Well, 100 officers seems overkill for 14 people, but considering what they
had to deal with all the rest of the day, I suppose they were suspecting the
worst. (Sac police had to deal with a small faction of anarcists throwing
mildly acidic concoctions at them, not to mention the other protesters of
the day). While I support the protest against certain aspects of the
agricultural conference, I'm still mystified at certain people. I mean,
come on, a topless woman and a naked man -- smeared with mud and seeds --
romping through the downtown streets as representatives of Mother Earth...
Do they WANT people to think they're crazy idiots? Half the effort put into
conservation is ruined by people like that.
As for the garden, "officials said soil tests showed elevated levels of
lead, DDT and cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. CADA
officials say they may have to scrape the top foot of soil from the garden
to clean it." I suppose that if they're actually putting out the effort to
scrape that much dirt off the ground, they are probably not lying, however,
who knows. If you want to see the story about the garden as it appeared in
the Sacramento Bee, go to:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/agriculture/story/6912737p-7862176c.html
if you want to see the article about the protests: http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/agriculture/story/6912642p-7862172c.html