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Police, Pepper Spray, & Prison: Texas Deputies Encounter Anti-Keystone Protest (Tree Sitters Included!)

Nov. 20, 2012 9:18pm Becket Adams

Police in Cherokee County, Texas, on Monday pepper-sprayed and arrested four anti-TransCanada Keystone pipeline protestors that had jammed their arms into land-clearing machinery at a construction site, according to KTRE 9.

The four were charged with criminal mischief and criminal trespass:

KTRE.com | Lufkin and Nacogdoches, Texas

Sherriff’s deputies at another site arrested three tree sitters who had set up a “tree blockade” as part of a larger protest designed to show “solidarity with local land owners struggling to protect their water and land from TransCanada’s toxic tar sands pipeline.”

“I climbed this tree in honor of all the landowners who have been bullied mercilessly into signing easement contracts and who were then silenced through fear by TransCanada’s threat of endless litigation,” said Lizzy Alvarado, a Stephen F. Austin State University film student (of course) in a press release.

“That’s not what this country stands for in my mind, and if we don’t take a stand here to secure our rights now, then it will keep happening to everyone,” she added.

It is unclear what the tree sitters’ charges were.

Texas Deputies Pepper Spray, Arrest Anti Keystone Protesters

Yes, people still do this.

“Tar Sands Blockade stands with all communities affected by the Canadian tar sands,” Ron Seifert, a Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson, said in a press release.

It continues:

From indigenous nations in Alberta, Canada to the besieged refinery neighborhoods of the American Gulf Coast where the tar sands will be refined, there’s a groundswell of resistance demanding an end to toxic tar sands exploitation. Today’s events simply mark the latest in our sustained, community-based civil disobedience campaign, and many more communities are destined to rise up to defend their homes from TransCanada’s fraud, bullying, and reckless endangerment of their lives and fresh water.

So, naturally, the best way to deal with said fraud and bullying is to stick your arm into a machine and/or sit in a tree. Sounds like a plan.

Actually, it wasn’t such a good plan. Did we mention the pepper spray?

“These individuals are doing nothing more than sitting in an act of civil disobedience; something that is a rich, American tradition and police are oppressing them and violating their right to protest and using some of the most harsh and non-lethal weapons that they can,” Seifert said.

Jordan Johnson, one of the protesters who got hit in the face with the stinging spray, says she’s disappointed in the deputies.

“I was born and raised here, and it’s disappointing how our law enforcement is reacting, but I think our community should see this,” Johnson said.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officials maintain they were just doing their job by protecting land and property.

“We don’t have a dog in the fight as far as what’s right or what’s wrong,” said Captain John Ranfield of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. “You know we are here to protect property and people.”

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Click here to read the full report.

Front page photo source Tar Sands Blockade/CC BY 3.0.

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Comments (55)

Chuck Stein
Posted on November 21, 2012 at 3:31am
“These individuals are doing nothing more than sitting in an act of civil disobedience; something that is a rich, American tradition and police are oppressing them and violating their right to protest and using some of the most harsh and non-lethal weapons that they can,” Seifert said.

“Violating their right to protest”?? Part of civil disobedience is getting arrested and thrown into the slammer. Enjoy the fruits of your choice.

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longknifed
Posted on November 21, 2012 at 3:14am
thank you sheeple for reelecting obama by voting for Romney. You weren’t done getting off on being afraid of synthetic terrorism, so you had make all of us saver under this police state.

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welovetheUSA
Posted on November 21, 2012 at 2:55am
Good for Texas……..now if they would treat the illegals with the same approach used on these idoits we would not have 3/4 the mexicans Texas tax payers must support.

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paperpushermj
Posted on November 21, 2012 at 2:10am
Let me guess …They drove their cars or took a bus to protest Oil.

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JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:45pm
Dam, it would have been quite entertaining if they could have filmed these asses getting sprayed. Cherokee County Texas Police Department is the bomb. As for the dumbys posting here this is not like using eminent domane laws to build a strip mall, this is for the benefit of the Country you tree hugging nut jobs. Pepper spray them all. They should be glad it’s 2012 and not the 1800′s after all they weren’t shot or beat were they.

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- banjarmon
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 1:18am
  Deport these loons back to California!!
  
  Report this comment
- paperpushermj
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 2:13am
  Thanks their already stacked three high now.
  
  Report this comment
- Mr Sanders
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 3:33am
  Would have been a Youtube moment.
  
  Report this comment
- Proverbs17-12NLT
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 8:31am
  I say keep working like you don’t see them, ‘TIMBER” wow there were people up there? Call the morgue. This behavior would stop real quick.
  
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DEFCON4
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:42pm
@Becket, It’s as easy as fishin’…….

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Becket Adams
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:32pm
I’m sold!

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For my Liberty!
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:30pm
Looks like you are wrong either way….Imminent Domain versus “Today’s events simply mark the latest in our sustained, community-based civil disobedience campaign, and many more communities are destined to rise up to defend their homes from TransCanada’s fraud, bullying, and reckless endangerment of their lives and fresh water.” which is AGENDA 21….ANYTHING that says “sustainable” represents that….

Hmmmm…which is the lesser of the two evils??? BTW…SICK of that “toxic tar sands” BS!

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mexneck
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:03pm
I would caution those of you on the side of Trans Canada to look at this issue closer. This is about imminent domain, the guberment and big corporations having more right over the land than the land owner. Easy to dispel the protestors as hippies but they have lived on their Texas property for generations. I wouldn’t want an eye sore easement on my land either. Agenda 21 anybody?

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MDECKER
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:01pm
“I climbed this tree to honor all these six and eights bucks that have been mercilessy hunted by these mean guys in blaze orange outerwear. I felt that if I could act a little squirrely, by throwing acorns down at the bad orannge monsters, I couldd shed some light on this terrible method by which people hunt for food to feed their families”. “I’m going home to tell my mom that one the orange monsters coerced a very large buckdeer, in the rut, to have his way with me.”

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txannie
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:45pm
These guys are brainwashed morons. As a Texas land owner I have done my due diligence and know exactly what I want and don’t want on MY land. I can take care of my own business. Any one of these yahoo’s step one foot on my land and they will be considered tresspassers and I will do whatever necessary to remove them. They have no more business on my land than the pipeline workers do without my permission. Niether party speaks for me and my family and niether party best not press their luck.

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- Rational Man
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 5:04am
  Your scaring me, there, Davey Crockett.
  
  Pretty lame article since there was no input from actual land owners, as far as I could tell. Just professional protesters. They said they “stood” with the land owners. They didn’t say they owned anything.
  
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Oznogs
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:34pm
Why is it these nimrods all think it is TAR Sands vs Oil Sands? Because thats what Sierra club et al and the rest of the eco-nazi’s say, it’s there mantra, all fossil fuel are evil. How did these idiots get to the protests, bet someone drove them there, i didn’t see any horses and buggies. The fact is that refineries all the way from the Dakotas to Texas will get that oil for their refineries and more good paying jobs for working people vs lazy eco-nut jobs, but the eco-nazi’s believe it is all for export to the rest of the world. Maybe some of the byproducts like plastics and other polymers and grease might, but we will siphon of most if not all gasoline, Jet fuel and Diesel that will be consumed here, so we don’t have to support terrorist regimes of the middle East. But don’t confuse those eco-nazi’s with facts they can’t handle the truth.

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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:04pm
  I’ll bet that each one of them use an iPhone, iPad, or a computing device made of plastic, wear synthetic materials made from petroleum, or take vitamins/medicine of which ingredients are petroleum. Oil is a natural by-product of the earth, I don’t know why the eco-freaks think it is so yucky.
  The more oil independent we become, the better it will be for our country.
  
  Report this comment
ellietoo
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:30pm
These protesters are just ignorant of the needs of the people of this country. They want to be able to use their cars and heat their homes but give no consideration to how we obtain the old to do these things. Do they want jobs? No business or industry can function without energy. Do they prefer that we continue to buy from and support the middle east that drains billions from this country? Energy independence is what this country needs. A few trees will die! They can be replaced. The people of this country cannot function with windmills and solar panels as the sole source of energy. It is a fantasy of the left to think that such devices will fuel our economy in the future.

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Mustanger
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:29pm
I’ve always wanted to start a tree sitter removal service. I’m resourceful and creative. I may even do it for free, just to get the movie rights. “HIPPIES GONE WILD”. What y’all think?

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PRAYIN4PALIN
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:13pm
wait till some multinational corporation wants to run a pipeline through your backyard and see how you feel about it. This is a CANADIAN company usurping AMERICAN land to run dirty, bottom of the barrel energy thousands of miles to be EXPORTED to other countries. This is vulture capitalism at it’s worst and anyone who dosent support these peaceful protesters cant consider themselves a Christian OR an American

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- Oznogs
  Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:40pm
  So you want Hugo Chavez oil shipped here to support him? How about middle Eastern terrorist supply we pay for? I would prefer to get oil from Canada or here, but since Oblamo & Co. won’t let us have leases on this land and keeps locking up more for the eco-nazi’s we have to find it elsewhere. You my friend are a inept at rasional thinking therefore you must be another lib eco-nazi.
  
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- roostercogburn
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 1:20am
  So lets just sit back and let Obam’s millionaire friends ship that same oil to China by rail, along with our coal and jobs, hell Obama has shipped more American Gas and Diesel fuel to China by now than any other President, and the tax payers picked up most of the tab, lets use our own coal, oil, gas, and iron to start building things in this country again, we can do it, if we can keep Obama and the progressive tards busy doing something else.
  
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- SovereignSoul
  Posted on November 22, 2012 at 11:13pm
  There’s a railroad that goes to China? Cool.
  
  Report this comment
thedirtmover
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:58pm
Do something about the tree hugger infestation REAL quick Texas,, See what they did to us here in Ca?
I have had to deal with these screwballs personally. They tried to chain themselves to our equipment.
Yes. a Water truck is a handy crowd pleaser.
At least the cops saw it our way.

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- bulletsinthegun
  Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:17pm
  turn the machine on
  
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2smart4libs
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:56pm
Why is it only liberals think they can break the law and get away with it? If the tables were turned the SOB’s would want to have us throw out of the country

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mash4077
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:53pm
anyone and I mean anyone who will further the cause of socialism will get their airtime. I have to thank these morons for one thing though, stupidity is very powerful right now. isn’t our public educational system great?!!!

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- Freedom from liberals
  Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:06pm
  There is a groundswell of resistance. That would be the three of them. God there are times I want to dust off the Louisville Slugger.
  
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- The-Monk
  Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:20pm
  @mash4077
  
  Do you own a BMW motorcycle? I have a reason for asking. TIA
  
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artimusprim
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:47pm
Hey All, Honestly they jammed there hands into machinery, Well, to get them to storp just turn on the machinery would be my plan. I bet they would not do it again. Its time to put an end to interferance by wackos. I’m just sick of a few changing the American life style and traditions. It time to end it, sorry but i did not see them with there hands in the machinery. Don’t they know thats dangerours and you could lose a hand or arm. I guess their parents didn’t teach them officer. Blame the schools, they must have taugh them to put hands in machery.

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Crazyotto
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:46pm
I have spent some time in Cherokee County.. I understand the bad dental work on the grandma.. could be why she is a liberal.. (looking for a free dental plan) For the life of I am not sure where they got the female reporter who apparently gets her hair and make-up from the same gay guy who does Hillary.. She also has head full of bad teeth… what the hell?

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KidCharlemagne
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:39pm
Actually, TransCanada has quietly acquired exclusive rights to exercise the power of eminent domain in some places:

—————————————
TransCanada’s Keystone Wins Right to Take Pipeline Land
By Laurel Brubaker Calkins – Sep 28, 2012 4:12 PM CT

TransCanada (TRP) Corp. won court permission to build part of its Keystone XL pipeline across several contested tracts of southeast Texas farmland to carry Canadian tar-sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries.

State judge Tom Rugg Sr. granted the pipeline company’s requests to take possession of the tracts under state eminent- domain laws after a hearing today in Beaumont, Texas.

“The statutory requirements for the issuance of writs of possession are now met,” Rugg said in a two-page ruling, after TransCanada agreed to increase the size and type of surety bonds it posted in the proceeding.

The landowners urged Rugg to deny TransCanada’s access to the disputed tracts, citing a Texas Supreme Court ruling last year that limits the condemnation powers that pipelines can use under state law.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-28/transcanada-s-keystone-wins-right-to-take-pipeline-land.html

Imagine what Susette Kelo must be thinking about now….

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- NORTHBRO
  Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:58pm
  Good ‘ole Albertans digging up dirty soil caused by a natural disaster that buried a lot of organic matter and caused it to turn into a carbon based sludge, removing the sludge from the soil and then returning it to the earth clean and planting beautiful wilderness areas in its place.
  PS. Seriously, Its not tar sand, its oil sand.
  
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perry1980
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:39pm
crank up the chainsaw that will get them down asap

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perry1980
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:38pm
Screw that i don’t pepper spray them
I give tem 60 seconds to come down and when the clock strikes 0 i crank up the chain saw and let’er Rip.the second tree sitter will be down in a flash.

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blackyb
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:26pm
Who cares? It is all just news fodder. Who really gives a flying flip one way or the other? Next we will hear someone is being racist.

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possom
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:25pm
Fire hose the ones in the tree!

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- alias.stone
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 5:52am
  No…Use flame throwers instead of fire hoses.
  
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