Lt. Wallace Welch of the Asheville Police Department released the following. It is reproduced unedited lest you wouldn’t believe an abridgment.
ASHEVILLE – On 03-29-11, at approx 1129 hours, the City of Asheville Police Department responded to 1 Battery Park Ave. in downtown Asheville in response to 62 year old, Clare Marie Hanrahan, who had chained herself to a tree that had been selected for removal by City Arborist David Foster. According to responding officers, Mr. Foster explained to Ms. Hanrahan, that the tree was distressed, dying; and had to be removed, however Ms. Hanrahan was concerned that the tree was currently in bloom and that the city should at least wait until that particular cycle had been completed.
After many minutes of compromise back and forth facilitated by the Asheville Police Department, it was decided that the work crew would not remove the tree (Bradford Pear) until it had finished blooming. In return Ms. Hanrahan voluntarily removed her bicycle chain which had locked her to the tree and left the area.
It was determined during the ongoing conversation with Ms. Hanrahan that she also planned to do the same thing at a Magnolia tree at the old Asheville Ford location where a Harris Teeter is planning to be built. She also said that there was a sycamore tree in the downtown area (that she would not identify), that she was going to chain herself to keep it from being removed.
It should be noted that when responding officers gave Ms. Hanrahan her options, she was not opposed to jail and has spent time in Federal Prison for trespassing on a military base.
