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TH: Protest in Eugene, Oregon, USA

 Post-To: Tree-House@Majordomo.Flora.Com (Community Forestry) ----------
 -------
 To Tree-House -

 The following was posted to the FOREST ListServ, concerning a
 recent incident in Eugene Or.  We like running reports on forest
 goings-on in different towns such as this one.

 Couple other notes: the summer '97 edition of 'American Forests'
 has more on September's Urban Forestry conference in Atlanta Ga.
 We should have more on that in a few days.  I wrote back to the
 folks who are applying for the sci.forestry Usenet newsgroup, in
 the hope that their newsgroup will be active by then.  It would
 be interesting if that newsgroup and this discussion list could
 provide continuing coverage from conference attendees.  Richard@Flora.Com
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 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
 Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 08:00:01 +0000
 From: Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.FUNET.FI>
 Reply-To: OWNER-FOREST@LISTSERV.FUNET.FI
 To: Recipients of FOREST digests <FOREST@LISTSERV.FUNET.FI>
 Subject: FOREST Digest - 22 Jun 1997 to 23 Jun 1997
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 Date:    Sun, 22 Jun 1997 14:09:47 -0700
 From:    Milton Takei <miltont@efn.org>
 Subject: Protest in Eugene, Oregon, USA

To FOREST subscribers:

        I somehow feel obligated to bring the following matter to your
attention.  On Sunday, June 1st, 1997, forty trees in downtown Eugene,
Oregon, USA, were cut down to make way for a parking garage project.
There was a protest.  There was civil disobedience.  Twenty-two people
were arrested.  The _Register-Guard_ (Eugene's mainstream newspaper) on
8 June ran a photograph showing what the camera recorded as the
photographer was being sprayed with pepper spray by the police.  I guess
_the Register-Guard_ doesn't like its photographers to be treated like
rioters.
        The following are excerpts from two letters published in the
_Eugene Weekly,_ 12 June 1997:

        "Mayor Torrey and Police Chief Cooke want us to believe the police
had 'no alternative' but to tear gas and pepper spray protesters at
Sunday's demonstration.  I don't know what parallel universe [explanation
below] they live in, but in this one the police had a very clear
alternative.  Which is the greater crime: to allow people to disrupt
construction of a parking garage for a while, or to attack and torture
those people?"  ["Parallel universe" is a science-fiction term for a
universe similar to, but different from another universe--characters in a
story can travel to and from parallel universes.  The writer wishes to
imply that the political figures in question are out of touch with
reality.]

        "I am a native Eugenian (58 years old) and I was appalled at the
Gestapo tactics of the Eugene Police Department last Sunday in the tree
removal incident.  I never even dreamed I would ever see something like
this in 'my town.'  But it did happen.
        " Granted, the demonstrators weren't blameless, but it seems to me
that a little patience could have gone a long way to ensure a peaceful
demonstration."

        I feel that this incident is symptomatic of something, but what?

        Milton Takei
        Eugene, Oregon, USA
        miltont@efn.org

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End of FOREST Digest - 22 Jun 1997 to 23 Jun 1997
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