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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 18, 2005 More Fiddler activists arrested All sides expect tensions to become higher as timber auctions start to involve roadless areas By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Logging operations in the areas of the Siskiyou National Forest burned by the 2002 Biscuit Fire are again being protested. Forest activists staged a roadblock this morning on the way to the Fiddler Sale, the area that has been actively logged since March 7. Seven arrests were made on Eight Dollar Road, the road that leads to the ongoing logging, as protesters delayed the operation with a series of road blocks. Six people “locked themselves down” to 55-gallon drums filled with 1,200 pounds of cement and one person situated himself in a “bi-pod,” an elevated contraption used by protesters to block traffic, in an effort to delay loggers from reaching the timber sale. To date, logging and the related protests occurred only in old-growth reserve areas of the forest. But both loggers and environmentalists have said that when the first timber sale in the roadless areas is auctioned the issue is bound to heat up politically. Lawyers for the Siskiyou Educational Project, the plaintiff in the suit against the Forest Service, and the Department of Justice, which is defending the federal agency, agreed last week to delay any timber sale action concerning areas identified as roadless areas until an updated roadless rule is issued this summer, according to Andrea Rogers, a lawyer with the Western Environmental Law Center. On Friday, Judge Hogan, in a 31-page opinion, denied a preliminary injuction sought by Cascadia Wildlands that argued against logging in late successional or old-growth reserves. Tom Lavagnino, an information officer with the Forest Service, said the loggers were delayed today for about three hours, until 7 a.m., when four Forest Service law enforcement officers and five Josephine County deputies removed the cement-filled barrels from the road with the protesters still attached to them. They also took down the bi-pod while Michael Moss was still attached to it. Laurel Sutherlin, who has been leading the ongoing protests since the Biscuit logging began on March 7, said law enforcement was especially heavy-handed when they moved the protesters out of the loggers way this morning. “We definitely witnessed an escalation in the tactics of law enforcement,” he said. “They moved the barrels with a dolly and a bunch of guys and the muscled them out of the way in a hazardous manner.” He said he believed the law-enforcement techniques have been increased because the operation is currently involved in expensive helicopter logging, which he estimated costs the timber operator $40,000 per day. “The stakes are higher than they have been in the past,” he said. Pam Bode, a ranger for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, said her officers acted in a manner consistent with the safety of the protesters. “We moved them carefully with great concern for their safety,” she said. “There was no reason for haste. People did not resist arrest and no one was intentionally hurt. The Forest Service has every reason to protect people.” The Josephine County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that seven people were arrested this morning, including Moss, of Jacksonville; Stephanie Friedman of Cave Junction; three residents of Portland; one minor from Eugene; and a resident of Wilderville. As of press time, the arrestees had not yet been charged. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms Tatoos student loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Tatoo Poker Games Homeschooling Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams