Posted on 04/14/2002 6:11:49 AM PDT by SpyGuy
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A woman who climbed 150 feet up a tree to protest a timber sale fell and died from her injures before rescuers could reach the remote site in the Mount Hood National Forest.
The timber sale she was protesting had been canceled three days before her death Friday, and the protesters expected to leave the area within a week.
It took rescue crews over two hours struggling up snow-clogged dirt roads to reach the tree-sitters' camp after fellow activists called rescuers, Clackamas County Sheriff's spokeswoman Angela Blanchard said.
The caller said the woman, identified as Beth O'Brien, 22, of Portland, was unconscious but still breathing, Blanchard said. But by the time rescue crews arrived at about 9:30 p.m., O'Brien was dead.
She had unhooked herself from one platform and was trying to reach another by a rope ladder when she fell, Blanchard said.
Sarah Wald of Cascadia Forest Alliance, which organized the demonstration, said protesters remained in the trees Saturday evening.
Ivan Maluski, a longtime Eagle Creek protester, said tree sitters were days away from leaving the site after a three-year vigil.
About four people take turns living year-round in tree platforms in the area, Maluski said. After the cancelation was announced Tuesday, protesters said they wanted to see a final signed contract before they pulled out.
Sen. Ron Wyden (news, bio, voting record), D-Ore., an opponent of the timber sale, announced Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service had reached an agreement to cancel the logging contract after an independent review determined the deal required significant modifications to prevent environmental harm.
At issue was the problem of blowdown, or trees not intended for logging being felled by winds on the edge of areas where cutting was planned. The Forest Service said tree sitters didn't influence the decision.
The Forest Service and the timber company, Vanport Manufacturing, agreed to cancel the deal, but tree sitters said they would remain until the final paperwork was signed.
Tree sitters live in plywood platforms attached to the upper limbs of trees slated for logging.
At least two others have fallen in the past year. In June, one man fell in the Eagle Creek area but refused treatment. In October, another fell in the Tillamook State Forest and suffered multiple broken bones.
What makes you think she perished before her time? Seems to me that she perished right on schedule: shortly after hitting the ground.
One of the problems in today's society, is that most people think they are guaranteed a long and happy life. So, of course, when they get smacked with a dose of reality, they just don't know how to deal. Some seek drugs, some seek therapy, some seek extra-marital affairs, some seek violence, some seek a defendant with deep pockets to sue. But rarely do they wake up from their self-centered stupor and say, "wow, there really are no guarantees in life!"
As my wife is fond of saying, "every person knows their birthday, but no one knows their deathday."
How did this become a cause worth dying for?
"save a tree, not a baby"??
"save a whale, not a baby"??
Kind of hard killing yourself falling out of a hemp plant! Yes, I think it should be legalized. It is amazing what can be made out of this plant.
Why are trees singled out for protection?
This speciesism must end!!
It is, however, enough time to cry out, "All your trees beloooooooooong....".
The gene pool has been cleansed!
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| Beth O'Brien shown here in this undated file photo, died Friday, April 12, 2002 after she fell 150 feet from a platform to the ground during a tree protest in the Mount Hood National Forest east of Portland, Ore. O'Brien was badly injured in the fall and died before rescue crews could reach the remote site. (AP Photo/Cascadia Forest Alliance) |
Hardly. If she's buried, her corpse will be injected with chemicals and her body encased in man-made materials and buried in lands formerly wild and pristine.
That is, unless she's cremated and blown to the four winds.
Either way, her disposal won't be in accordance with natural processes. I.e., she won't be scavenged and left to return whence her body came.
The olde parachutist's "five-point landing" is useful to remember even in the absence of a parachute. Meet the ground with your feet together, and fall sideways in such a way that five parts of your body successively absorb the shock, equally and in this order: feet, calf, thigh, buttock, and shoulder.
To accurately calculate the maximum speed that a person would fall at, you need to know that person's weight and their air drag, which depends on their shape, size, position (i.e., spread-eagle, feet-first, etc.), and the density of the air. If you are comfortable with complex equations and integrals, you can calculate this. As a reference, have a look at pages 137 to 139 of Sears and Zemansky's University Physics (10th edition, Volume 1, Chapter 5, published by Addison Wesley).
The 150 ft fall would take approx. 3.4 secs and she would have reached about 52mph.
52 divided by 5 = 10.4 mph. Not bad! 10.4 mph is only a bit faster than the speed of a six foot jump. There will be some bruising and breakage but no loss of consciousness to delay your press conference.
Plywood????
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