Tree Sit plans Thanksgiving gathering as fences go up around it.

The Tree sit to save the memorial oak grove has been going for almost one year (since December 2). Now things are coming to a head. The judge will decide anyday wether the University can cut the trees or not. There could be an eviction at any time. Please support the oaks.

The University is building new and bigger fences all around the grove-now with barbed wire. This is an attempt to starve out the tree sitters by denying them food and water. The University got a new injunction passed that bans anyone from sitting in trees or working "in concert" with them. Several people have been arrested for handing food to tree sitters. Security guards with video cameras are alert and on duty 24 hours a day to film and call in police to make arrests.

On August 29 the University built a fence around the Oak Grove. They sent out an email to all students and staff and said that it was only a temporary barrier, in place to keep football fans and tree supporters apart. With football season almost over the University has constructed a taller fence around the whole grove and topped it with barbed wire. The original fence is now two layers thick and topped with barbed wire. The University says that the fence is necessary to remove the tree sitters. Now they want to cut all tree limbs that hang over the sidewalk.

Food is still making it into the grove. The tree sitters are calling on people to come to a Thanksgiving gathering all day on Thursday, Nov. 22. Please bring food. The main gathering will start at 2:00.

Thanksgiving is really a day to celebrate the massacre of Native Americans and the native burial ground of the Oak Grove seems like an appropriate place to gather. Thanksgiving was first celebrated by Europeans in what is now the US at Berkeley Colony on December 4, 1619. Berkeley Plantation continues to be the site of an annual Thanksgiving event. President George W. Bush stated in an official Thanksgiving address, "In the four centuries since the founders of Berkeley first knelt on these grounds, our nation has changed in many ways...our Thanksgiving traditions have evolved -- after all, they didn't have football back then."

See : saveoaks.com for more information