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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Police Break up Tree Sits in Bloomington, Indiana |
Current rating: 0 |
by Danielle Chynoweth
Email: imc (nospam) urbana.indymedia.org (unverified!)
Phone: 217-344-8820 (IMC)
Address: IMC 218 W. Main St. Urbana, IL 61801 |
09 Jul 2001
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Last weekend, a four month long attempt to preserve fifty acres of woods just west of Blomington Indiana was broken up by police. Police extracted three of four people camping in the treetops on Friday and broke up a road blockade Saturday. Late Saturday, the last tree sitter climbed down after being cut off from essential supplies including water. The land is scheduled to be cleared for a 200 unit apartment complex. |
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Listen to this on Free Speech Radio News, today Monday at 5 PM
on WEFT 90.1 FM (east central illinois).
A longer version will air at 6 PM as part of the IMC Newshour
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CLIP ONE: MOSS
\"I am about 70 feet up in a red oak tree here in Bloomington Indiana. Yesterday they came with bull dozers and they had a cherry picker. There were four of us in the trees, they got three of us down, but they couldn\'t get me because I climbed higher in the tree and they couldn\'t go up as high as I was without risking my life and theirs.\"
Moss was the last to descend from a stand of endangered trees into the hands of police this weekend. He was the fifteenth person arrested, ending a four month protest against Bloomington, Indiana\'s sprawling development.
The 54 acres of woods is scheduled to be cleared this month to make room for a 200 unit apartment complex.
Police used construction equipment borrowed from the future developers to remove protestors from land that the developer is scheduled to acquire next week. A bulldozer tore through dozens of trees and webs of yarn woven with wildflowers. Police used chainsaws to rip apart the platforms piece by piece.
Lucille BEAR-TOO-SHEE-O, a supporter of the tree-sits, crossed a police blockade to observe the arrests of the tree sitters. She described the scene ....
CLIP TWO: LUCILLE
\"The police and the bulldozers just came in as the people were held in the trees by platforms. The platforms were actually attached to ropes that went from one tree to another. There were about four tree sitters up there, up high in the trees. When they came in with the bulldozers they actually tapped the trees and cut down trees around people with disregard for human life, as far as I\'m concerned. One of the young people was up a tree and, they not only cut some of the trees that were around him, but they started banging into the tree that he was in and we were all sure that he was going to die.\"
The proposed development site is the last forested piece of land along Highway 37, the main highway into Bloomington. But highway 37 isn\'t the only problem area. Activists m say the problem of loss of forest, open space, and farmland has reached epic proportions in Indiana, which, according to Moss, is losing their farmland faster than any state in the country.
CLIP THREE: MOSS
\"The reason we\'re occupying this fifty four acre patch of woods is because we\'re losing this green space so quickly around the city\'s boundaries and within the city. The city is becoming more and more tree-less. They cut down all the big ones and put in these little five year old tress. It\'s just not the same. And people are getting sick of it, sick of the urban sprawl. The main issue is that all these developers and real estate people and people with lots of money that do all this speculation with buying and selling land and all this stuff. don\'t care about the land whatsoever. They are in the pockets of the politicians here locally and I\'m course you\'re aware of the national situation. We\'re just recognizing these facts here in Bloomington Indiana and trying to get people to become aware of them,. We\'re just trying to bring attention to this issue of corporate greed at the expense of the public.\"
Like many new developments, this one comes with the blessing and financial support of state Bloomington\'s local government eager to provide housing for an expanding population and eager to add to its tax base.
The development of the new apartment complex has the support of the Monroe county council who voted to approve a 10 million dollar bond to aid the development. Additionally the development is receiving federal income tax credits.
But while the county council encourages growth on the outskirts of town, residents like sixty five year old Lucille Bertuccio risk arrest to hold back the tide. Ms. Bertuccio, who was released from jail Friday after being charged with trespassing, has the bigger picture in mind.
CLIP FOUR: LUCILLE (93 secs)
\"I would like to say one thing. I am 65 years old. I am concerned about the kind of earth we are leaving to our children. And I think that all the 65 years olds should get off their rocking chairs and stop worrying about plastic surgery for their faces and stop worrying about social security and start thinking about what kind of world we are leaving to our grandchildren. Our grandchildren are going to be left with a corporate world. We\'re going to have a world that so filled with cars and sidewalks and streets and I think that\'s a horrible thing to leave to our children and our grandchildren. I want you to put that message out. That is a heartfelt message from a woman who has lived 65 years on this earth and has seen it get deprived and depressed and devastated. So that\'s the message I want for all older people. They should be out here with me. They should be protesting what\'s going on. All the biological systems that are at work here are protecting us and keeping us sane and keeping us healthy. The global warming is occurring because of the way we are treating the earth. If we keep on doing this, we will keep no world for our children. We have to think about this. This is important. Every piece of land, every bit of open space that is not covered with something is doing hard good work for us; it\'s keeping our air pure, its keeping our waters pure; it\'s keeping our soil good so we can grow plants. It\'s keeping everything going., And if we lose this, we\'ll lose the world, okay. We\'ll lose the world for our children.\"
This is Danielle Chynoweth from the Urbana Independent Media Center for Free Speech Radio News.
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The Battle for Stony Springs |
by Cathy Crosson
ccrosson (nospam) indiana.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
10 Jul 2001
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Thank you for this wonderful coverage of our struggle to save what little is left of the natural environment in and around our once-picturesque town. If any doubt remained in anyone's mind, it should be clear whose side the police and the government generally are on -- the side of the wealthy and the corporations, not the side of the people. Our community overwhelmingly opposed this development, and the destruction of the last wooded area on the west side of Bloomington. The politicians didn't care -- they are in the pockets of the developers, the deals are already done under the table, and then they tell us it's our fault for not showing up to zoning board meetings, some of which happened 30 years ago, before many of us were born.
Only massive resistance can turn the tide of environmental destruction, and this simply cannot occur through the existing political system. It is a rigged game that we can never win. I urge everyone to become active however they can, and by whatever means are necessary, to halt this madness before nothing is left for our children and theirs.
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EARTH FIRST |
by OSCAR PRICE
OSCARWP (nospam) YAHOO.COM (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
14 Jul 2001
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IT IS A SHAME YOUR TREE SITTERS DID NOT CONTACT EARTH FIRST BEFORE GOING AIR BORNE.
I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE BEEN THERE FOR SUPPORT. |
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Earth First |
by Black Widow
cmcneely1 (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
17 Jul 2001
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We are Earth First, We where in the EF! journal last month and posted updates of the sit on the earhfirstalert email system |
