Enviro Activists Arrested Near Bush Ranch

Enviro Activists Arrested Near Bush Ranch

NewsMax.com Wires
April 13, 2001

CRAWFORD -- Three environmental activists were arrested Friday outside Crawford Elementary School after they scaled a 100-foot water tower and unfurled a two-story-tall banner calling President Bush a "Toxic Texan."

The three-hour ordeal drew attention from a news-starved White House Press Corps as the three members of Greenpeace displayed the yellow-and-black banner, urging Bush not to "mess with the earth." The protest was aimed at drawing attention to Bush's environmental policies.

Crawford Mayor Robert Campbell yelled up to the trio, Melissa Riber, 28, and Rani Riber, 24, both of Washington, and Kelly Osborn, 31, of Flower Mound, Texas, telling them they were trespassing on city property. Later, local police, U.S. Secret Service and a hook-and-ladder truck from nearby Waco were called to assist.

"This is to draw attention to the president's policies on the environment," said Andrea Durbin, a spokesman for Greenpeace. Durbin said Bush is expected to acknowledge Earth Day with a series of environmental announcements, but that the organization wanted the public to know he was no friend of the environment.

Bush has drawn sharp criticism from environmentalists for reversing his campaign pledge on carbon dioxide limits on power plant emissions, delaying the implementation of arsenic level standards for water and scaling back U.S. commitment to a global climate change treaty.

And environmental groups are still smarting over the Bush administration budget proposal that slashes funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior, curtailing enforcement duties of both agencies.

Amused onlookers, both from the media and neighboring homes, watched as Crawford police and Texas State troopers ordered the trio down from the tower and camera crews caught the arrests on tape shortly after 1:30 p.m. EST.

The protest was staged steps away from the Crawford Elementary School where the White House Press Corps was ensconced for the weekend after traveling to the area with Bush who arrived Thursday afternoon for the Easter holiday.

Although the incident drew little conversation about the environment among the crowd of about 100 people, some Crawford adults in the crowd recalled their own adventures climbing the same tower in their youth - seen as almost an adolescent rite of passage in the small town - joked that they never drew this type of attention.

Police officials said the trio would be charged with trespassing.