The Edwight mountaintop removal tree sit passed the three-day mark today. Massey has not blasted on the ridge above Pettry Bottom since Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks took up their positions 80 feet above the ground in close proximity to a spot Massey had slated for blasting.
Mine security asked support crew Kim Ellis and Zoe Beavers to leave the area at approximately 5:30 p.m. They refused and state police arrested them at 7:30 p.m. On the tree sit’s first day, Tuesday, state trooper Sergeant Smith arrested both women, cited them for trespassing and released them. Later that afternoon, Ellis and Beavers reentered the Edwight mine at the request of state police to serve as a liaison to the tree sitters.
On that day, Beavers said, “I am on this mountain because I believe that every single West Virginian who is proud of being from ‘Almost Heaven’ should take a stand against mountaintop removal. I am here because DEP officials have failed to stop the blasting. I am putting my body and reputation on the line to do their job and stop the blasting. I served in our military so that we can all live in a country that does not exploit and destroy its land and people.”
Beavers graduated from Hurricane High School in June of 2000 and started basic training at Fort Jackson, SC in August of that year. During her years of service, she was deployed in Iraq and Turkey. She works with the Student Environmental Action Coalition, a student-run organization working for environmental sustainability and social justice in the schools across the state.
Following their arrest, Climate Ground Zero attempted to find Ellis’ and Beavers’ whereabouts but were rebuffed by state police, who claimed that to divulge that information would be a violation of the arrestees’ privacy. Magistrate Jones of Raleigh County set their bonds at $1,000 each at 9 p.m. and the Southern Regional Jail reported their incarceration at 10:45 p.m.
Tree sitters reported that Massey employees started flashing strobe-like lights at them and blasting air and truck horns after dark fell. Earlier in the day, the tree sitters reported that mine security had been polite, although some occasionally kicked rocks down the berm at Beavers and Ellis. In a message from the tree sitters shortly after 11:00 p.m., they said “Well looks like Massey miners & security just want to spend the night harassing us.”
Tags: pettry bottom, support team, tree sit
I just spoke with you about a donation to the ground crew. My Paypal account only has a few dollars in it, so I’ll get a check in the mail today.
PROBABLY HAS ONLY 5 DOLLARS BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE A JOB. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY. MTR WIL NEVER STOP.
So the 2 were re-arrested? I heard that on the first day they were not on Massey property, but when troopers showed up and asked them to come out of the briars and brush they then came on the property. OOPS!
[...] Climate Ground Zero climategroundzero.net/2009/08/tree-sit-update-support-team-arrested-jailed – view page – cached The Edwight mountaintop removal tree sit passed the three-day mark today. Massey has not blasted on the ridge above Pettry Bottom since Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks took up their positions 80 feet above the ground in close proximity to a spot Massey had slated for blasting. — From the page [...]