Climate Activists Arrested at Home for 2 month old minor trespass charges

[Are_grits_groceries]

From Daily Kos:
mogmaar's diary:

In October, 2 young climate activists hung a banner on a CAT distributor calling out the company's hypocrisy. CAT actively touts coal as an answer to West Virginia's problems, when in reality coal is "Killing West Virginia Communities."

The two who hung the banner were charged with trespass, and Steve Walker who owns the CAT store compared them to 'suicide bombers'.
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Climate Ground Zero is an action campaign to stop mountain top removal. They have greatly increased the impact and frequency of actions to stop MTR in the past year. The group is gearing up for a major three week actions camp in January to kick off an even more intense 2010. There is speculation that the arrests are meant as intimidation as the action camp approaches.


Climate Ground Zero's press release here:
FOUR CLIMATE GROUND ZERO ACTIVISTS REMAIN JAILED ON TRUMPED UP CHARGES

At 3:47 pm Tuesday, December 29, four Climate Ground Zero activists were arrested for trespass at their homes in Rock Creek, West Virginia.

Mat Louis-Rosenberg, Jacqueline Quimby, Kimberly Ellis and James McGuinness were taken to the Kanawha County Courthouse by State Police by West Virginia State Trooper Lt. Bowers. The charges stem from a October 10 demonstration at Walker CAT’s headquarters, which challenged Walker’s misleading pro-coal advertising campaign at which Gabe Schwartzman,19, and David German, 18, were arrested by City of Belle Police and cited for trespassing on a structure or conveyance. The two had unfurled a banner which read, "Yes, Coal is Killing West Virginia’s Communities."

As of noon Wednesday, the four activists remain in police custody in the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, WV. They have yet to see a magistrate and have not been informed of their charges, other than trespassing, which, if proven, would result in a maximize one hundred dollar fine.

"This is outrageous behavior on the part of the Kanawha County prosecutors." said Climate Ground Zero campaign director Mike Roselle.

"These four people are guilty of nothing. They were simply present during a
demonstration last October and none of them were ever informed at any time that they were trespassing. Usually in this type of case they simply write you a ticket or mail you a summons. To drag them out of their homes and refuse to allow any bail violates their most basic constitutional right to due process."
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More information as the situation develops. For more
information, call Mike Roselle, Climate Ground Zero 304 854 7372.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/31/111839/23

"Suicide bombers?" Sounds like they want to charge them with terrorist activities so they can give them a nasty sentence if they are found guilty.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. This was clearly planned to give them a few nights in jail as punishment

and is retribution for the protest. Oh well.

Gandhi, Mandela and others understood the risks they took. The protesters here need to do the same. Not to expect some push back is pollyannish at best.

Not being a jerk about it, but if you are serious about protesting, plan on arrested, sometimes legitimately, sometimes not. It goes with the turf. So does the stigma and record that will impact you for the rest of your life. Count the cost and wear the scars proudly.