Eugene weekly., November 23, 2011, Page 8, Image 8

NEWS BRIEFS
OCCUPY ROCKS
NOW OCCUPY
CITY
HALL
A collection of smooth beach stone
paperweights with messages painted on
them now occupy city offices, UO offices
and so far, one attorney’s office. The
messages are mostly some variation on
“Occupy Rocks” and include names of
city and UO officials who have cooperated
with Occupy Eugene over the past month
of peaceful protests and camping on city
and university lands.
A message from a local activist who
prefers to remain anonymous accompanied
the paperweights last week, saying, “I’ve
been touched and inspired to my very
core at the wisdom you have each
demonstrated, the great heart at the very
root of smart choices. We want peace in
our community, not conflict and clashes
surrounding Occupy activities. Because
of so many things done by each of you,
our community has seen this peace.”
Recipients of the paperweights
included EPD Chief Pete Kerns, Lt. Sam
Kamkar, Capt. Rich Stronach, Sgt.
Carolyn Mason and the Crisis Negotiation
Team, Mayor Kitty Piercy, City
Councilors Betty Taylor, George Brown,
Alan Zelenka, Chris Prior and Andrea
Ortiz, City Manager Jon Ruiz, Assistant
City Manager Sarah Medary, the city
Parks Department staff, the UO
Department of Public Safety, attorney
Lauren Regan, and Occupy Eugene
activists.
The source of the Occupy Rocks
says she recognizes that many others in
the community have contributed to this
effort. She has more rocks and more
paint. “There are many more heroines and
heroes out there,” she says.
Up in Portland, all of the ordinary,
undecorated rocks in possession of
Occupy Portland campers were
confiscated by police before the Occupiers
were evicted in mid-November.
— Ted Taylor
17 OCCUPIERS
ARRESTED AT
LOCAL BANKS
While in other cities protesters were doused with
pepper spray and beaten with batons, Occupy Eugene’s
civil disobedience at five downtown banks resulted in 17
nonviolent arrests.
The “Eugene Seventeen” arrested at last week’s
National Day of Action Against Banks were given
disorderly conduct, second-degree trespass and jaywalking,
among other charges. The action, known as N17 (Nov. 17),
marked the second month anniversary of the movement.
The protest started out at a quarter past noon when a
crowd of around 100 rallied at the Wayne Morse Free
Speech plaza for a day of nonviolent civil disobedience.
The Day of Action was held in solidarity with the Occupy
Wall Street camp, which was taken down in New York
City on Nov. 15 and has been reorganizing.
Brief announcements of what was to take place were
made to the crowd at the Free Speech Plaza via megaphone
and the “the people’s mic” and participants were invited to
engage in a theatrical lampoon of Umpqua Bank.
“I didn’t have anything like this to express my angst or
frustration when I was younger,” said Occupier Ramsey
Sprague as the protesters began making their way to
Umpqua Bank. “Now, I think it’s incredible for young
people that do have this opportunity and even for people
like me that didn’t have this.”
The banks targeted included Umpqua, Bank of America,
Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and Chase. Bike cops whizzed
around as the protesters made their way from the plaza to
their first stop at Umpqua Bank and began their skit.
Several protesters, cast as trees, stood in front of the bank’s
glass doors and were chain-sawed down by a bearded
Matthew Hawks cast as Allyn Ford, chairman of Umpqua’s
Board of Directors.
Hawks said Umpqua was targeted along with the larger
banks because in 2008 it accepted almost $215 million in
bailout money it didn’t need. Umpqua returned its bailout
funds on Feb. 17, 2010, according to Pro-Publica.
The protesters hoped to capture the collusion between
the bank and logging of old-growth forests done by
Roseburg Forest Products, a company owned by Ford,
according to Hawks. “The timber barons are part of the 1
percent,” he said.
After the skit the protest divided into affinity groups
and spread out to the five banks for the next several hours.
The numbers of protesters fluctuated through the day, with
numbers estimated at up to 200. Groups of protesters
blocked doors to the banks by sitting down and linking
arms. Bank of America and Chase Bank requested the aid
of the Eugene Police Department. Umpqua, Wells Fargo
and U.S. Bank closed their doors for several hours until the
protests ended.
Both protesters and passersby commented on the
calmness of the EPD during the protest, in contrast to
protests in years past where EPD used Tasers and pepper
spray.
Police Chief Pete Kerns said that from EPD’s
perspective the arrests weren’t handled any differently
from previous protests. He said “Every time we learn there
will be a protest in Eugene we try to find out who the
organizations are and work together with them.” He said,
“Ideally it would be lawful; in this case it wasn’t, but I
think that was the intent of the protest — commit the crime
of criminal trespass.” Kerns said EPD has been in touch
with Occupy Eugene “constantly since before the first
march.” He said the police sat down with the group before
that march and Occupy was “very cooperative and helpful,
and that’s the way it’s been ever since.”
Zachery Quale, one of the 17 arrested, said before he
was arrested at Bank of America, he went to the Wells
Fargo protest and closed his account. He said when he was
arrested at the rear entrance to BofA, “the police were very
Protester Perry Graham sings while being
arrested at Chase Bank during the Nov. 17
Occupy Eugene bank protest.
gentle, kind, and courteous.”
Quale said as more arrestees were put in the paddy
wagon, they began to make jokes such as “at least we are
carpooling.” In response to the songs and chants that
continued from inside the wagon, (“We’re not the ones that
you should be arresting!”), he said police officers made
jokes such as “Hey, don’t yell at me, I’m in a credit union,
too!” and in response to the protesters singing of “Solidarity
forever!” one officer responded: “Now! Just the altos and
tenors!”
Fellow arrestee Terra Williams, who was arrested at
Chase Bank, said she became involved in the bank protest
because “the big banks have gotten away with illegally
foreclosing on millions of families since 2008, among
other crimes, but this was the big one that lit a fire under
me.” She adds, “Participating in the protest was my way of
saying, ‘people are waking up and we’re not going to
forget this.’”
Williams said protests such as this create a dialogue, “I
had no intention of being arrested that afternoon, but I’m
glad I did, because it’s helped move the public discourse to
focus on these injustices which has been a personal goal of
mine.”
Full interviews with some of the arrestees will be
posted online. — Camilla Mortensen and Andrew Hitz
Eugene police handcuff an Occupy Eugene
protester at Chase Bank.
PHOTOS BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
8 NOVEMBER 23, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
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