17, 2008 9:27 AM PDT
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PrintEditor's Note: Bumped from the FanPosts - clearly, Avinash and Ken Crawford are more on top of tree-sitter-related happenings today than we are - ragnarok
Edit 2: Apparently, one of the tree-sitters is down. From the Chron :
The tree-sitter was taken down by two arborists who were part of a crew hired by the university to remove wooden platforms, pulley systems and other infrastructure that the protesters have built high above the ground as part of their effort to keep the university from cutting down trees to make way for an athletic training center.
Other protesters said they knew the woman taken out of a tree at 4:30 p.m. only as "Millipede." Doug Buckwald, director of a group called Save the Oaks, said she was "an experienced tree-sitter" but did not know how long she had been in the branches.
The two arborists were in a cherry-picker that banged into the trunk of the tree where the woman was perched, Buckwald said. "She screamed, and they grabbed her," he said.
As many as a dozen tree-sitters were still in the branches, 12 hours after the crew of arborists guarded by about 40 UC police officers showed up to start removing the activists' gear.
University spokesman Dan Mogulof said one of the arborists had been trying to wrap duct tape around a rope when the tree-sitter bit him on the arm. The other aborist wrestled her into the cherry picker and took her to the ground, where she was arrested, he said.
The tree-sit that has been going on for more than 18 months in the oak grove near Memorial Stadium may have reached its end now that UCPD officers are attempting to take the sitters out.
In the latest of several developments, an arborist harnessed on the end of a crane was mobilized onto one of the trees. There, he attempted to cut down a structure in the tree when a tree-sitter began hitting him with a plastic bottle. The arborist was pulled out of the tree by the crane, but since then he has continued to cut other structures.
Estimated to be eight to 12 in number, none of the sitters have been removed from the trees, but arborists have cut down several of their supplies and structures. Two cherry pickers carrying police officers are also on the site. The officers have cut some of the structures and ropes that the sitters use to travel between the trees.
About 100 onlookers watching the scene from Piedmont Avenue, while several tree-sit supporters on the ground are yelling to people in passing cars.
At least 20 UCPD officers in hard hats are currently at the scene. Beginning at approximately 6 a.m., they erected a third barrier around the oak grove that blocks pedestrians from using the sidewalk on the west side of Piedmont.
Unfortunately, now I'm getting conflicted reports.
Authorities removed some of the structures that have housed tree sitting protesters in an oak grove UC Berkeley wants to cut down to make way for a $125 million athletic facility.
Police cordoned off part of Piedmont Avenue near Memorial Grove and brought in arborists to remove the platforms and gear the tree sitters have used to maintain their perches since December 2006. A university official said the tree sitters themselves would not be removed yet.
"One of the things we’re most concerned about is safety and security, of our police officers and the people in the trees. That’s the reason we’re not forcibly removing people from the trees today," said Dan Mogulof, a spokesman for UC Berkeley.
Hat-tip to Ken for following the story from the start, and some dude at the Bear Insider who was eating a fish taco and spit it out when he saw he couldn't walk on Piedmont (that last person's story is specious and may only exist in the corner of my mind).
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seriously
who would have thought that being an arborist would be such a dangerous line of work?
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
I know a few arborists on their 3rd tour of duty. They come back changed. Changed, man. Changed!
Bee Tee Dub, here’s more from the Daily Cal link:
Some of the tree-sitters could be heard yelling from the trees while several of them have poured excrements down to UCPD officers below.“Don’t worry, we’re ready for this,” said protest leader Zachary RunningWolf.
I really really really hope that RunnieDub is referring to the karma or the Mayan calendar (which if you all remember was what he said he meant when he told officers arresting him that they’d “get theirs” when he got arrested last year). Wow, I just raped the English language with that sentence.
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From Avinash’s “conflicting” KCBS report:
One witness told KCBS reporter Tim Ryan at the scene that some of the tree sitters threw urine they had collected in buckets at the police and arborists to discourage them from climbing.
wow. Just, wow. Prophecy coming true! I’m quitting arborist school for sure after this!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
omg omg
We need pictures. And video. And play by play. And Brent Musburger.
I'm still wondering why the Nets didn't draft Leon Powe.
I'll try to get pictures, if I have my camera in my lab/office.
I just came back from gawking. It’s definitely a spectacle worth watching, a probable all-day affair, and if there weren’t so many cops there I’d bring a brew and break out a tailgate. At last count, I managed to espy three tree-sitters left, and it seemed like their strategy of congregating to roughly the same spot was about to (EPIC) fail. And coincidentally, I’m wearing a Cal football shirt today.
That would be so sweet. And if you or anybody else can provide any photos or details to those of us stuck in our offices all day, that’d be g-r-e-a-t!
Ken Crawford has some information and analysis on this on his blog. From the article he’s linked to, it doesn’t sound like they are taking the tree-sitters down right now. But just making it near impossible for anybody to go up to the trees. Sounds like a good plan to me! Keep it only 3 tree-sitters as compared to 30. And then when the time is right (i.e. the injunction is lifted), make the move to take down the tree sitters and the trees.
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
cutting them off...
...is the plan. with no organic granola from whole foods the hippies will start to weaken. the police will send up the arborist and have her grab one of their weakened little arms and use it to slap the attached hippy whilst saying “stop hitting yourself”. she will move from hippy to hippy doing the same. this will annoy them and they will try to escape but they will fall to the ground in their weakened state. the arborist will then dump their own piss buckets on them and point and laugh. the firemen will hose them off, the police officers will arrest them, the chainsaws will fire up and the grove will be cleared. oh yes, the grove WILL be cleared.
or! ...
...maybe phase II is to start lopping down the trees they ain’t in. hippies over there, chop-chop over here. hippies over here, chop-chop over there. a delicate dance of nimble arborist, cherrypicking bike cop and dirty poo-flinging hippy. a giant game of musical trees. eventually 10 little hippies in one lonely tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g our collective ass to not chop it down too while frantically trying to generate more poo and pee to fling.
Your revolution is over.
My feelings can be best expressed in a quote from the 1998 classic, The Big Lebowski (replacing the Dude with Running for Clearasil Wolf and the Big Lebowski with me):
“Your revolution is over, Runny Dub. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Runny Dub?”
I dunno, some of those structures really tied the grove together.
by Spazzy Mcgee on Jun 17, 2008 2:06 PM PDT up reply actions
But those guys peed on it
Donny, please.
They come to my grove and pee on my fcking trees??
That’s right dude. They peed on your fcking trees.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
The timing of this is very interesting
with the judge’s expected decision to come down tomorrow. It’s not uncommon for leaks of big decisions like this to be made to the parties. Maybe UC was informed it was going to win and wants to get the chainsaws and bulldozers in tomorrow to create a moot issue for the treesitters. “Mootness” is a common basis for courts to refuse to hear appeals when the controversy at issue no longer exists, and there is no probability of recurring violations of laws. In this case, an appeal by the treesitters would be moot if UC cut the trees down quickly enough. There is of course the availability of motions for emergency stays and such, but proceeding with a quick saw would be a good strategy by UC.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, or maybe I’m too optimistic considering that Ryan’s decision to abandon us has destroyed my hope for a nat’l championship.
But doesnt Cal already have permission to remove the tree sitters? They received that in October and it has been expanded since, right? What they DONT have yet is the ability to cut down the trees. Because that would violate the injunction.
My understanding is that either way the court rules tomorrow, the injunction is dissolved. So, no matter what happens, the trees can come down. But they can’t come down until the protesters do first.
I don’t think this generally means that Cal has found out one way or the other. But I hope it does!
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You're right
the injunction is dissolved once the decision comes in. And they had the right to remove the tree sitters (but not the trees) a long time ago. So my question is a rhetorical one? Why wait until one day before the decision to remove the tree sitters when they could have done this long ago?
Purely from speculation, I suggested that maybe Cal knows it’s going to win tomorrow. If that’s the case, then they would then have the right to cut down trees. If they do this quickly enough (maybe not necessarily tomorrow, but soon), they can catch the Plaintiffs napping and moot their appeal before they can file it.
by oaktownmario on Jun 17, 2008 1:55 PM PDT up reply actions
Also, from a strategic perspective...
The big protest was planned for tomorrow, so removing platforms and other flotsam that may be dangerous to crowds below may make tomorrow more manageable? AND less people to drive a crane through this morning.
And, the news was saturated with gay marriage stories, so they might’ve thought they would get less local coverage today. Apparently not however.
by CalBandGreat on Jun 17, 2008 2:02 PM PDT up reply actions
As for why Cal waited until today to start the process, it was probably because they knew the futility of removing the sitters, if the trees remained. The tree-sitters would just return over and over and over again. So, they have to wait right until they are going to remove the trees.
All this means is that they are going to remove the trees and start on the project. Because the injunction is dissolved. Because, win or lose, the superior court case is over. Even if Cal loses (as the leader of the protesters noted in our Special Activism Training post), the trees come down. And all we have to do is break ground to trigger Tedford contract provisions, right? We might be mere days away from a huge historical change in Cal football. Oh, do I hope so!
As to whether an appeal is brought and the appeals court does another injunction, I can’t speak to that. I cannot speak to much about the appeals process. My understanding is that a lot of it has to do with whether Berkeley, the City, gets involved (ensuring no need for a million+ dollar bond).
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
The $$ is definitely a big factor
and my understanding is the same as yours: City of Berkeley is the only Plaintiff that can come up with bond $$ necessary for the appeal. If City doesn’t appeal, the case is dead.
So basically, I’m very optimistic about tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow will be the creation of a new holiday: National Student Chainsaw Day!
“Take your chainsaws out to the grove and cut down a tree. Help Cal on its way to a Nat’l Championship”
by oaktownmario on Jun 17, 2008 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions
hahah, the only problem is I’d have to ask for time off of work. We need National Student Chainsaw Day to become a federal holiday. Then,.we’d get it off each year. And we could sit around the Oak Grove and marvel as its clean, tree-less appearance. And many years from now, tell our grandkids of a time when there were trees there.
And our football team sucked. Oh, the bad old days!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
Ah, a nice clean and treeless grove...
I can’t wait!
look how happy the animals are!
by CalBandGreat on Jun 17, 2008 2:32 PM PDT up reply actions
Ax Day
We’ve already got the cheer: Give ‘em the ax!
by CalBandGreat on Jun 17, 2008 2:21 PM PDT up reply actions
I wanted to note this specific passage from the CoCo Times article:
A crane was onsite removing items, but not people, Mogulof said.``At this point, we have no plans to physically remove them from the trees. We are putting pieces in place to make it difficult if not impossible for them to stay.’’ he said.
``It’s really unfortunate that it’s come to this. The university has tolerated more than 280 violations, including weapons, assault and battery. We are now doing everything we can to bring this to a safe and certain end,’’ Mogulof said.
Police cordoned off the oak grove with barricades as tree-sit supporters arrived at the site. About 30 supporters were mulling around outside the grove and many were angered by the university’s move, calling it a ``hate crime.’‘
A tree sitter who identified himself as ``Squirtle’’ said he was standing on a line in a tree when it was cut. ``They cut it and I luckily I had my support line above me,’’ he said. ``I threw piss all over them (because) they are trying to break the law. They almost killed me.’‘
CoCo Times apparently hates being linked to or something, so the link might not work. But for the love of everything holy, the audacity of the tree-sitters is unreal.
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
Why don’t reporters ever have a follow up question for these tree sitters? i.e. “they are trying to break the law. They almost killed me.‘”
My suggested Q: And what law is the University trying to break by removing your illegal encampment by executing a court order they’ve obtained to do so?
And: How do you “throw” piss?
by CalBandGreat on Jun 17, 2008 2:07 PM PDT up reply actions
Squirtle eh?
I choose you, Super Saiyan 3 Pikachu!
by BearsNecessity on Jun 17, 2008 2:59 PM PDT up reply actions
Forget Brent Musberger. We need Jon Stewart and/or Stephen Colbert!
“Squirtle” does seem to be a very apt name for a superhero ecowarrior, as he no doubt sees himself, whose principle power/weapon consists of urine grenades. As always, I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. And all kidding aside, arborist actually is one of the most dangerous jobs in America—even when their aren’t excrement bombs flying through the sky.
Go Bears!
by California Pete on Jun 17, 2008 3:18 PM PDT reply actions
strawberry canyon, 1870
when you’re done with hippy grove, boys, head up the hill and continue to restore things to their natural splendor. thanks.
It says we dont have permission to enter. You might have to post the image here (import it using the little green icon right above the text box).
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like most things berkeley...
...it’s all farked up on their end.
if that doesn’t work, i will fart in your general direction. then pour poo on you. nyeah!
Is that looking East? And is it possible to determine if the stadium location is in that photo?
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east...
...i think, but at best you are looking just past the upper sports complexes. still, it’s a much different landscape than oak forest one that the protesters seem to presume.
why couldn’t they be eucalyptus trees like everywhere else? hard to climb, everyone hates them, no claim to native use, ...
I just got back from the grove
man, is it a scene. So many good pictures and stories to tell. I can’t write it up until after work, but let’s just say that there’s runny dub, hitler, fake afros, zoo noises, and of course, a long bo.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Any protesters actually being removed from the trees? Or just a lot of junk?
by CalBandGreat on Jun 17, 2008 4:06 PM PDT up reply actions
campus, 1931
look at the mighty forest surrounding the stadium! i wonder how it survived all the earth moving required to build it? an engineering marvel!
Update
Looks like things have slowed down a lot. I didn’t see any arborists just now. There’s still a treehouse or two remaining, and I thought I saw a treesitter in one of them. Mostly, everyone’s kind of sitting around, maybe because of the heat. This includes four or five crews from news vans, assorted UCPD, some hippies, etc. There aren’t as many hippies and spectators as earlier, but one lane of Gailey is still closed off. For those of you following from elsewhere, the arborists’ equipment is parked between the trees and the stadium. I (mis?)overheard a police officer talking about how their hands are tied until tomorrow, so tomorrow will also be a great day to tailgate. I’ll have to break out the grill, cornhole, and a lawn chair.
Thanks sec119
Preesh the on the ground reporting.
One question tho, what do you mean “break out the cornhole”? What kind of craziness are you kids into these days? Or maybe we have different definitions of the word.
by CalBandGreat on Jun 17, 2008 4:20 PM PDT up reply actions
CORNHOLE = BAGGO = game where you toss beanbags into
a hole cut into a rectangular piece of plywood. I’m sure you’ve seen it at plenty of tailgates….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_hole
Unfortunately, it’s become quite the yuppy phenomenon, but I’ve been playing it (shittily) for years.
by 33SwisherSweet on Jun 17, 2008 4:27 PM PDT up reply actions
i've never cornholed...
...nor do i want to cornhole. it just doesn’t appeal to me. some of my best friends are cornholers, though. and knowing CBKWit, he’s probably game for a good cornhole session.
To be honest,
before we had cornhole, we used to play a game called Horse’s Nuts.
Tailgate/BBQ games
Cornhole is the redneck version of Washer Pitching (AKA Washoes), which itself is the redneck version of Horseshoes—which in turn must be the redneck version of something else (darts? curling? Irish road bowling?)
Go Bears!
by California Pete on Jun 17, 2008 6:15 PM PDT up reply actions
Well, while we wait for CBKWit’s write up, here are some photos from the Chron:
The caption for this last one:
A tree-sitting protester swings a wire cutter at workers as they try to shield themselves from urine being splashed at them from the tree top at a grove outside of Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, June 17, 2008.
Interesting quote from the Chron:
Some of those on the ground who backed the tree-sitters said the university shouldn’t remove the sitters involuntarily.“This action is extremely unsafe,” said Kim Kersh, who identified himself as a UC staffer. Asked how protesters should be removed, Kersh said, “By negotiation. Protesters don’t want to be in trees.”
IF THEY DON’T WANT TO BE THERE, WHY DID THEY STAY FOR 18 MONTHS AND WHY WON’T THEY LEAVE?
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
'Only in Berkeley' is getting really old!
The hippies have made a complete mockery of law and order. Am I the only one enraged by the fact close to $400,000 dollars of our tax money has been wasted dealing with these irrational idiots. What a joke! There are students living off of Ramen noodles and others who cannot afford tuition, and this is how the UC and State has to spend OUR money! I really hope something viciously terrible happens to all of them.
Just to clarify...
That $400,000 was only for policing the grove, untold millions have been spent on the legal front.
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