Keep on the grass!
About five and a half months after it went up, the fence surrounding the Humboldt County Courthouse lawn is gone. A frequent target of Occupy Eureka signage and disdain, the barrier was removed this morning by county officials and the vendor from whom the fence was rented.
As you’d expect, occupiers happily rolled right on to the grass, enjoying what they perceived as a slight symbolic victory.
“I think in some ways we have beaten them,” occupier James Decker said. “They have not been able to get rid of us.”
But in case you’re worried that the county has surrendered to the power of Occupy Eureka, know that there is non-political reasoning behind the fence removal.
“We determined that the rainy season is over,” said Assistant County Administrative Officer Cheryl Dillingham. “The lawn can accommodate foot traffic again.”
Well, great. But it could sure use a mow.
(Click photos to biggify!)
Previously: The End of Occupy Eureka?
This article appears in Flash Fiction 2012.
Why do we have to keep putting up with this?
De fence was on offense! I’m delighted to see it gone. Now maybe the BoS can rescind their misguided protest ordinance too. Better yet, maybe they can begin to meaningfully address the 99% issues they claim to support — like wealth inequality, unemployment, abusive foreclosures, and homelessness.
Anyway, let’s celebrate this small victory! Join Occupy tomorrow at noon for a May Day party at the Courthouse.
Don’t ya just love these jerks like Decker and Boyd? I don’t think there’s any peaceful answer to the problem of these courthouse cretins.
why do people have a problem with citizens exercising their 1st amendment right? this country is broken. im a veteran, a good American and really sick of getting screwed by the rich. gas company’s record profits + 9 billion dollar tax break. at a time we cant keep schools open. what’s wrong with people standing up and saying enough is enough. we spend half of our federal budget on war. but we have no jobs. hard working people are losing their homes, the banks WE bailed out wont give loans. this is not the America i defended. everyone should be at the court house saying what the hell is going on?
Surprising that these poor folks had enough energy to drag themselves off the sidewalk onto the grass. Shame they can’t bust out an old push mower or two and spruce up the grass a little.
Humboldt County doesn’t want jobs. If they wanted jobs they wouldn’t block everything.
They took our jeerbs!
eureka is full of spineless fools to put up with this “occupy” what about our First amendments
rights. If it attorney general or the chief of police had any BALLS they would be gone. The CITY OF EUREKA IS A COMPLETE LOOSER TO PUT UP WITH THIS B–S–T.
ALL PILOTS SEVERE CROSS WIND FROM THE LEFT, KEEP YOU LEFT WING CLOSE TO THE GROUND, and it will blow over.
“Mow the lawn!!!”, “Dude we are to busy smoking weed with the homeless”…….
To answer your question Andy. What’s right; the fence is down (don’t want people hanging signs on the fence? take the fence down). What’s wrong; Kim Star is not in ANY of your pictures! Your on the couch tonight mister……
I’m sure she’s OK, Brian. Try not to worry.
how is sitting on the grass infront of the courthouse everyday for this long going to help our economy at all!? all the signs say things like “get involved” and “take action”… get involved in what?…. hanging out infront of the courthouse instead of the soup kitchen… nah, this isnt the solution. if you want something done, DO something…. dont just sit with a sign
and how are THEY the 99%…. in my opinion the 99% are the people being distracted as they drive by on their way to their JOBS, where they WORK!
I agree with Jessica…these do-nothings just sit, and sit, and scream on occasion. Decker, knows nothing about Humboldt, he is a recent transplant from Sacramento….and does not work for a living..i suppose that sitting there in self-righteous glory, at least gives their life’s some meaning. But i wish they would quit their false claim, that they are “doing this for us…the 99 percent.
When you don’t have much information, just start (trying) to insult people.
Disparaging blog work.
I guess THAT is something that some of the 99% does. Others go to war. Others work desk jobs. Some work in fields. Some work in hospitals. Some do day care. Some do prison time. etc etc…..
I wasn’t aware of a 99% prototype.
Do what YOU think will further the struggle for liberation and life. How about live and let live? How about spending your time criticizing a system that we’re all too familiar with (indoctrinated in) instead of criticizing (insulting?) individuals doing what they think is disrupting it?
Not that anyone needs to explain themselves, but I know James Decker and he is a fine human being, nothing self-ruighteous about him either. What’s your explanation? (rhetorical question)
Well, I guess, when Decker stands in the Supervisors Meeting, and says:” Fuck the Police, Fuck the Sheriff”…he is not insulting some of our 99 percent? Then gloats, when the fence is down claiming “Victory”, on his blog?…sounds a bit self-righteous to me….
skinny pete: They did try to mow the lawn but were stopped by county workers that said they didn’t have the insurance coverage to allow them to mow the lawn.
Johnny Maniac must be talking, not about a Bd of Supervisors meeting, but about this Occupy Civil Liberties Forum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZksRkQTGI8
and around 1:22:32 are the ‘naughty’ words
Oh and… sure is nice to sit on the grass at Occupy Eureka again! Now, down with the other oppressive fences that were erected only to stop people from getting warm or out of the rain!
““I think in some ways we have beaten them,” occupier James Decker said. “They have not been able to get rid of us.”
Um…no. They just look at you like cows grazing now and ignore you now. You’re not a protestor anymore, you’re a decoration.
Decker talks the talk but not walk the walk. He supports big box Costco bcuz I see him buy gas there. No support for our mom and pops from him. What a hypocrap.
Dirtbag MotherFuckers. Someone needs to install a giant boxing glove mounted to a heavy-duty spring on their vehicle. The next time they drive by, they can have one of their kids pull the lever to teach them a lesson about poor life choices. KASLICE!
Not sure what’s going on with Occupy movements outside of Humboldt, but it seems pretty clear that the Occupy movement here has become utterly pathetic. The problem is not that their messaging sucks–“Get Involved” (in what?) and “Oppose Greed” (how?); nor is the problem any destruction of property or urination or such. The problem is that our Occupy movement has devolved into a random collection of crazy riff raff that NO ONE takes seriously. The Occupy movement is an important one, and yet locally it has somehow been completely co-opted by a bunch of ineffectual misfits who think that sleeping in lawnchairs is social activism. Every time I drive by the courthouse, I think two thoughts: 1. It’s sad that these “protesters” actually think they’re doing something of consequence when in reality the way most of us respond is with either contempt or dismissiveness. 2. It’s tragically ironic that these same protesters have essentially obliterated the legitimacy of the Occupy movement by presenting the public with a perfect caricature of the political left that the right loves and that drives much more effective progressives as far from the Occupiers as they can get. So James Decker, no, you haven’t beaten anyone except yourselves.
Lawn Gnomes…….
Hey Journal..how about removing all that spam crap, so we can actually read the comments from the Public? thanks by the way JJ…..thanks for you input….your comments, speak for many of us!
Found this on topix:
Eureka Police issued a press release that advised citizens to be careful when using the machines across from the courthouse because there were reports of “violent aggressive behavior from this group.” But early on Monday morning, Nov. 18, Eureka Police finally evicted the tent occupiers, and drug sales. Later that day, violent protesters returned in even greater numbers and a few souls defiantly obstructed traffic at times, thrusting themselves at moving vehicles and testing motorists’ patience in bizarre ways. They threw human feces at cars as they went by, and they were spraying human urine from the roof of the building as they climbed on to it.