| OCR Text |
Show -. : s V -f Wilderness i , r- , M Project ' ' ujur - ... :-A i -. f ( - """""' , " ' ' " - Environmental activist Patrick DiehL 53, went to jail on Sunday rather than give up what he deemed to be his first amendment rights to distribute ESCALANTE Exercising ones First Amendment rights and getting arrested for it seems to be pretty easy to come by in southern Utah these days, if that is your intended in-tended goal. And some are questioning ques-tioning if that might have been the goal of two Escalante environmental environ-mental activists who were arrested earlier in the week. Two members of the Escalante Wilderness Project (EWP), an Esca-lante-based environmental group opposed to grazing in the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, were arrested separately on Sunday and Monday. Patrick Diehl, 53, and Linda Janet "Juniper" Allison, 49, were cited and arrested in separate but related incidences on Sunday and Monday respectively at the Federal Interagency Inter-agency Office in Escalante. Chris Chaney, Assistant United States Attorney confirmed on Tuesday, Tues-day, the events surrounding the pairs' arrest and subsequent release this week. Diehl was cited with two Federal Fed-eral counts of refusing to disperse, class A misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine on both counts. Allison, 49, was charged with a similar single count of failure to disperse. Both individuals, incarcerated at Purgatory Flats Correctional Facility Facil-ity in Hurricane, made initial appearances ap-pearances Tuesday in U.S. District Court before U.S. Magistrate David Nuffer. Appearing on behalf of the U.S. Attorney's office was Attorney Attor-ney Eric Ludlow. environmental literature at the popular Escalante Federal Interagency office. Diehl, said the BLM, did not adhere to the restrictions of his permit. Escalante Activist, Released From Jail, Says He'll Set Up Table Again After review, Allison was released re-leased without bail on her own recognizance re-cognizance around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Diehl was offered a similar simi-lar arrangement by the court but was required to sign a pre-trial release re-lease form which stipulated he would not break any state or Federal laws upon his release, pending trial. Diehl told the court that under his first amendment rights he should be free to return to the site in Escalante and resume his actions. Thus, he refused to sign the docu- (See ACTIVIST on Page 2-A) ACTIVIST From Front Page ment and was returned to his cell. Later on Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Attorney's office made a decision deci-sion to dismiss charges without prejudice against Diehl pending further fur-ther investigation and review of the evidence and laws involved in this case. This would allow for the charges to be reintroduced at a future fu-ture date if warranted. Diehl was released around 6:30 p.m. and picked up by Tori Woo-dard Woo-dard that same evening. It was uncertain at press time Tuesday evening whether Diehl would revert to the same actions upon his release, or if he would endeavor en-deavor to amicably work out the impass with the Bureau of Land Management. The incidents of arrest and transport of the two environmentalists environmental-ists are summed up as follows. Request for Permit In April of this year Tori Woo-dard Woo-dard made a request to the Escalante Interagency Office to set up a table and distribute literature at the Interagency Inter-agency location. Grand Staircase - Escalante National Na-tional Monument Manager Kate Cannon gave a written reply to Ms. Woodard on Apr. 17. Her letter stated that EWP could set up at an area west of the Interagency Office, near the large sliding door of the maintenance building (approximately (approx-imately 100 ft. from the main Interagency In-teragency facility). The letter stated that EWP could use the area from May 1 to July 1, 2000 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. It further stated that no permit was required re-quired to receive donations or to hand out buttons, bumper stickers, or any other such items. The following conditions were referred to in the letter: You may not interfere with the normal business of the Escalante Interagency Office. You may not solicit visitors in the parking lot, sidewalks or stairs, or in the Interagency Office. Your table, chairs and umbrella must be taken down at the end of each day. Should another group want to set up a table, a rotation schedule may have to be implemented due to the lack of space. The letter further stated that it could be amended and provided names of phone numbers of contacts con-tacts if further questions arose. EWP members were aware that the BLM had enforced compliance to a similar permit granted to the People for the USA group at the same location earlier in the year. Narrative of Events On Saturday, May 27 at approximately ap-proximately 10 a.m., EWP members mem-bers Patrick Diehl and Tori Woodard Wood-ard set up a table and banner at the base of the steps leading into the Interagency Office in Escalante. The pair claim they were extremely ex-tremely respectful of persons entering enter-ing and exiting the facility, did not openly solicit to the public but responded re-sponded only when someone showing show-ing interest approached them. Both the activists indicated they were aware they were in violation of the permit issued to EWP by locating lo-cating adjacent to the entrance of the building. At 11:30 a.m., the pair was approached by BLM Park Ranger Larry Vensel who informed them they needed to move to the approved location on their permit and both individuals refused to vacate va-cate their stand. Vensel then proceeded pro-ceeded to issue a written citation to Tori Woodard, who was the permit holder of record. Vensel gave the pair one hour to disperse, returning at 12:30. Again they refused to disperse and Vensel called to Escalante City for backup law enforcement. He then proceeded pro-ceeded to cite Diehl with failure to disperse. Escalante Chief of Police Sam Winkler also requested that the pair relocate and when they refused Winkler cited Diehl with a class C misdemeanor, handcuffed him and detained him in his police vehicle for about thirty minutes. Vensel asked the remaining EWP members to take down their table or he would confiscate it and their banner and materials. The group decided to relocate re-locate to the original approved BLM site and Diehl was released from custody. On Sunday Diehl and Woodard, joined by fellow activists Linda Janet "Juniper" Allison, Daniel Patterson Pat-terson and Jeneine Schafer all met in the conference room of the Interagency Inter-agency building with Larry Vensel. They brought with them a copy of the press release their group had generated about the incident the previous day and a written request to amend their permit, addressed to Kate Cannon. The group emphasized to Vensel the lack of traffic they experienced when they moved their table to the location prescribed by. permit. Vensel, they reported, did not have authority to amend the permit and told the group they would have to wait to pursue that request further on Tuesday, when Cannon returned from the holiday weekend. Arrest on Sunday The group decided at that point to return to the unauthorized site with a mimimum of staff and pub-i pub-i lications, and said, they knew the BLM would likely return to make i an arrest. Diehl decided to become the sacrificial lamb and two others ' (See ACTIVIST on Page 7-A) I I 1 ACTIVIST From Page 2-A of their group video taped and recorded re-corded the subsequent actions. At approximately 3 p.m. BLM Ranger Jeff Long from Kanab confronted con-fronted Diehl and cited and arrested him for failure to disperse. Diehl was then transported some 175 miles to the Washington County jail facility. Arrest on Monday On Monday, Linda Janet "Juniper" Allison again proceeded to man the booth in front of the Interagency In-teragency building. She was subse-quetly subse-quetly was cited by Larry Vensel and escorted to jail in Hurricane. Almost simultaneously with each arrest, numerous press releases regarding the arrests and EWP's future fu-ture activities were released to equally numerous media. |
