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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Obituaries Weather Archive Hot Topics Forum Photo Gallery Past Readers Polls Revels Etcetera Backpage O-Zone Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Online Games Movie Preview October 19, 2006 'Direct action' class prepares people for Mt. A protest By Alan Panebaker Ashland Daily Tidings Alan Panebaker | Daily Tidings Anna Boyd, former director of Peace House and one of the organizers of 'Watershed Week' speaks to attendees about nonviolent civil disobedience. In the bottom floor of the Ashland Library Wednesday night, a small group of people began to sew seeds of civil disobedience. Anna Boyd, former director of Peace House and one of the organizers of "Watershed Week," said the threat of logging old-growth Engelmann Spruce on Mount Ashland could be real in coming weeks, and people need to be ready to stand as a last line of defense. "You're trying to use all the tools you have while living in a country where you're not going to get shot for standing up for what you believe in," Boyd said. Eighteen people gathered to learn about "direct action" and nonviolent communication, motivated by a proposed 71-acre ski area expansion at the top of the Ashland Watershed. A federal district court judge has yet to file an opinion in a lawsuit where he ruled in favor of the Forest Service in its approval of the expansion in 2004. The City of Ashland holds a special-use permit through the U.S. Forest Service to operate the ski area. The city revoked the permit to the Mt. Ashland Association — the non-profit entity that operates the ski area — until it offers a detailed business plan to prove that the city will not be responsible if the ski area fails. For those gathered Wednesday, however, the judicial process may not be enough to stop a logging project. Direct action could be a last resort. "Ideally, we're not going to get to a point where we say we've exhausted all our resources," Boyd said. But just in case, people practiced building consensus and mock planning for a protest. They discussed planning for how far each person is willing to go to get arrested or help people who would try to stop a logging operation. The training Wednesday night was a brief entry into possible further discussions about the possibility of nonviolent protest against logging on Mount Ashland. The expansion project will probably not incite action from larger environmental groups, Boyd said, so Ashland residents could be the only ones to step in to disrupt possible logging. "This is it," she said. "It's us." Beyond the philosophy of nonviolent disobedience, people talked about more concrete issues like who feeds a protestor's dog or other logistics. One man, who preferred not to be identified for this story, said he wanted to know what support he might get if arrested. "I want to know who pays my fine if I go to jail. Is anyone going to pay my medical bills if I get injured," he said. "I'm a realist." Nick Frost, a candidate for Ashland City Council, showed up to learn about direct action. However, he hopes the council will take steps to stop the expansion before a protest takes place. Staff writer Alan Panebaker can be reached at 482-3456 x 227 or [email protected] . Current Comments: stop! You care enough about this issue to discuss it depth...Before starting another one of these long stop-n-go discussions about local politics, check out the forum site. Please! http://www.dailytidingsforum.com/index.php? enough - ashland, or - October 19th, 1:30 PM A class on how to break the law? Awesome. eM - Ashland - October 19th, 3:10 PM Sometimes laws are unjust. fisher - ashland - October 19th, 9:00 PM The protesters had better call ahead to request vegan meals in their jail cells. eM - Ashland - October 19th, 11:38 PM So, if the Greenoids had won in court, would expansion advocates be justified in "direct actioning" a few hundred trees & expanding the ski area on their own? Would the Tidings give front page coverage, with a positive spin, to their preparations? Would Council candidates "show up to learn" how to violate the law? (Why do I bother asking stupid questions, my wife says . . .) Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - October 20th, 5:43 AM Listen to your wife, Rich. You're out of touch with the majority of Ashland's Citizens, the City Council, and reality as a whole. I do think you have some good insights on issues such as dangerous intersections in Ashland. Other than that, you show us all how narrow minded an intelligent person can be. Rafferty - Ashland - October 20th, 10:07 AM Basicly what you're seeing here is evidence that no amount of discussion, reasoning, or due process is going to change the minds of some folks. They want their way, period. Civil disobedience certainly has had its place in many noble causes in our history. However, it's use as a method to get your way no matter what is neither noble nor productive. Everyone has rights: conservationists, recreationalists, and yes, even trees. The key here is accepting the concept of reasonable compromise. Ron - Ashland, OR - October 20th, 10:40 AM Is ELF organizing this "meeting"? At what terrorist, I'm sorry, what ECO-TERRORIST training camp will they all be attending? Fisher says the law is unjust...so lets all have an unlawfull civil disobedience moment...here they come. The ones who preach to us about what's right; let's see what example they set. Do we follow the courts and the rule of law? Or do we follow the likes of ELF, A, and the Navickas crowd? Ron, eM, they won't need to worry about jail, not in Ashland. Good questions Rich. Steve L. Iverson - Ashland, Jefferson - October 20th, 12:28 PM "Rafferty" (or whatever)! I thought you were sulking somewhere with Red Dog & other pseudonymous cringers! Are you back on duty? Hey, direct action to implement an approved & court-tested expansion in the face of bureaucratic obstruction is daring & innovative! In the 60s, man, we don't like what guv does, man, we do it ourself, dig? Power to the Ski Poles! Skis not trees! Slopes now! (Uh, for you wide-minded majority types, look up "irony"� it's a grown up word, but you might understand . . .) Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - October 20th, 1:02 PM Ron, where was the "reasonable compromise" in expansion planning? MAA board & staff shunned good faith appeals to scale back expansion and dismissed economicaly viable alternatives without discussion. They threaten to sue at every turn if their demands are not met, and have successfully intimidated both the City Administrator and the Forest Supervisor. Some MAA staff have even tried to physically intimidate people who question their expansion plan in public. "Reasonable," my foot. Jay Lininger - ashland - October 20th, 5:30 PM This is because the so called compormise solution is so flawed, designed by non-skiiers. That alternative in the wind tunnel is worse than the Sonnet chair location & is what would fail. Nothing is better than that. That veiled "comporomise" is simply a bone thrown to MAA to make them flop. What kind of forestry science credentials does the naysayer have besides watching an Al Gore movie? If those educated in the field say the watershed will be negatively impacted I would listen very hard, but? wanna b a trustfunder2 - Testoserone-Free Zone - October 20th, 8:28 PM Exactly my point, wanna - you erect a straw man and then topple it. Alternative 3 would double the length and ease of the Dream/Caliban trails, avoid crossing the Middle Branch englemann grove and the outstanding red fir old-growth to its west, and is MORE economically viable than what MAA is trying to do. It was designed by a community group of skiers and boarders for clean water. Further, MAA has been anything but gracious in this process. No surprise that citizens will stand up to them. Jay Lininger - ashland - October 21st, 10:40 AM MAA, Cut the damn trees now! Stop wasting time. The courts will support you on this one. So will the silent majority of the people. Pee on the vocal minority that think they speak for the rest of us. They don't! Just think this meeting on civil disobedience was held in a building that was built and paid for with our tax money. Why are we not running these eco-terrorists out of town on a rail? Let�s rent some Grizzlies and run them off, oh we can�t the Rent a Grizzly program was canceled. Lori Munson - Ashland, Oregon - October 21st, 10:53 PM Once upon a time there was tree at the Library in Ashland that need to be cut down in order to build the state of the art transient faciltiy we have there now.Protestors rallied and tree sitters arrived.One early Sunday morning,the tree sitters gone from their post(probably hung over),the evil and whicked lumberjack came and cut down the tree.All the protestors went away, the new library improvements were completed and the mayor who authorized the cutting was the hero.Hint lori might be right, Steve L. Iverson - Ashland, Jefferson - October 22nd, 9:12 AM Lori criticizes people for questioning authority, yet supports blatant disregard for the law. If that's not hypocritical, what is? Rafferty - Ashland - October 22nd, 6:54 PM Every person in that room who agreed to break the law is guilty of conspiracy. Lawyer - Ashland, OR - October 23rd, 8:07 AM Tough when tables turn, huh Rfrty? Every legitimate evaluation has found in MAA's favor, but MAA courteously gave you guys 30 days to cobble together a "case" for your fellow travelers on the 9th Circuit. Even there, you must expect to lose, since you're gearing up a "speed bump/chain up" effort. Lori speaks from an emotional position much like your own. Who can blame her? What's sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. Take it to the streets! Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - October 23rd, 8:34 AM I'd like to know where Navikas/Dimitre/Jay/Hartzell/Swales,& the "Grannies in Green" were when Ashland was trying to develop the ground/trees spray sewage treatment area on the east hills well away from Bear Creek? The most eco-friendly alternative, U killed it so that we are still dumping WARM "treated" sewage into Bear Creek, killing fish & sending it downstream to who all ought to sue this 2-faced City if they had the legal muscle Headwaters/Sierra Club affords. Watershed concerns? yeah right wanna b a trustfunder2 - Testoserone-Free Zone - October 23rd, 9:32 AM Rich, take a deep breath before you have a heart attack. I don't know that the tables have turned like you think they have. If MAA cuts a single tree branch, they will be looking at criminal charges, possibly jail. City Council revoked MAAs authority to deal with the trees. How is that in MAA's favor? Rafferty - Ashland - October 23rd, 10:05 AM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising Inkjet Printers Student Loans Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Advertisement: Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.