Helen Yost

MOSCOW – The last megaloads have reportedly passed through downtown here, leaving behind 11 misdemeanor court cases against people who protested shipment of infrastructure equipment to Canadian oil fields.

Last to plead innocent to two allegations was Helen Yost, 54, of Moscow. Yost, spokeswoman for Wild Idaho Rising Tide and an organizer of the months-long protests, appeared in Latah County Court here Wednesday morning.

She is charged with two misdemeanors for allegedly throwing a sign at a megaload and attempted battery of a Moscow police officer. She and two other demonstrators, Cass Davis, 47, and James Prall, 67, both of Moscow, have pretrial conferences set for April 3, according to court records.

Davis and Prall were arrested March 4 during a protest and charged with resisting, or obstructing police for allegedly refusing to stay out of the roadway when oversize loads were moving through town on Washington Street. Yost received citations for her actions two nights later, after she publicly admitted that she threw a sign and “air-kicked the transports and their police escorts out of town.” Continue reading →

Wild Idaho Rising Tide protester Helen Yost faces a misdemeanor charge in connection to her last act of protest against two Imperial Oil refinery modules that came through Moscow last week.

The 54-year-old Moscow woman was charged in Latah County Second District Court with throwing a substance at a vehicle after she threw her cardboard protest sign at one of the passing tractor-trailers as it came through Washington Street on March 6.  She was cited Thursday and will have an initial court appearance [at 8:30 am on] March 21.

Yost is also set for trial in Kootenai County for a charge of obstructing an officer in connection with her arrest in August 2011 by an Idaho State Police trooper while monitoring module transports, where she said she refused to give the law enforcement officer her license.  She was also cited at that time with failing to wear her seatbelt, which she said was because the vehicle she was in was parked at the time.  Her trial in Kootenai County is set for May 14.

(By The Moscow-Pullman Daily News)

As some of the last five of over 70 massive parts of an Alberta tar sands upgrader plant rumbled through the small, quiet, college town of Moscow, Idaho, at about 11 pm on Sunday, March 4, four protesters linked arms and sat down in the middle of Washington Street to stop three of these “megaloads” weighing 200,000 to 415,000 pounds and measuring 150 to 200 feet long.  Police arrested Cass Davis and Jim Prall for resisting and obstructing officers and dragged Jeanne McHale and Pat Monger to the sidewalk, as another 40 protesters voiced their opposition to expanding tar sands mining operations.  Again on Tuesday, March 6, when the final two similarly huge shipments crossed this 22,000-person city, demonstrators pounded drums, chanted slogans, played music, and engaged in street theater.  Helen Yost tossed a cardboard protest sign at the rear of the last megaload and air-kicked the transports and their police escorts out of town, resulting in misdemeanor charges for throwing an object at a moving highway vehicle and attempted battery of a peace officer.

All three accused protesters are pleading not guilty based on the necessity of their actions induced by their moral obligation to directly confront the causes of climate change that are currently killing millions of people, plants, and animals around the globe.  For their statements, please listen to Cass Davis and Jim Prall on Flashpoints and Helen Yost on KRFP Radio Free Moscow.  Other articles, photos, and videos of numerous megaload passages and protests are available on the Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) facebook page and website. Continue reading →