News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Protesters at the McKenzie Canyon Pipeline project (right) were unhappy at reports that they were drinking beer that morning.
The irrigation pipe is connected across disputed territory and the dust is starting to settle in the dispute over piping the McKenzie Canyon canal. Yet some feelings are still sore after a Monday, April 5 confrontation that landed two protesters in jail.
Canyon resident Jan Daggett and allies were determined to block excavation for the pipeline across her property, moving a backhoe, dump truck and several vehicles into the ditch. Protesters sat on the equipment to block passage.
Construction crews from the Three Sisters Irrigation District (TSID) were equally determined to pull the pipe through the canal and get it connected so that irrigation water can flow to farmers at the end of the line as scheduled on April 16.
TSID personnel called Deschutes County sheriff's deputies to the scene.
In a press release issued the following morning, Captain Tim Edwards said that "upon arrival deputies observed six protesters drinking beer and standing in the canal in front of irrigation district equipment."
The protesters are upset at the implication that their protest was alcohol-fueled. They deny that any drinking was going on that morning.
"Sisters Coffee supplied the coffee and we had pastries and everyone was walking around with coffee cups in their hands," Daggett said.
Nugget photographer Gary Miller, who was on the scene, said that he saw no one drinking beer and that some of the protesters were drinking coffee out of mugs, styofoam cups and travel containers.
"They were drinking out of silver cans," Captain Edwards told The Nugget. "I couldn't tell you what was in the cans. They looked like beer cans to me. The irrigation district guys told me they'd been drinking all day."
Thalacker also told The Nugget that protesters had been drinking.
Edwards noted that no one was arrested for drinking.
The two arrests that were made that afternoon stemmed from action taken by TSID director Marc Thalacker.
According to the sheriff's office, "investigation determined that (protesters) had lain down in the canal directly in the path of a large tracked excavator, forcing it to stop. Once it stopped, the three subjects climbed onto the tracks of the vehicle while it was still running. Once the protesters climbed onto the excavator the driver shut it down and walked away from the scene to await the arrival of sheriff's deputies. It was also reported that the unidentified female, who was reportedly very intoxicated, had tried to drive a van into the
canal."
Two protesters were arrested for criminal mischief, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.
It was not noted in the press release that the arrests were citizen's arrests made by Marc Thalacker.
"It was a citizen's arrest. We didn't see them," Edwards told The Nugget. "It was based on Thalacker's and the equipment operator's description of what occurred."
Daggett has sued the irrigation district, arguing that TSID does not have an easement to put the pipe across her property. Thalacker says the district does have an easement based on right-of-way that predates the land-granting of the properties in the canyon.
The piping project is designed to stem leakage from porous canals and return six cubic feet per second of flow into Whychus Creek in an effort to restore quality fish habitat.
Daggett said she plans no further action and will leave the matter in the hands of her attorney.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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