Free Republic

Berkeley's tree-sitters may have thought their nearly two-year protest was an act of civil disobedience, but to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau it was actually "racism against our underrepresented minority student athletes." The chancellor's blunt assessment came in a letter he sent to alums Janice and Thomas Boyce at the height of the tree standoff in June. The Boyces had written to Birgeneau to complain about the university's "unscrupulous and perhaps illegal action" of rehiring campus Police Chief Victoria Harrison with a hefty contract - and about what the couple saw as the heavy-handed tactics that the university was using...

This is a story that could only happen in Berkeley---militant tree sitters accused of racism. And the funniest part is that the Berkeley Daily Planet reported this story with a completely straight face as if tree sitters are some sort of a legitimate group like Teamsters or Ruthenian-Americans (Tom Selleck is one). It seems that the tree sitters (union or non-union?) have been living up in the Berkeley trees for almost two years protesting the construction of a high-tech gym at the UC Berkeley campus. You can see a video of the "wonderful" life of these tree sitters in the...

“[R]acism against our minority student athletes ... underlies much of the opposition to our student athlete high performance center,” declared UC Berkeley Chancel-lor Robert Birgeneau in a letter sent to two major donors to the school. That allegation in a June 27 letter stunned the recipients, Berke-ley residents and long-time university donors and supporters Thomas and Janice Boyce. The appearance of the letter, given to this newspaper by a third party, comes as the campus is launching the public phase of a $3 billion endowment fund-raiser, with Birgeneau in the lead. The chancellor’s letter followed earlier letters from the couple...

A poster promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace at an AC Transit bus stop in front of UC Berkeley’s Eshelman Hall has been repeatedly vandalized with anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas, authorities said. The poster—part of the “Only in Israel” public awareness campaign launched by San Francisco-based BlueStarPR and sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation and Foundation of the Greater East Bay—has a picture of Israeli Arab soccer star Sowan Abbas calling for coexistence among communities. The poster also gives an example of a soccer team consisting of Jews and Arabs training together in the Arab-Israeli town of Sakhnin. Gabe Weiner, a campus coordinator...

BERKELEY - -- A woman was arrested today after she ran over a Berkeley police officer's foot when she tried to leave while being cited for a parking violation, authorities said. . . . Berkeley police Officer Griselda Ferrera stopped the motorist near the corner and told her to wait while the ticket was being written, authorities said. Instead, Markeysha Bilal-Fields, 47, of Richmond tried to leave the scene in her black Mazda, police said. The car ran over Ferrera's foot, authorities said.

At Berkeley Bowl, the nuts are off the shelf Brothers Juno, 20 months, left, and Cyrus Soltani, 5, sample fruit at the Berkeley Bowl market, famous for its exotic produce. For those caught tasting food or beverages without paying, the penalty is severe: a lifetime ban. By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 22, 2008 BERKELEY -- As most veteran customers know, it takes a pretty thick skin to successfully navigate the Berkeley Bowl, this strident city's most popular grocery store. Outside, petitioners seeking signatures for ballot measures have come to blows with opinionated residents. In the...

Berkeley's infamous tree-sitters have been hit with a rude surprise since they came down to earth: Judges are socking them with thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees.Ironically, much of the money - which could total more than $10,000 per sitter - is going straight to the University of California, the very institution the tree-sitters were protesting as they tried to save a grove of trees outside Memorial Stadium."It's really vindictive," said an attorney for some the sitters, Dennis Cunningham. "They don't have this kind of money."Maybe, but university lawyer Michael Goldstein isn't making any apologies."We've asked the judge...

It's Groundhog Day in Berkeley: Tom Bates and Shirley Dean, battle-scarred veterans of East Bay politics, are in another slugfest for mayor. The longtime rivals - both now in their 70s - are squaring off for the second time to lead the Bay Area's most progressive, eccentric city. It's Dean's fifth run for mayor and Bates' third, and their second race against each other."If there's any place that's inbred, it's Berkeley," said City Councilwoman Betty Olds, who's preparing to leave office in November. "But I'm endorsing them both because I think they've both been fine mayors."Kriss Worthington, who's served on...

BERKELEY (CBS 5 / BCN) ― Three tree-sitters said Wednesday they don't regret trying to stop the University of California, Berkeley from building a sports training facility next to its football stadium. Eight days after the last tree-sitter came down from a 90-foot-tall redwood tree, ending a 21-month protest at a grove of trees next to the stadium, tree-sitter Raul Colocho said, "On one level it was a wonderful experience to be up there.'' But Colocho, also known as "Huck,'' said "it's a shame'' that the university cut down more than 40 trees after it won court approval to go...

Sather Gate, University of California - BerkeleyHe looked at the flier and froze like a statue for a few long seconds. "Are you sure you know where you are?" asked the student. "Yes, of course," I answered as I passed out more fliers defending traditional marriage near Sather Gate. But he insisted: "No. You don't understand... Do you really, really know where you are? This is Berkeley! You are at UC Berkeley! I can't believe it." Many other students repeated the same line in utter disbelief: "Do you really know where you are right now?" So there we were on...

For the most part, extreme environmentalists are Godless. They often claim to be atheists or at least agnostics on the subject of religion. Many even ridicule religion, especially Christianity, calling it "superstition," "backwards," or "archaic." They often blame for what they claim is the destruction of the world's ecology on people who are religious and then use that as a basis to call hypocrisy on those same religious people. We've all seen it. But, in general they also claim that their beliefs in humanism and nature are superior. However, they'd scoff at claims that they have merely replaced traditional religion...

Becky O’Malley’s editorial “Sarah Palin Fails Her Most Important Job” is unfortunate and misguided. O’Malley suggests “If the Palins … really want to support these pregnant children, they would put their own professional ambitions on hold…” Criticism of Palin’s family life and the number of children she has is at best a distraction—at worst, the grounds the GOP needs to claim sexism and double standards to generate sympathy for her. Obama believes in the constitution and keeping the government in check. He believes each person must be protected from the powers of big government. This should be the Democrat’s litany....

Four tree-sitters began climbing down from an 80-foot-tall redwood tree near Memorial Stadium this afternoon after UC Berkeley officials agreed to create a committee that will oversee future campus development, a spokesman for the protesters said. UC officials declined to comment on the reported deal, saying they will speak after the nearly 2-year-long standoff ends. But protesters atop the tree pumped their fists in a show of victory. Before climbing down, one of the protesters, nicknamed Huck, shouted, "We love you" to cheering supporters below. The protesters' deal with the university does not include amnesty from criminal charges, said their...

BERKELEY, CA (KGO) -- The final showdown is unfolding at UC Berkeley. As campus police move in on the tree sitters occupying the last of the remaining trees. There have been many violent confrontations between police and protestors. Objects thrown, weapons drawn, people arrested - it's all going down right now at UC Berkeley. Campus police in a cherry-picker are actively trying to get the tree sitters down from their perch in a redwood tree. A dramatic ending to the nearly two-year protest over the removal of trees to build a new university sports complex.

The standoff between UC Berkeley and four tree-sitters outside Memorial Stadium intensified Monday as work crews prepared to remove the protesters from a stripped-down redwood. Workers used bulldozers to clear and level the ground surrounding the redwood, one of two trees standing in the center of the grove after crews cut down 40 other trees over the weekend to make way for a $124 million sports training center. "The university is preparing for what will we hope be a quick and safe extraction in the coming days," campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said. "We had hoped it wouldn't come to this....

UC Berkeley officials warned today that "the clock is ticking" for four tree-sitters perched in a redwood tree outside Memorial Stadium. University police and other campus leaders spent much of the day talking with the remaining members of a 21-month protest over plans to cut down a grove of trees to make way for a $124 million athletic training center. The talks went on as logging crews worked with chainsaws and heavy machinery to clear the trees that were cut down Friday, Saturday and today, after a state appeals court rejected requests to delay construction. By this evening, 40 of...

Berkeley's latest political battle may be coming to an end: the UC has won a series of decisions in cases brought by local activist groups seeking to prevent the destruction of grove of trees right next to the law school. UC wants to build a sports facility there for our athletes. The battle over this grove of trees has created a real circus on campus. At one point, perhaps two dozen people were living in the trees. Some came down voluntarily, and when the UC started plucking them from the trees, one protester known as Dumpster Muffin climbed to the...

BERKELEY -- Except for a lone redwood holding four tree-sitters, UC Berkeley today finished cutting down the long-embattled Memorial Stadium trees that protesters had been fighting to preserve for 21 months. Arborists removed 42 oaks, redwoods, laurels, and other trees from the grove, leaving 28 around the perimeter. Several others, including a mature redwood, are slated to be transplanted to make way for a $124-million student athlete training center. The university has no immediate plans to forcibly extricate the tree-sitters, but hopes they'll come down voluntarily now that the grove has been removed, said campus spokesman Dan Mogulof. The campus...

BERKELEY - Crews began cutting down trees next to Memorial Stadium at UC Berkeley late Friday, 21 months after activists climbed into the trees to protest the university's plan to raze them to build a $140 million sports training center center. Work crews with chainsaws and bulldozers arrived at the university grove Friday and by 4 p.m. six trees had been chopped down. Clad in black ski masks, the four remaining tree protesters who were driven into a single redwood several months ago, remained in the tree Friday and at times sparred with arborists, tossing a bottle and branches toward...

BERKELEY, CA (KGO) -- U.C. Berkeley may begin cutting down the oak trees at the center of an ongoing battle. They pulled out the chainsaw after a huge legal victory on Thursday. At about 8:30 am on Friday, the chainsaws started up and branches of the tree that is home to the four remaining tree sitters began coming down. U.C. says this is the beginning of the end, but supporters say they are not giving up without a fight. For starters Friday morning, tree cutters removed every branch below their first platform. "We want to continue to make conditions for...

The state Court of Appeal refused Thursday to issue an order barring UC Berkeley from bringing the chainsaws to chop down trees at Memorial Stadium. Stephan Volker, attorney for the California Oak Foundation, said he will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court Friday morning, asking the state’s highest court to preserve the grove—at least for the moment. The ruling prompted an email alert to supporters of the ongoing tree-sit:“the appeals court has ruled, UCB can cut trees any time they want, get ready, we need witnesses & direct action.” The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the...

BERKELEY, Calif.—UC Berkeley officials said they would immediately move forward on their long-delayed plan to build a new sports center after an appeals court refused Thursday to block the project that inspired lawsuits and tree-sitting protests. The California Court of Appeal denied a request from two citizens groups for an injunction barring construction of the athletic training facility near Memorial Stadium. Although the groups indicated they plan to take the case to the state Supreme Court, campus officials said they wouldn't wait any longer.

BERKELEY —Two groups defeated in a lawsuit against UC Berkeley's plan to build a $125 million athletic training center near an earthquake fault appealed the ruling Thursday to the state court of appeals. In the first step of the appeal, the California Oak Foundation and the Panoramic Hill Association will ask the court to forbid construction of the facility until the court begins deliberations on the case, which could take 10 to 18 months, according to a statement from the two groups. The court could make a determination on whether UC Berkeley can begin construction while it awaits the outcome...

A Berkeley nonprofit has demanded that a conservative political group stop airing a television ad that seeks to tie Barack Obama to a 1960s radical, claiming the ad uses copyrighted footage from a documentary film without permission. A lawyer for the Free History Project, which produced the Academy Award-nominated 2002 documentary "The Weather Underground," sent a cease-and-desist letter Monday to the Florida-based American Issues Project, which created the ad and has bought air time for it in the presidential battleground states of Michigan and Ohio. The ad notes that the Weather Underground, a radical group, bombed the U.S. Capitol and...

BERKELEY, Calif.— A judge has lifted an order blocking the University of California from building a sports center that has been the focus of an impassioned tree-sitting protest. Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller's ruling Tuesday clears the way for UC Berkeley to begin constructing an athletic training facility where several dozen oak trees now stand. Opponents of the project say they plan to appeal. University officials said they have promised construction will not begin until the state appeals court has ruled.

BERKELEY —UC Berkeley will voluntarily delay construction of a $125 million athletic training center at Memorial Stadium until a state appeals court considers a lawsuit opposing the project, university officials said Monday. The project, which is increasing in cost by $750,000 a month due to delays from the lawsuit, is now stalled until at least the end of September, said Cal spokesman Dan Mogulof. The $125 million project has been held up in court since December of 2006. In July, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller ruled in favor of the school and against three groups who sued the...

Am I Diverse Enough? by: Deborah Lambert, August 25, 2008 When Andrew Quinio graduated from Berkeley in May 2008, one of his proudest achievements had to be serving as editor-in-chief of the California Patriot, the conservative campus magazine. However, in a recent column on mindingthecampus.com, Andrew noted that it was impossible to reflect on his four years at Berkeley without thinking of the word “diversity.” While the goal was supposedly a climate of “cultural tolerance and understanding,” Berkeley “appeared to encourage a divisive culture of victimhood and entitlement.” For example, “housing students by race seemed . . . an odd...

BERKELEY -- Workers cut down two-dozen tree limbs and removed sleeping gear and other supplies today as UC Berkeley officials tried to coax four protesters down from a redwood tree near Cal's Memorial Stadium, but the tree-sitters defiantly refused to leave. The developments came as a judge is expected to rule soon whether to lift an order barring the campus from cutting down the redwood and 43 other trees in the stadium grove to build an athletic training center. Protesters in varying numbers have been sitting in the trees since Dec. 1, 2006, saying they will not leave unless UC...

Chainsaws lopped off all lower branches of the last remaining bastion of the Memorial Stadium tree-sit Thursday as UC Berkeley prepared for their final moves against the protesters in the oak grove. Contract arborists, equipped with Plexiglass shields, worked from the platforms of two cherrypickers, whacking off the branches of the redwood and two nearby oaks. “The removal of these branches will make it very difficult for those who are illegally occupying university property to move back into the trees they had formerly occupied, and will help prevent new protesters from joining them,” Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom said in a...

BERKELEY _ Arborists from UC Berkeley are sawing down lower branches of redwood trees and Coast Live Oaks at the protest site in front of Memorial Stadium this morning. The idea, university spokesman Dan Mokulof said, is to ensure that no one else can join the protest. It will also confine the four remaining protesters to a single, tree he said. They remain in the tree pending resolution of an appeal of lawsuits challenging the university's decision to cut down the trees and build a sports training facility on the site. No one is being harmed, Mokulof said. "We're trimming...

Legal filing pulled over technicality, homeowners group says — BERKELEY — Two plaintiffs who sued to stop UC Berkeley from building a $140 million sports training center next to the university's football stadium have withdrawn a motion for a new trial.The California Oak Foundation and the Panoramic Hill Association — two of the three plaintiffs that sued the university in December 2006 to stop the center from being built on a grove of trees — where protesters have been living for 20 months — had filed the separate motion in Alameda County Superior Court based on alleged building code violations.But...

The Berkeley mayor's race promises a dramatic reprise this year with a rematch between incumbent Tom Bates and the former mayor he unseated in a hard-fought election six years ago, Shirley Dean.The mayor's race normally is every four years, but Bates' current term is ending in two years because of a charter amendment that moved the vote for mayor to presidential election years.Missing from the race will be Zachary Running Wolf, an outspoken advocate for the Cal stadium tree-sitters who ran unsuccessfully for mayor two years ago. He declared his candidacy again this year and filed papers, but he lacked...

The fight between UC Berkeley and two groups fighting to stop a sports training center from being built will drag on after the state Court of Appeal on Thursday left in place an injunction stopping construction. The case now returns to Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller for further work and hearings. The city of Berkeley, the Panoramic Hill Association and the California Oak Foundation sued UC Berkeley in December 2006 to stop it from building its $140 million sports training center, where 44 trees are planted. People have been living in the trees since then, and at least...

UC Berkeley, poised to clear the Memorial Stadium oak grove for a sports training center, has asked the city for help to control a growing encampment on a nearby street median of people who support tree-sitting protesters. Campus Police Chief Victoria Harrison last week asked the Berkeley police and city manager's office to remove the encampment, which includes 10 to 20 people, tents, dogs, sleeping bags and banners along about 100 feet of the city-maintained divider on Piedmont Avenue. "The median is not meant to be a campground or a park. It's a major traffic artery for campus," said Harrison....

BERKELEY — University officials say people living and sleeping in the wide street median outside the UC Berkeley tree-sit are creating a messy, dangerous and noisy situation with their tents, litter and drumming circles. But the people in the tents — who act as ground support for a handful of people still living in a university oak grove — say their small encampment is there to protect the grove, help those still perched in the trees and keep a watchful eye on university police, with whom they've sparred in the past. "It's dangerous. We are getting complaints from people who...

UC Berkeley asked a state appeals court Friday to allow the campus to begin construction of a sports training center next to Memorial Stadium, where tree-sitters have waged a protest for the past 20 months. The university is eager to get started on the project and clear out the four remaining tree-sitters before the Cal football team's first game at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 30, when 70,000 fans are expected to converge on the area, a UC attorney said. In a 77-page brief filed with the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco, the university says it has suffered extreme...

BERKELEY _ A nude woman running in and out of traffic lanes on the I-80 freeway near Gilman Street disrupted traffic early this morning and required the California Highway Patrol, the Berkeley Police and ultimately, the Berkeley Fire Department to handle the situation. . . .

UC Berkeley has been hit by a new delay in its plan to cut down trees in a grove occupied by tree-sitters next to Memorial Stadium and build an athletic training center there. A 17-month-old court order blocking the project had been set to expire after Tuesday, following this week's decision by an Alameda County Superior Court Judge allowing UC to build the center. But beginning today, the injunction will be extended at least 20 days following a notice of appeal filed by two groups that sued to block the project, the California Oak Foundation and the Panoramic Hill Association....

Berkeley -- Angry shouts of "Shame! Shame!" erupted in the Berkeley City Chambers Thursday night after the council declined to appeal a court ruling against the city allowing UC Berkeley to build an athletic training center next to Memorial Stadium. The conflict has drawn wide attention because of a 20-month protest by tree-sitters at the project site who have demanded that UC preserve the grove of more than 80 oaks, redwoods and other trees next to the stadium. The city had sued - along with stadium neighbors and a tree preservation group - to block the project. The other two...

Score one for the Berkeley tree-sitters. Hours after UC Berkeley won a court decision Tuesday allowing a long-blocked athletic training center to be built next to Memorial Stadium, supporters of illegal tree-sitters occupying the project's site commandeered a new tree on the main campus and strung ropes from it to the besieged aerial protesters. But late in the day, campus officials reached an agreement with the protesters to remove the lines and abandon the newly occupied tree, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said. Campus officials were stunned Wednesday morning to find two more tree-sitters able to travel with ease and,...

Berkeley’s treesitters and Memorial Stadium neighbors who had sued to block construction of a gym at the site of the adjacent oak grove were dealt a resounding setback Tuesday. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller issued a judgment that upholds the university’s plans for a four-level gym at the grove site and hits the litigants—including the city and the late City Councilmember Dona Spring—with an order that they pay most of the university’s legal bill. Her order also ends, on July 29, the injunction which has blocked construction and the destruction of the grove. Construction could begin immediately...

Berkeley -- UC Berkeley can build its proposed athlete training center, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled late today, handing a crucial victory to the university in a protracted battle marked by a highly publicized protest by tree-sitters since December 2006. The long-awaited ruling by Judge Barbara Miller said the university has overcome the legal barriers to the project, which has been blocked by a court injunction since February 2007. Miller said the injunction can be lifted in a week. She postponed the removal of the injunction for seven days to give opponents an opportunity to appeal to the...

UC Berkeley, eager to resolve the tree-sitters' standoff outside Memorial Stadium before football season begins, asked a judge Thursday to allow construction on a sports training center to begin as soon as next week. The university also asked the city of Berkeley, a neighborhood group and a group of oak tree advocates, who have sued UC to block the project, to put up a $1.5 million-a-month bond if they choose to appeal the judge's ruling on whether the $125 million training center can be built safely and legally. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller said she will decide soon...

Berkeley mayor announces re-election bid Tom Bates seeks third term By Doug OakleyStaff Writer Article Launched: 07/14/2008 05:35:31 PM PDT Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates announced his candidacy for a third term Monday on the steps of city hall surrounded by five other council members who are endorsing him.His challengers so far include former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean and activist Zachary Running Wolf.Bates cited his record on fighting global warming, creating a "green economy," getting homeless people off the streets and supporting development near public transportation centers.He is endorsed by council members Gordon Wozniak, Linda Maio, Laurie Capitelli, Darryl Moore and Max...

One of the four tree-sitters at the Memorial Stadium oak grove descended from the foliage Monday, leaving three protesters attempting to stop UC Berkeley's plans to build a sports training center. Jeffrey "Muskrat" Musgrave, 30, climbed out of the trees at about 12:30 p.m., and was arrested by UC police. He was charged with trespassing, violating a court order, vandalism and possession of marijuana, said campus spokesman Dan Mogulof. Musgrave was taken to Berkeley city jail, where he is expected to be cited and released, Mogulof said. Musgrave, who joined the 19-month-old tree-sit protest last week, came down due to...

BERKELEY - As they promised, members of a large University of California service workers union went on strike this morning, throwing up picket lines at the Berkeley campus and other UC facilities. The scene was peaceful in Berkeley. Union members carrying signs are handing out leaflets about their dispute with university management; people driving by are honking constantly in support. The union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents nearly 20,000 workers, including bus drivers, cooks, custodians, gardeners and parking attendants at the university's 10 campuses and hospitals. The strikers are ignoring a restraining order issued Friday by...

It has happened yet again. Environmentalist extremists have literally taken to the trees in order to “protect” a small greenish area from planned construction work. The culprits this time are protestors at Berkeley, who have spent an incredible 18 months at the top of trees in order to prevent the university from building on the land. One news article quoted a tree-climber supporter who gave her name as Citizyn: “They’re very well-trained tree climbers. They’re very experienced, and I have trust in them that they’re going to keep themselves safe and they’re going to keep defending the grove.” Wait, you...

BERKELEY -- Three of the Memorial Stadium tree-sitters left their perches today and Tuesday night, leaving just four protesters making a stand against UC's plans to build an athletic training center in the grove, UC Berkeley officials said. The three protesters, who have not been identified, climbed down from the trees late Tuesday night, campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said. One of them was arrested by campus police while the other two climbed up a different tree, he said.After talking to police this morning, the two came down. All three have been charged with trespassing and violating a court order to...

University hopes concessions set stage for athletic training center next door - UC Berkeley made key concessions Friday in its long-running standoff with the city, tree-sitting protesters and neighbors of Memorial Stadium that the university hopes will clear the way for its plans to build an athletic training center next to the stadium. In documents submitted in Alameda County Superior Court, the university says it will scrap all non-football events at Memorial Stadium and drop plans to attach a concrete support beam to the stadium's west wall, two roadblocks cited in a judge's interim ruling in the case last week.UC's...

Two protesters sitting in trees near Cal's Memorial Stadium surrendered their roosts on Wednesday, officials said, leaving seven tree-sitters remaining in the 18-month-long standoff against UC's plans to build an athletic training center. Bradley "Squirtle" Costello, 20, said he came down about 6:30 p.m. because he wanted a cigarette and a hot meal, UC spokesman Dan Mogulof said. Mathew Marks, 24, said he would come down on the condition that he could make a statement to his supporters and give his personal belongings to them, Mogulof said. "We're very encouraged by this development," Mogulof said. "It suggests our strategy is...