Posted on 10/05/2007 1:05:12 PM PDT by SmithL
After hearing two weeks of technical evidence in a trial over the fate of UC Berkeley's proposed $125 million sports training center, an Alameda County judge heard an argument of a different kind away from the courthouse Thursday.
"Judge, this is a Native American burial ground," activist Zachary Running Wolf yelled about 10 feet from Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller, who was touring Memorial Stadium and the proposed site for the training center in a grove of trees next door. "It's a sacred site."
That's about all Running Wolf was able to say to Miller before UC Berkeley police and Alameda County sheriff's deputies moved him away from the judge. Running Wolf, a Berkeley mayoral candidate last year, left peacefully and was not arrested.
Running Wolf has been protesting the training center since December with a group of people living in the trees.
Miller is presiding over a trial on three consolidated lawsuits brought against the university by the city of Berkeley, the Panoramic Hill Association and the California Oak Foundation. The city and the Panoramic Hill Association are against the training center because they say it will be too close to the Hayward fault, which geologists say will someday unleash a major earthquake. Building the center there, they say, will not only endanger the lives of the students who use the training center but also will clog the area with too many people who won't be able to escape from an earthquake or fire.
The California Oak Foundation wants to save the 40 or so trees the university plans to cut down to build the center. The university plans to plant three new trees for every one removed.
Closing arguments are set for Thursday, and Miller has 90 days after that to issue a ruling. The school has spent about $5 million planning the training center.
University spokesman Dan Mogulof said estimated construction costs have gone up about $6 million since Miller issued a preliminary injunction in January against the university not to proceed pending the outcome of the lawsuits.
Under tight security, Miller toured the stadium and the athletic training facilities inside the stadium walls, and she walked by the grove of trees where the new center is proposed. She then took a look at alternate sites the university was required to include in an environmental impact report but has no interest in building on: a site at the corner of Fulton Street and Bancroft Way in Berkeley where the Institute of East Asian Studies and Cal's track and soccer stadium are located and Golden Gate Fields in Albany.
Miller didn't say much during the tour. She was accompanied by UC Berkeley officials and their lawyer, lawyers from each of the three organizations suing the university and about 25 members of the media. The tour was led by UC Berkeley assistant athletic director Bob Milano.
Milano led Miller to the top of the stadium and pointed out Cal's rugby and softball fields at the mouth of Strawberry Canyon to the east.
Turning to the west, he directed Miller to the grove of trees below.
"This is the grove in question," Milano said as Miller nodded. "The high-performance training center goes on that site."
Live by the kooks, die by the kooks.
Where’s Blackwater Corp. when we need them?
It’s Peoples Park light...lacks the great aroma of the unwashed hippies and pepper spray...still say water hoses is the best way to handle em.
That is a serious consideration if it's actually true and backed up by geological and traffic surveys.
No any more.
They could also use the dart gun and trampoline method that they use for Black Bears. Then they could release them back into the wilds of San Francisco with relatively little harm done.
The people are there now - in an unsafe structure. The project provides a seismically safe structure to house the function.
That’s why I said IF, cause I’m familiar with how groups opposing new development can be so creative with “the truth”.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum - paging Dr. Tarr and Professor Feather.
Someone owes the taxpayers $6 million. It's too bad the obstructionists can't be held accountable for such unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars.
Want to stop construction anywhere in the US? Yell this!
***”Judge, this is a Native American burial ground,”***
Best post i’ve seen all night.
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