Why Throw the Book at Social Activists?
Sun Sentinal
Ralph De La Cruz | Columnist
Two months in jail? For misdemeanor trespassing? During an environmental protest?
Dorothy, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore.
Welcome to Palm Beach County, better known as the Land of Lawz. Where the yellow brick road always leads to the gates of the next development, and wizards are those rare public officials who manage to stay out of the federal pen.
Anything is possible in this land of illusion - as long as you play nice and don't cause much ruckus. The flash pots with the fire and smoke, and the amplified voice of reproach .... well, those belong strictly to the person behind the curtain.
In this case, that would be Palm Beach County Judge Laura Johnson, who ruled last week that environmental activists Lynne Purvis and Panagioti Tsolkas would spend 30 and 60 days, respectively, in jail.
Their crime? Organizing a February protest that blocked the entrance to Palm Beach Aggregates - soon to be the site of the West County Energy Center.
The natural gas-fueled power plant will one day have three 1,250-megawatt units, enough juice to power three-quarters of a million homes and businesses. It will require massive amounts of natural gas for burning and water for cooling. And leave a Bigfoot-size carbon footprint.
It didn't take long for trucks to line up at the entrance during the protest. Soon, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office showed up in true shock-and-awe fashion, blocking Southern Boulevard and creating a traffic jam several miles long. Deputies arrested 27 protesters, including Lake Worth residents Purvis and Tsolkas.
Now, this type of thing has been going on for about as long as we've called ourselves Americans. Protesters have been hauled away from places such as Walden Woods in Massachusetts, Yucca Mountain in Utah and Vieques in Puerto Rico.
Typically, they're slapped on the wrist and sent home with an admonishment.
But this is Palm Beach County. Where the powers-that-be try to bankrupt churches for sheltering the homeless. Where social activism is seen as an assault on order and any level of discomfort is absolutely not tolerated.
This is the county where five teens pleaded guilty to felony battery on two girls - and were sentenced to house arrest for a year and four years of probation.
Not only did Johnson give Purvis the full sentence that the prosecution asked for, but Tsolkas was given twice the sentence the State Attorney's Office requested.
Our judicial and jail system are overwhelmed to the point where violent offenders don't do jail time. But there's space for radicals/revolutionaries/pot-stirrers such as Purvis and Tsolkas?
"The law is supposed to take into account the motive for somebody's actions," said Barry Silver, a lawyer and co-chairman of the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition. "And yet they treated these two, who are motivated by a desire to address a social problem such as global warming, worse than someone who's motivated strictly by selfish interests."
But Silver said what really bothered him is that, as part of its case, the prosecution disputed that global warming was man-made or that it was a problem.
That's something Danielle Croke, the prosecutor, denies.
"I did not address that," she said, adding that she simply focused on the three charges levied against Purvis and Tsolkas: trespassing, unlawful assembly and resisting arrest without violence.
Croke declined to comment on why she asked for jail time for misdemeanor offenders, or why Johnson doubled the sentence she had requested for Tsolkas.
Supporters of the environmentalists allege Tsolkas was being slapped down because he told Johnson that he was unrepentant and would continue protesting the power plant.
Now Tsolkas is no angel. He was arrested in 2004 for climbing a bamboo tripod and blocking traffic in Lake Worth in an anti-development action. And for leading a takeover of the county's Business Development Board during protests against the Scripps Florida development.
But the pattern is clear. This is social disobedience in its purest form. And in these days of severe challenges, we need MORE, not fewer, people such as Tsolkas. People who force public discussion, who can make us feel uncomfortable.
Who aren't afraid to pull the curtain back every once in a while in the wonderful Land of Lawz.
Ralph De La Cruz's column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Local section and in Sunday Lifestyle. He can be reached at [email protected], 561-243-6522 or 954-356-4727.
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