U.S.

Police Move To Disperse Tree-Sitters

July 6, 2001 / 1:29 PM EDT / AP

Police followed construction equipment into a wooded area Friday and removed several environmentalists demonstrating against a planned apartment complex.

One protester scampered up a red oak tree to elude officers on a hydraulic lift. He sat on a limb about 80 feet off the ground, about 10 feet from the top of the tree while bulldozers sent other trees crashing to the ground.

"I do have some water and lots of food. They are going to try and wait me out," the man, who identified himself only as Moss, said by radio to reporters. He said he was 30.

Authorities decided against sending someone with spiked shoes up the tree to get Moss.

"They could have gotten him down, but there was no reason to get anybody else hurt," City Councilman Jeff Ellington said as he watching the clearing. "He'll come down eventually."

Environmentalists have demonstrated at the 50-acre site along State Road 37 since March 22, when 19-year-old Tracy "Dolphin" McNeely began a sit-in on a platform about 50 feet up the oak tree. When she left the tree in mid-June to spend time with her ailing grandmother, her mother replaced her for two days, and Moss was among those who followed.

The developer of the site had said he would begin work there this month, and after heavy equipment cleared small trees and created a dirt road, officers moved in about 5 a.m. and arrested at least four people for trespassing and resisting arrest.

Ten state troopers blocked about 30 people from re-entering the hilly, thickly wooded parcel on the west side of this southern Indiana college town. When one demonstrator, Lucille Bertuccio, 65, of Bloomington, tried to cross the police line, she was arrested for trespassing. Her hands were cuffed behind her, and troopers on either arm led her to a paddy wagon.

"I'm an old woman. You don't need to hold me," she said.

Monroe County Sheriff Stephen Sharp said authorities had been planning the operation for about a month and half. Fifty state police officers and 12 sheriff's officers were at the site.

"We understand that these are young people with a cause. We just wanted everybody safe," he said.

Besides Moss, three other protesters had been stationed in trees during the confrontation, Sharp said. Once they were removed, a hydraulic lift was brought in, and officers and construction workers used it to reach the sit-in platform, chopping limbs from the tree as they rose.

As Moss climbed higher to elude them, workers took chainsaws to the platform, sending it crashing to the ground in splinters along with a cooler, a propane tank and blue tarps.

Bulldozers came within a foot of the base of the tree and severely dug up the root structure on three sides of the tree.

"I hope they don't try to kill me while I'm up here," Moss said. "They've definitely jeopardized the safety of the tree."

Protesters wrapped the trees with multicolored yarn entwined with roses and wildflowers for protection as well as decoration.

"It's tslow down the cutting of trees. The yarn can bind up the chainsaws and slow the process. It's also to honor the trees," said Bret Eartheart of Bloomington.

Two women trudged through forest for more than two hours and got past authorities, handcuffing themselves to a tree adjacent next to the tree that Moss climbed. Authorities freed them and arrested them.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, to the relief of property owner Bill Brown.

"I'm just hopeful that no one is hurt and they do leave peacefully," Brown said.

Developer Tom Herman of Indianapolis-based Herman Associates also said he hoped the protesters were removed safely.

The activists said they would keep someone in the oak tree until Herman dropped plans for the apartment complex.

The land has a mix of oak, maple, hickory and other hardwood trees, but is not considered an old-growth forest, said Bloomington Plan Director Tom Micuda. It has been zoned for residential development for at least 28 years, he said.

Ellington said he was confident the developers would preserve the area as much as possible.

"We have some of the strictest building codes in the world. As far as saving greenspace, we're one of the front-runners in the nation," he said.