Pipeline opponents planning rallies
Meetings planned to continue NEXUS opposition movement
Graphic by MICHELLE FARNHAM
MEDINA – Groups opposed to the proposed NEXUS Pipeline have planned two local events in coming weeks to build support for a movement intended to take away some of the legal rights of corporations and place them in the hands of community leaders instead.
The first event is a free Communities Rising Tour stop planned at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Montville Township Administration Building.
The second is a paid workshop on protest actions from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Medina Library. Fee for the workshop organized by the Ohio Community Rights Network is $50.
Keynote speaker at the Oct. 1 event in Montville will be Merrily Mazza, a councilwoman from Lafayette, Colo., who helped get a charter amendment on the local ballot that established a community bill of rights – like the one in the county charter that the group Sustainable Medina County has repeatedly tried to get on the ballot in Medina County.
Mazza’s charter amendment passed with 62 percent of the vote but was later overturned by a district judge who said the amendment violated Colorado’s natural gas act, as did similar amendments adopted in other Colorado cities.
However, legal setbacks like those experienced by Sustainable Medina County and the voters of Lafayette, Colo., have not caused them to give up the fight.
Kathie Jones, a Sustainable Medina County leader from Sharon Township, said earlier this year, “The time is now and it is up to us. No one else is going to protect our communities. The Communities Rising Tour is about what we the people must do – what we are doing – in the places we live to safeguard clean air and water, to recognize the rights of ecosystems to thrive, and to exercise our most cherished right to local community self-government.”
Tish O’Dell, an organizer with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund which is working with the Ohio Community Rights Network to bring the Oct. 14 workshop to the Medina Library, echoed Jones’ sentiments.
“Rather than retreating, Ohioans and Pennsylvanians are galvanized to further action,” O’Dell said.
A promotional flyer for the workshop states that participants will explore why they don’t have the power to establish minimum wage laws, immigrant and LGBT rights; stop injection wells, pipelines, compressor stations; and other issues facing communities.
Workshop organizers also state that participants will look at how the corporate state overrides democratic decision-making, and forces unjust labor, environmental and discriminating practices into our communities. Workshop participants will delve into what communities are doing to elevate the rights of the communities and nature over the corporate state.
Preregistration for the workshop is due by Oct. 12 and can be done through the website for the Ohio Community Rights Network. Learn more details by calling Jones at 330-524-4474 or Kathy Kinstler at 330-241-9077.
The first event is a free Communities Rising Tour stop planned at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Montville Township Administration Building.
The second is a paid workshop on protest actions from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Medina Library. Fee for the workshop organized by the Ohio Community Rights Network is $50.
Keynote speaker at the Oct. 1 event in Montville will be Merrily Mazza, a councilwoman from Lafayette, Colo., who helped get a charter amendment on the local ballot that established a community bill of rights – like the one in the county charter that the group Sustainable Medina County has repeatedly tried to get on the ballot in Medina County.
Mazza’s charter amendment passed with 62 percent of the vote but was later overturned by a district judge who said the amendment violated Colorado’s natural gas act, as did similar amendments adopted in other Colorado cities.
However, legal setbacks like those experienced by Sustainable Medina County and the voters of Lafayette, Colo., have not caused them to give up the fight.
Kathie Jones, a Sustainable Medina County leader from Sharon Township, said earlier this year, “The time is now and it is up to us. No one else is going to protect our communities. The Communities Rising Tour is about what we the people must do – what we are doing – in the places we live to safeguard clean air and water, to recognize the rights of ecosystems to thrive, and to exercise our most cherished right to local community self-government.”
Tish O’Dell, an organizer with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund which is working with the Ohio Community Rights Network to bring the Oct. 14 workshop to the Medina Library, echoed Jones’ sentiments.
“Rather than retreating, Ohioans and Pennsylvanians are galvanized to further action,” O’Dell said.
A promotional flyer for the workshop states that participants will explore why they don’t have the power to establish minimum wage laws, immigrant and LGBT rights; stop injection wells, pipelines, compressor stations; and other issues facing communities.
Workshop organizers also state that participants will look at how the corporate state overrides democratic decision-making, and forces unjust labor, environmental and discriminating practices into our communities. Workshop participants will delve into what communities are doing to elevate the rights of the communities and nature over the corporate state.
Preregistration for the workshop is due by Oct. 12 and can be done through the website for the Ohio Community Rights Network. Learn more details by calling Jones at 330-524-4474 or Kathy Kinstler at 330-241-9077.