[GRRN] Fw: [SEAC+ANNOUNCE] FW: DesMoines Register/Menards Old Growth
Pat Franklin (cri@container-recycling.org)
Fri, 29 Oct 1999 14:48:56 -0400 (EDT)
>Subject: [SEAC+ANNOUNCE] FW: DesMoines Register/Menards Old Growth action
>
>
>DesMoines Register
>
>16 arrested at Menards protesting use of old trees
>
>Students chain themselves together at the neck
>
>By TOM ALEX Register Staff Writer 10/27/1999
>
>Students chained themselves together at the neck with bicycle locks Tuesday
and staged a sit-in at a Des Moines Menards store to protest the sale of
materials made from old-growth forest.
>
>Police met with Menards employees and decided to wait for the students to
unlock themselves. After about five hours, the students became uncomfortable
and stopped the protest, students said.
>
>Students who obstructed drives or doorways were charged with criminal
trespass, police said. Others were charged with failure to disperse. In all,
16 students were arrested and taken to the Des Moines jail and the Polk
County Jail.
>
>Police Sgt. Richard Jones said: "I suppose most of them live in frame
houses. We took them to concrete dormitories."
>
>The Menards store is located at 6000 S.E. 14th St.
>
>Jill Peterson, a Grinnell College freshman, said the protest targeted
Menards because it had not agreed to quit selling products from old-growth
forests, which in general are more than 250 years old. She claimed that the
company was using old-growth wood from around the world for rake handles,
doors and other items, "which can easily be made from renewable sources."
>
>The student protesters, from Drake University and Grinnell College, are
members of STEP, Iowa Students Towards Environmental Protection.
>
>Dawn Sands, a spokes- woman with Menards, said the company has been talking
with the Rainforest Action Network of San Francisco. She said Menards was
under the impression the company would not be targeted in the protest.
>
>"We are working to see what can be done," Sands said. "We buy from many
vendors, and it's hard to know what, if any, materials would cause them
concern. What they should be protesting are the logging companies" involved
in those practices.
>
>Mark Westlund, communications director with Rainforest Action Network, said
Menards was not removed from a list of its so-called "Foolish Five," because
the company failed to send a letter saying it would phase out use of
old-growth forest products.
>
>Others on the Rainforest list are Home Base, 84 Lumber, Payless Cashways
and Wickes.
>
>Peterson said Home Depot, the site of a demonstration last year in West Des
Moines, had been taken off the list. In August, Arthur Blank, president and
chief executive of Home Depot, promised that the company would stop selling
wood products from environmentally sensitive areas.
>
>
>___________________________________________
>
>Rainforest Action Network
>221 Pine Street #500
>San Francisco, CA 94014
>
>Telephone: 415/398-4404; fax: 415/398-2732
>Website: http://www.ran.org
>
>
>
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>
>
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><DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
><DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
>href="mailto:jkrill@ran.org" title=jkrill@ran.org>Jennifer Krill</A> </DIV>
><DIV><B>To:</B> <A href="mailto:seac+announce@earthsystems.org"
>title=seac+announce@earthsystems.org>SEAC ANNOUNCE (E-mail)</A> </DIV>
><DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 28, 1999 5:14 PM</DIV>
><DIV><B>Subject:</B> [SEAC+ANNOUNCE] FW: DesMoines Register/Menards Old Growth
>action</DIV></DIV>
><DIV><BR></DIV>DesMoines Register<BR><BR>16 arrested at Menards protesting use
>of old trees<BR><BR>Students chain themselves together at the
neck<BR><BR>By TOM
>ALEX Register Staff Writer 10/27/1999<BR><BR>Students chained themselves
>together at the neck with bicycle locks Tuesday and staged a sit-in at a Des
>Moines Menards store to protest the sale of materials made from old-growth
>forest.<BR><BR>Police met with Menards employees and decided to wait for the
>students to unlock themselves. After about five hours, the students became
>uncomfortable and stopped the protest, students said.<BR><BR>Students who
>obstructed drives or doorways were charged with criminal trespass, police
said.
>Others were charged with failure to disperse. In all, 16 students were
arrested
>and taken to the Des Moines jail and the Polk County Jail.<BR><BR>Police Sgt.
>Richard Jones said: "I suppose most of them live in frame houses. We took them
>to concrete dormitories."<BR><BR>The Menards store is located at 6000 S.E.
14th
>St.<BR><BR>Jill Peterson, a Grinnell College freshman, said the protest
targeted
>Menards because it had not agreed to quit selling products from old-growth
>forests, which in general are more than 250 years old. She claimed that the
>company was using old-growth wood from around the world for rake handles,
doors
>and other items, "which can easily be made from renewable sources."<BR><BR>The
>student protesters, from Drake University and Grinnell College, are members of
>STEP, Iowa Students Towards Environmental Protection.<BR><BR>Dawn Sands, a
>spokes- woman with Menards, said the company has been talking with the
>Rainforest Action Network of San Francisco. She said Menards was under the
>impression the company would not be targeted in the protest.<BR><BR>"We are
>working to see what can be done," Sands said. "We buy from many vendors, and
>it's hard to know what, if any, materials would cause them concern. What they
>should be protesting are the logging companies" involved in those
>practices.<BR><BR>Mark Westlund, communications director with Rainforest
Action
>Network, said Menards was not removed from a list of its so-called "Foolish
>Five," because the company failed to send a letter saying it would phase
out use
>of old-growth forest products.<BR><BR>Others on the Rainforest list are Home
>Base, 84 Lumber, Payless Cashways and Wickes.<BR><BR>Peterson said Home Depot,
>the site of a demonstration last year in West Des Moines, had been taken
off the
>list. In August, Arthur Blank, president and chief executive of Home Depot,
>promised that the company would stop selling wood products from
environmentally
>sensitive
>areas.<BR><BR><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/fontfamily><BR>_______________________
____________________<BR><BR>Rainforest
>Action Network<BR>221 Pine Street #500<BR>San Francisco, CA
>94014<BR><BR>Telephone: 415/398-4404; fax: 415/398-2732<BR>Website:
>http://www.ran.org <BR><BR><BR><BR>100 % Recycled
>Electrons<BR><BR><BR>______________________________________________________
_______
>Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica.
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>
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