Emotions Escalate as Oaks Fall

OJAI —  The buzz of chain saws competed with the battle cry, “save our trees, save our trees,’ on Thursday, as workers cut down two of three aged oaks, the focus of fierce preservation protests.

Under an occasional snow of sawdust from the trees in Libbey Park, about a dozen sheriff’s deputies, some on horseback, some wearing riot helmets, stood guard amid a crowd of more than 100 protesters and spectators.

Mayor Suza Francina showed up mid-morning, sawdust settling on her black blazer, and cried as branches fell to the tarp below.

“I was stunned,” said Francina, angered by the City Council’s split decision to cut down the trees in the name of public safety. “I can’t imagine anyone who has a heart looking at that and not crying.”

During the morning, the park was a din of screaming teenagers, honking horns, the growl of the chain saw and the overhead whirring of helicopter blades, courtesy of Los Angeles television stations drawn by reports of police in riot gear.

Although the conflict never got close to becoming a riot, emotions ran high.

The trees’ removal came as a shock to many. Some who had protested Wednesday went home for a night’s sleep, confident that a tree sit-in by John Christianson, 51, of Ojai--who had roped himself halfway up one of the oaks for 15 hours--had induced city officials to grant a reprieve.

But at 4 a.m. Thursday, long after protesters had gone home, city workers parked a cherry picker near the oaks. By 9 a.m., crews were slicing into the limbs.

Small groups gathered to cry and hug. Some prayed on their own. Others burned candles. A school group chanted and called on motorists to honk.

A minority was vocal in support of the cutting. One man wore a sign that read “Tree huggers! Go home. This is for the safety of you and your children!”

In the morning, as the cutting began, a petition passed through the crowd demanding that the council “allow all three trees a chance to recuperate.”

One tree, which is healthier than the others, has for the moment escaped the blade. The other two were chopped to pieces.

Some residents said they would attempt to recall the City Council. The public hadn’t had enough time to discuss the issue, they said.

“There was a rush to cut down these trees,” said Anna Jacobs, one of the leaders of the impromptu recall effort. “There was no indication of when this would begin. I’ve never seen such efficiency in Ojai before.”

The fate of the oaks has been a civic concern for weeks, since the City Council learned that the 150-year-old trees were dying. Because the trees formed a canopy over the park’s playground, the council voted last month to remove them rather than risk falling limbs.

After public outcry, the council reconsidered the decision at a raucous public meeting Tuesday, where city leaders reaffirmed their decision in a 3-2 vote.

After Tuesday’s meeting, shocked protesters walked a block from City Hall to the trees, and the next morning Christianson climbed the tree to camp out for about 15 hours amid a hubbub down below rare for this live-and-let-live town. He surrendered to police about 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Some protesters questioned whether the trees were really sick, even after public works supervisor Paul Starbard brought out a slice of the tree--a spongy, cork-like deadwood at its center--to demonstrate the extent of the disease.

“I’m in the middle. What can I do but take it out?” he asked the protesters.

Two people were arrested Thursday.

Danny Miller, 36, of Ojai was taken into custody for allegedly attempting to prevent a city truck from passing. As police carted him away, he yelled, “This is what the police do!”

He was booked into County Jail and was being held Thursday evening on $5,000 bail.

Lorraine Freeman, 51, of Ojai, was arrested for allegedly throwing an apple at a police horse. She was booked into County Jail and later released on $5,000 bail.

Photocopied forms on which to write letters to the trees circulated through the crowd. Organizers planned a ceremony for Saturday night during which the letters would be read aloud in the clearing left by the trees.

There was talk of bringing in an artist to carve the stumps that remained, or to create a memorial to the trees cut down for the sake of public safety.

Christianson, meanwhile, who spent most of Wednesday in one of the 150-year-old oaks, spent part of that night and Thursday in the Ventura County Jail. His wife, Marilyn Foote, who had not spoken to him Thursday, said she was waiting for a call to pick him up from jail. She seemed gently bemused by her husband’s activism. “John will do whatever he wants to do,” she said. “I can’t control him.”

He was released Thursday on $5,000 bail.

Ojai resident Alexandra Wolfe was arrested at Wednesday’s protest on suspicion of resisting arrest and fined $255.

As for some, the excitement in a town known more for its Zen approach to life, was an invaluable experience.

“This was about taking a stand,” said Cathy Elliott Jones, a six-year Ojai resident who brought her children to the protest. “It was a good lesson in civil disobedience.”

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Surman is a Times staff writer and Davis is a Times Community News reporter. Times staff writer Tracy Wilson also contributed to this report.