Civil Disagreement, Not Disobedience

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Victoria Seever, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News

It is not illegal to gather in protest against an action or law – it is a guaranteed freedom in this country.  For many, it is a civil duty if things get to that point.  When done well, opposing parties maintain a respectful demonstration and neither property nor persons are injured.  In this country, political dissent does not reap the immediate response of prison and torture or death – a point not lost on our founding fathers.

The megaloads are a hot button and part of a critical issue on multiple fronts.  Please do consider the many angles and make your concerns known in appropriate venues where you feel compelled to do so.

If it is the mayor’s prerogative to include megaload protestors as an Earth Day award, I’m sure she is recognizing it takes commitment to stand up and be counted, even on the streets.  I’m sure she knows there would be some flack and disagreement because of it. Continue reading →

Megaloads Protester Turns to Forestry

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Megaloads protester Jim Prall has started planting a small forest in a hay field on the edge of Moscow (The Lewiston Tribune/David Johnson photo).

Veteran activist Jim Prall begins ambitious tree-planting project at Moscow

Two months after being jailed for going into the street to protest passage of oil company megaloads through town, Jim Prall said he’s making amends by planting a forest.

“I’ve never felt so good about being patriotic as I have this spring, planting these baby trees,” said Prall, 67.  “I feel like, well, it makes up for the trouble I’ve caused with the megaloads.”

More importantly, Prall said while extracting a bit of his tongue from cheek, converting his five-acre hay field to an urban forest will be a lasting reminder that natural resource extraction must be countered by restoration.

“It’s really an honor to be making this place appropriate for the 21st century by planting trees on the edge of Moscow.”

Prall was among the last three of 11 protesters arrested here during months-long demonstrations against oversize oil company infrastructure loads being trucked through town en route to tar sand fields in Canada.

More than 30 demonstrations ranged in size from around 300 people in the beginning down to a couple of dozen toward the end.  Prall, who was among those protesting the Vietnam War in the 1960s, initially stayed away from the late-night megaload protests.

“It was past my bedtime,” he quipped. Continue reading →

Dishonest and Ignorant

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D’Wayne Hodgin, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 5/5/12

This letter is not about politics.  It’s about not letting ignorance have the day.  Don Meyer’s letter to the editor (Opinion, May 1) displays he knows next to nothing about the “megaload protests.”  He says “on many occasions … your group disobeyed lawful directives given you by the police.”  Since I never saw Meyer at the protests, I wonder how many police he quizzed to get his “facts.”

On the half-dozen times I joined the protesters, I saw no one break the law.  On each occasion, I talked amicably with police officers while I waved my sign at the passing megaloads.  Several officers even mentioned they respected our (and anyone’s) legal right to protest.  The only folk I saw come close to breaking the law were a few anti-protester protesters who yelled at (disturbing the peace, anyone?) the protesters.  The only time citations were given (yes, once, Meyer) was on the first or second time – of the more than 30 times – that megaloads came through Moscow.  Yet Meyer says the protesters broke the law “on many occasions.” Continue reading →

Ren Fair Royalty Ready for Spring Revival

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David Hall and Helen Yost are the king and queen of the Moscow Renaissance Fair this year (The Moscow-Pullman Daily News/ Geoff Crimmins photo).

Helen Yost, David Hall to promote nature at annual event this weekend

The 39th annual Moscow Renaissance Fair starts Saturday, and this year’s royalty hope to use their stations to promote environmental sustainability and celebrate spring’s return.

Queen Helen Yost credits her placement on the throne to her community involvement, which involved leading the charge for Wild Idaho Rising Tide’s campaign against Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil’s transport of refinery modules to Canada for its Kearl Oil Sands project.

“I was pretty excited,” she said.  “I felt that was recognition of our community coming together to fight the latest industrial invasion.”

King David Hall, who manages the Renaissance Fair’s website, said he was surprised by the nomination.

The two are working together to craft a speech for the fair’s commencement.

“We are intending to enter with our entourage,” said Yost.  “We would not like to release our statement in advance.”

She said they are working with the fair board to ensure the message is embraced by everyone involved.

A five-year resident of Moscow, Yost said she’s only missed one Ren Fair – in 2007 – and Hall said he’s been to every fair since the fifth celebration. Continue reading →

Don’t Reward Lawbreakers

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Betty Abbott, Troy

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 5/3/12

Exercising one’s constitutional rights is one thing.  Breaking the law is quite another.  Our laws are put in place for a reason.  Arrests were made because some laws were broken.  When is it OK to reward people for breaking our laws?  Bottom line: It’s not.

As a paid official, I think Mayor Nancy Chaney would have better things to do with taxpayers’ money than to reward people for breaking our laws (Opinion, April 18, 20).

I hope our young people are not led to believe this is an appropriate way to accomplish a goal.

Breaking the law should never be rewarded – no matter what your agenda.

No exceptions.

Ignoring the Obvious

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Garrett Clevenger, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 5/3/12

In Moscow City Councilman Dan Carscallen’s April 20 letter to the editor, he states, “In this day and age, any job is a good job.”

That sentiment is what’s destroying so many things.  Does he really believe that any job is a good job?

Would Carscallen think that if his daughter came home and said, “I just got a job satisfying a growing demand.  I’m a stripper.”

I think many people struggle with their jobs because, while they may be making money, they feel their job is not a good job.

The real problem with his statement, though, is a person’s job justifies harm they may be doing. Continue reading →

Breaking the Law Earns an Award

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Don Meyer, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 5/1/12

The April 26 and 27 letters to the editor by Jackie Voorhees and Jeanne McHale show me how really out of touch with reality they are.  They chastise Dan Carscallen for daring to voice his opposition to Mayor Nancy Chaney’s Earth Day awards to your tar sands protest group.

No one has ever said your group didn’t have a right to peacefully protest.  But on many occasions, members of your group regularly disobeyed the lawful directives given you by the police.  A sit-down in the street is not peaceful when the police told you to stay on the sidewalk. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Joann Muneta & Shane Stancik

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On the Monday, April 30, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide, Joann Muneta will describe the recent evolution and resulting situation of Moscow Farmers Market non-profit tabling policies.  Shane Stancik of the Silver Valley Community Resource Center in Kellogg, Idaho, will talk about tomorrow’s May Day protest against the Environmental Protection Agency’s deposit in a flooded Cataldo wetland of Superfund Site soils contaminated with lead and heavy metals.  We will also broadcast the entire April 15 Hanford Rally speech of nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott and discuss upcoming Rising Tide and Occupy protests in Spokane and Chicago.  Listen to KRFP Radio Free Moscow online or at 92.5 FM between 7:30 and 9 pm PDT and adopt WIRT as your KRFP DJ!

Award Well-Deserved

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Jeanne McHale, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 4/27/12

Dan Carscallen wants everyone to know that the Mayor’s Earth Day award to megaload protesters was not his idea (Letters to the Editor, April 20).

Perhaps he is smarter than the climate scientists who decry mining the Alberta Tar Sands as the final act of irreversible, anthropogenic climate change.  Perhaps he doesn’t mind that indigenous people of northern Alberta are suffering from alarming rates of rare cancers and being robbed of their livelihood as fish and other wildlife are poisoned.

He bemoans the lack of respect given for drivers and flaggers who were “just earning a living.”  There were employees at Auschwitz who were just doing their jobs, too.  And he cites the need to have police “out in force” because “there was no telling what a protester might try.”  This statement implies that police were needed to prevent protesters from committing some unknown but apparently heinous act that Carscallen imagines us to be capable of. Continue reading →

Disrespecting the Mayor

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Jacki Vorhees, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 4/26/12

This is in reply to Dan Carscallen’s letter to the editor (Opinion, April 20).

Don’t worry, Carscallen, none of us in attendance would ever think you were for this award.  We saw the eye roll and the lack of respect you showed the mayor.  Your letter is just another chance to stick a pin in your Nancy Chaney doll.

What went on out there on the streets was no worse than what goes on before and after a Vandal football game.  I know you were really hoping for those Molotov cocktails to be thrown, but sadly the group you saw accept the award — and was there every night the megaloads ran — had an average age of 50 and recognize those “just doing their job.” Continue reading →