Police raid ends 4-month tree-sit

A parched Michael Englert descended 80 feet from a red oak in Brown's Woods late Saturday afternoon, ending a two-day standoff with the police. After giving him some fruit and a water bottle to slake his thirst, sheriff's deputies arrested him on charges of trespassing and resisting arrest. \nEnglert, one of 16 activists arrested over the weekend, had occupied the tree in the hope of ending plans to build an apartment complex on the privately owned woodland just east of Ind. 37. The Indianapolis-based developer, Herman and Associates, intends to start construction on the publicly subsidized affordable housing project later this month.\nThe 30-year-old environmental activist, who had identified himself only as "Moss" to reporters, withstood an early morning raid on the hilly 50-acre parcel Friday. Englert spent more than 24 hours dangling from mountaineering ropes atop the oak -- with no water and little food.\nMonroe County Sheriff Steve Sharp commandeered about 30 deputies and state troopers to clear out the development site, which activists say is too environmentally sensitive for high-density housing. Sharp launched the raid at 5 a.m. Friday, using borrowed heavy earth-moving equipment.\nConstruction workers hired by Herman and Associates cleared the way to the tree-sitters with a bulldozer, tearing down dozens of trees. Officers then used a scissors-like hydraulic lift to reach the demonstrators.\nWhen sheriff's deputies attempted to apprehend Englert, he scampered about 20 feet further up the tree with the help of retaining ropes. They soon abandoned the effort to arrest him.\n"We don't want to risk injury to anyone," Sharp said Friday. "We're not going to force him down -- he'll have to come down at some point, and we're just focusing on running a safe operation."\nBut Sharp took precautions to ensure that Englert wouldn't remain on the privately owned property. Aided by deputies, construction workers used chainsaws to send his platform crashing down to earth in a shower of gallon water jugs and shreds of blue tarp.\nOfficers discovered a total of five platforms in the thickly wooded area and ended up arresting three other demonstrators stationed in trees. Liam Mulholland, a 19-year-old Indianapolis resident, attempted to evade deputies by sliding along ropes to an adjacent tree.\nThey forcibly removed Mulholland from his perch, hauling him off to jail on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and resisting law enforcement. Fellow tree-sitters Ruth Hanford, 22, and Steven Chadwick, 20, cooperated peaceably with arresting officers, State Trooper Jackie Taylor said.\nWhile the deputies were arresting the tree-sitters, about a dozen troopers kept an eye on a small crowd of about 35 protesters who had gathered on Basswood Avenue just outside of Brown's Woods. They arrested Marc Haggerty early in the morning when he refused to leave the woods and turn over his video camera. \nThey wrestled the 52-year-old Bloomington resident to the ground and led him in handcuffs to a waiting paddy wagon. Haggerty later said he had been working on a documentary and didn't plan on being arrested.\nOfficers also dragged away 65-year-old Lucille Bertuccio after she tried to break past the line in spite of repeated warnings. Both were released on their own recognizance immediately after they were booked at the Monroe County Correctional Center.\n"They're likely looking mostly at fines, even with the resisting arrest charges," Sharp said of the eight arrests Friday. "They'll only be in serious trouble if they're violating probation."\nMegan Hise, 20, and Hannah Jones, 22, snuck into the densely wooded area later that morning and locked themselves to the tree Englert occupied with plastic pipes and handcuffs. It took deputies more than half an hour to free them with hacksaws and bolt cutters.\nLike all of the others, they were released later that day on their own recognizance.\nSharp ordered his men out at about 1 p.m. in the afternoon, turning it over to a private security firm hired by the developer. The security team, which employs many off-duty sheriff's deputies, took 36-year-old Brown County resident Jennifer Weiss into custody for trespassing later that afternoon.\nThey stayed overnight and kept watch over Englert, who said he was hoping that rainwater would allow him to hold out for a few days. \nEarly Saturday morning, five men and a woman chained themselves arm-to-arm to sewer grates on either side of the street just past the police line on Basswood Avenue. It took the police more than an hour to free the prone protesters, who were all arrested along with bystander Amanda Skinner.\nMatthew Berghs, Shane Becker, Marie Mason, Jared MacKinnon and Normand Turcotte of Toronto, Ontario all posted $500 bond and were released Saturday afternoon. Matthew Turissini, who had no previous criminal record, was released on his own recognizance. \nProperty owner Bill Brown, who will sign over the land to the developer sometime this week, said he was glad that no one has been hurt. He's also glad to finally have the demonstrators out of his hair.\n"They're breaking the law," he said. "We only ask that they leave peacefully."\nWhile no environmental activists are keeping vigil in the woodland any longer, they vow to keep fighting a battle they've waged for more than three months. \n"Many of us are still going to be involved and do what we can to stop this from happening," Englert said. "I won't be going back to the site though -- it's my first arrest. But I don't regret it."\nFor Englert, it's a battle against sprawl threatening to encroach on Bloomington's small-town way of life and rural character.\n"We need to focus more attention on protecting these areas of green space in our county," he said. "Yes, there are parks -- but the natural green space has been disappearing."\nCounty Commissioner Brian O'Neill said the environmental activists -- with whom he sympathizes -- came into the process too late to make a difference. \n"It requires commitment to apply pressure on public bodies at the appropriate times so you don't run into futility like they have," he said. "But I think something positive might come of this -- it's important to address these issues in the planning stages.\n"You really need to focus on the overall zoning plan," he said. "You can't stop irresponsible developments on a petition-by-petition basis. All they legally have to do is meet the minimum requirements."\nO'Neill proposes a complete environmental inventory of Monroe County, which he admits will be costly. He recently applied for a $5,000 federal grant that will allow the county to assess the environmental and economic impact of local development.\nO'Neill noted that the land in question has been zoned for residential housing for nearly three decades. And it's only been a heated point of debate for the past few months.