Memorial Oak Grove Supporters visit Simpson's Annual Stockholder's Meeting

Today, supporters of the Memorial Oak Grove in Berkeley interrupted the Annual Stockholder's Meeting at the headquarters for the Simpson Manufacturing Company in Pleasanton. Supporters of the Grove arrived at the meeting to inform shareholders about Barclay Simpson's donation of $25 million to the proposed Student Athletic High Performance Center at UC Berkeley and of his intention to name the building after himself.

Numerous letters had been sent prior to the meeting to Barclay with no response. Supporters of the Grove urge Mr. Simpson to divest his funding until the building site is changed to a more suitable location.

Many of the shareholder's in the meeting sat quietly in their seats with dumbfounded looks on their faces while informative documents were distributed amongst them by Supporters of the Grove. Two of the "higher ups" on the Board of Directors at Simpson are affiliated with Haas Business School. Jennifer A. Chatman is a Professor of Management at Haas and Earl F. Cheit is the Dean of Haas Business School and on the "Audit Committee". The people in the meeting did not render any kind of affirmative response, except that they seemed eager to have the Memorial Oak supporters leave the meeting where not much seemed to be happening.

Outside the meeting (next to the fountain), banners in support of the Grove waved in the air and some very skilled tree climbers posted trees in some of the 'pasty white' saplings outside.

Memorial Oak Grove, which lies adjacent to Memorial Stadium where Cal's football team has their games, stands atop a portion of a Native burial ground for the Ohlone tribe. This fact has been substantiated by the local Native community and by UC Berkeley's own environmental impact report for the new facility, where it was revealed that 18 Native remains were found when the stadium was built in 1923.

Some of the trees in the Grove were also planted in 1923 as part of a World War I Veterans Memorial. There is one surviving World War I vet in the US currently and he also would like to see the facility built somewhere else. Frank Woodruff Buckles is 107 years old and both his wife and father-in-law both graduated from Cal. His mentor, while he was in World War II was also a professor at Cal.

There has been a tree sit ongoing at the Grove now for over 500 days to protect the Grove while a lawsuit makes its way thorugh the legal system. The tree sitters 'risk life and limb' as the adjacent stadium stands atop the very active Hayward earthquake fault.

The Grove is also significant in it's own rite as a wildlife corridor, and as an intact forest eco-system in an urban setting of mature Coast Live Oak trees. They are a native species to California and illegal to cut according to Berkeley law.

As the war profiteers/UC Regents attempt to circumvent the earthquake safety laws, the Grove Defenders continue to challenge a mentality that is unsustainable and wreaks of disrespect. It's 2008 and and Native land is still under seige.