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Show PROFILE: TIM DECHRISTOPHER by Jake Bullinger Tim DeChristopher delivers a speech after his conviction on March 4, 2011. PHOTO COURTESY A HARTMANN/The S. Lake Tribune THE RETURN OF BIDDER 70 ON APRIL 21, TIM DECHRISTOPHER WILL FINISH SERVING HIS PRISON SENTENCE AFTER MONKEY WRENCHING AN OIL LEASEAUCTION. WILL UTAH'S BEST-KNOWN ACTIVIST RETURN WITH A BANG, OR WILL HE REMAIN SILENT AS HE HAS THE PASTTWO YEARS? y OU'RE NOT SURE HOW TO FEEL WHEN YOU SEE TIM DeChristopher now that he's working at Ken Sanders Rare Books. The activist garnered national attention in 2008 and 2009, but you're not awestruck — a person can only build up so much celebrity in the short amount of time DeChristopher was in the limelight. You walk up to him assertively, yet you still lead the conversation with, "Tim?," like you would with a celebrity. But, damn it, he's not a celebrity. DeChristopher doesn't possess the intimidation or smugness that comes with a person of clout, but he did start the biggest climate awareness movement in Salt Lake City— scratch that, the Mountain West — so you can't just treat him like any other bookstore employee. Finally, it dawns on you. Seeing DeChristopher is like proving a myth exists. You've heard about him, as the noise from him and his organization, Peaceful Uprising, the media, and oil and gas magnates was deafening after he monkey-wrenched an oil lease auction in 2008. But after he was sentenced, DeChristopher was silenced and entered mythical status. You hear about Bigfoot, but you never see him. The same went for DeChristopher. But now DeChristopher is in a halfway house, so you walk into Ken Sanders' bookstore, and there, wearing a frumpy sweater and eating potato chips, sits Bigfoot, like he was just waiting for you to find him. DeChristopher's is an interesting dynamic. By going to prison, he became somewhat of a martyr in the Utah activism community. The courts have placed a muzzle on DeChristopher, keeping him from uttering any activist speak to the public or anything at all to the media, including for this story. DeChristopher was so dedicated to his cause he was willing to go to federal prison, and he never wavered. Come April 21, DeChristopher's sentence will end, and he will be able to speak again. So here's the question facing Peaceful Uprising and DeChristopher himself — what happens when a martyr comes back to life? "He went from being a college student to an activist leader, pretty much overnight." 4 wasatchmagazine T he majority of DeChristopher's aura materialized in a single day. On Dec. 19, 2008, DeChristopher finished an economics test at the U, then went to a controversial Bereau of Land Management land auction that was selling land parcels to oil and gas companies at the end of the Bush administration. The parcels were selling at miniscule rates — many of the auctions began $2 per acre — and they were in some |
