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Show MAY 30, 2001 WASATCH <ii", ie COUNTY A3_ COURIER na 724 Fake Tree is a Cell-Phone Tower Protest Groups Issue Anti-Olympics Statement SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -— Where Olympic organizers see sport, culture and the environment, some _ see money, money, money. A confederation of activist groups planning to stage protests during the 2002 Winter Games, issued a mani- festo last Thursday voicing their — gripes about the Olympics. Most of the points in the statement focus on corpo- rate influence over the event. Olympic officials say the ‘three pillars” of the games are sport, culture and the environment. But some activists don’t buy it. “The Olympics are becoming sports business enterprise ARE: Network, says. Included in the group are animal rights organizations, advocates for the homeless and environmentalists. ‘The Olympics are a large corpo- rate welfare,” said Bonnie Macri, executive director of Justice, Economic Dignity and Independence for Women, a Salt Lake City women’s advocacy organization. A spokesman for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee immediately comment on could not the state- ment. Macri and others plan to use the worldwide media attention focused on =the Olympics~to get their’ message across. But they’re not sure werd they will be allowed to stage demonstrations when the games begin in February. Mayor Rocky Anderson initially disrupted the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in April are expected to bring their anti-globalization message to Salt Lake City. “IT don’t think Utah is prepared,” Macri said. Olympic security officials say that if protesters obey the law, they needn’t fear interference from police. ‘You will have absolutely no problem from law enforcement if you follow the permit,” said Bob Flowers, commander of the Utah Olympic Public . safety Command. He scoffed at the activists’ suggestion that security officers there might instigate disruptions, calling it ‘a ridiculous claim.” Officers who act inappropriately will be held accountable for their actions, just as protesters who throw rocks Said. or bottles will be, PROVO, Utah (AP) —A tree grows in Provo. Well, it doesn’t esi grow. It's a 70-foot galvanized steel, fiberglass and PVC fake pine that actually is a Sprint PCS cell-phone tower. Its called a monopine, but some unhappy residents have classified it as a “Mayorus billingsii” after Mayor Lewis K. Billings. “It's a big, ugly tree,” Riverbottoms neighborhood chairman Paul Evans said. “It's a blight on what the Riverbottoms corridor should look like.” “Frankly, I think it looks good,” city community development director Richard Secrist said. “It looks like a tree,” he said. “T's S better than a steel pole.” But Riverbottoms residents are not only decrying the height of the tree,. but also the fact that it’s not an indigenous species. In other words, it’s like sticking a daisy in a bed of roses. “It's a good idea in the wrong place,” Evans said. | The residents also are irked because there was no public hearing on the matter. The faux tree sprang up out of nowhere, practically overnight, with- out their knowledge, neighbors said. “Its just a big, hideous, fake Christmas tree,” said Paul Engemann said, who lives about two blocks west of the stealth tower. The monopine proposal came to the | city as a building-permit request in March. Building permits don’t require neighborhood notification, planning commission approval or a public hearing, Secrist said. : He said it’s a permitted use in that zone. Evans discovered the action after the 10-day appeal period had expired. He asked city officials to hear the mat- ter, and they put the item on the Planning Commission agenda, even though the action didn’t require the commission’s permission. However, the city attorney’s office intervened and said the item shouldn’t be on the agenda because an appealtype issue should go to the city Board of Adjustments, not the commission. The issue was removed from the agenda and the monopine proceeded. “It’s a travesty imposed on us by the city staff,” Engemann said. “It’s a monster.” However, the city is byorking with Sprint and residents on the issue. Sprint is considering planting several real trees around the monopine to help the fake tree blend in better, city spokesman Mike Mower said. “Part of the concern is if the trees will have adequate. water,” he said. Federal law requires the city to allow cell towers to be installed, Mower said. “I anticipate there could be more towers requested in the city as people continue to use cell phones,” he said. Flowers In fact, he said, law Sforcettent has an ‘obligation to protect people’s right to protest if the demonstration is legal. CHARLESTON 654-7177 Charleston Town Hall Town Board meets the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. as lanning Commission meets the fourth Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. Wat ones District meets second Wednesday of every month at, 7 P m. DANIEL 654.1515 S North Main, Heber7 City Put your classified in the newspaper with the ial LARGEST e110] Wa Le)\ I WASATCH COUNTY! ~ COURIER WASATCH COUNTY ‘Wasatch County’s Source for News CALL 654-2661 TO PLACE YOUR AD! rl another where corporations’ primary interest in the athletes is in ‘branding’ them — like livestock -— and using them for commercial purposes,” the statement, issued by the Citizen Activists announced a plan to allow protests and parades in a park several blocks from the downtown medals plaza. But the idea prompted a First-Amendment lawsuit backed by the American Civil Liberties Union. A number of protest permit applications are pending with the city; a spokesman for Anderson said they will be considered individually. ‘We're very concerned about the fact that venues for protests have not been established yet,” Macri_ said. ‘We're trying to avoid chaos.” The Activist Network statement promises ‘“‘peaceful, legal protests” during the games. But some of the same groups that |