Posted on 06/25/2002 8:31:56 AM PDT by CFW
Earth Firsters incarcerated after courtroom disruption
A pair of Earth First! activists acted up in Missoula Justice Court on Monday, hoping - they said - to get thrown in jail so they could sit in solidarity with two others jailed last week for tying themselves to a logging truck and rappelling off the Madison Street Bridge.
And indeed, by the end of their protestations before Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech, Earth Firsters Molly Karp and Jason Buckendorf were en route to the Missoula County Detention Center and a dozen of their friends had been ordered out of the courtroom, lest they also leave in handcuffs.
"You're in," an exasperated Orzech told Karp. "You did a good job. You will be able to join your friends in solidarity in the Missoula County jail."
Karp, Buckendorf, Steven Chadwick and Austin Reedy were in court to answer newly filed felony charges of accountability for criminal endangerment for their part in last week's protest on the bridge.
The four were among the Earth Firsters who waved a logging truck to a stop June 19 as it crossed the bridge en route from a timber-salvage sale on the Bitterroot National Forest to Pyramid Mountain Lumber Co. in Seeley Lake.
When the truck driver stopped, activists Sean McCoy and Stephanie Valle attached ropes to the truck and rappelled over the side of the bridge, dangling above the Clark Fork River and deploying a protest banner.
Originally, only McCoy and Valle were charged with felonies; the others were accused of misdemeanor traffic crimes in Municipal Court. On Monday, the city dropped its complaints so county prosecutors could pursue the felonies.
The harsher charges were justified, said deputy county attorney Jennifer Johnson, because the protesters endangered other people with their misbehavior. "By stopping the truck, they aided the others in committing a crime," she said. "They stopped that truck so the others could attach themselves to the truck and rappel off the bridge."
Three city fire stations were needed in the resulting "rescue" of McCoy and Valle, Johnson said. That left the rest of the community without fire protection.
"We are fine with protesters if they are not endangering anyone else," she said. "But they involved a lot more people than themselves."
The accountability charges carry possible penalties of 10 years in prison and $50,000 fines - identical to felony criminal endangerment.
Had they behaved Monday, Orzech seemed inclined to let the activists return to the house they share on West Alder Street pending a mid-July hearing. Among other things, she said, the jail was full or nearly so.
Chadwick and Reedy, who have been in Missoula but a week, promised to stay in town and said, in fact, they want to see the legal proceedings through to their conclusion.
"I am interested in protecting the forest," Reedy, a 19-year-old from Bloomington, Ind., said later. "The things happening in the Bitterroot are crimes."
Buckendorf, a 20-year-old originally from Boise, wondered why the judge would release him, but not Valle and McCoy.
"They are the ones who put the community in danger," said Johnson, the deputy county attorney.
"There's no room in the jail," said the judge, who initially released Buckendorf on his own recognizance.
Then came Karp, a 20-year-old from Moscow, Idaho. First, she made the judge read the complaint against her. Then, when Orzech said she was being released on her own recognizance and began reading the conditions of her freedom, Karp said she would not follow the rules.
"I am not going to remain in Missoula County," Karp said.
"She wants to be in jail," protested Johnson. "She said in the newspaper that she wanted to be in jail, to be in solidarity with the others."
"Well we can't have that, can we?" said Orzech.
"I will be in solidarity whether I am in jail or participating in a hunger strike on the courthouse lawn," Karp said. (Valle and McCoy are refusing food in the jail because they do not eat anything made from animal products. Their friends on the outside are going without food as a show of support.)
Orzech told Karp to sit down while she checked on the availability of jail cells for women. Karp scrunched her knees to her chin, wrapping her flame-and-monkey-wrench wrist tattoos around her legs.
"This is your choice," the judge told Karp.
For nearly another 15 minutes, Karp continued sparring with the judge and prosecutor, insisting she had horses to tend in Idaho and a job awaiting her at the Moscow Food Co-op, and - finally - that she absolutely would not abide by Orzech's order that the Earth Firsters not discuss their cases with one another.
Karp asked the judge why she set bail for Valle and McCoy at $70,000 each, far more than any of the activists could pay.
"When I saw those defendants in court last week, I said they could request a bail reduction hearing," Orzech replied. "They have been assigned an attorney, and through their attorney they could ask for a bail reduction hearing."
"We are here today to talk about you," she continued, "not about your friends."
Still, Johnson and Orzech tried to release Karp; again, the judge began reading her the list of do's and don'ts. "You need to obey all laws. You need to talk to your public defender about that. You cannot have any communication with your co-defendants about this matter."
"I won't do that," Karp interrupted. "I want to be honest. I'm going to talk with the others."
That was the last straw, and Orzech ordered a deputy to handcuff the young woman. When several of her friends stood in her defense, the judge quickly ordered the courtroom cleared. "Escort these people out of the courtroom," Orzech said. "You can leave or you can go to jail."
And while all the activists initially left, Buckendorf only got as far as the lobby before he turned around and walked back into the court clerk's office - intentionally defying the order. Whereupon he, too, was handcuffed and taken to jail.
"Is he under arrest?" yelled one of his friends.
"Yes he is," a deputy replied.
"On what charge?"
"None of your business."
Solution #1: cut the ropes with a rigging knife and drop these idiots into the Clark River. Sink or swim.
Solution #2: put them in jail. Tell them that they hold the key to the jailhouse door. Then surprise them: let the judge tell them that SHE really holds the key to the jailhouse door & SHE ain't letting these damn fools out.
people didnt pull crap like this in days gone by, if they did, you didnt hear em doing it again....worth revisiting.
City resources should not be used for this sort on nonsense without compensation. Those jailed should be forced to compensate the city for rescue services, police and jail services.
Solution #1: cut the ropes with a rigging knife and drop these idiots into the Clark River. Sink or swim.
Solution #2: put them in jail. Tell them that they hold the key to the jailhouse door. Then surprise them: let the judge tell them that SHE really holds the key to the jailhouse door & SHE ain't letting these damn fools out.
Solution #3: (my personal favorite) Drive away with the ropes still attached.
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