khttps://www.eugene-or.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1243

http://www.sorarchive.com/offender/view/1106963

 I told Belle and Alley Valkyrie I am a registered newspaper in Lane County, and I owe it to my peers not to cave to threats and demands. These threats were carried out, and Alley posted on the Mayor of Eugene’s Facebook disgraceful slander. On Alley’s facebook I read physical threats made by her friends. Not one word have I removed. I am in solidarity with the People of France and Paris.

Jon Presco

“Please, go ahead and blog my threat.
You have no fucking idea what you’re getting yourself into
You also have no idea how many people are already on to you, and how many people have my back. We also have six other mutual friends who are going to learn about your behavior ASAP
And just so you know as well: if you write anything about me that could be construed as defamatory, you will be hearing from my lawyers ASAP.”

Alley Valkyrie posted to ‎Kitty Piercy

This man’s name is John Gregory Presco, DOB 10/8/1946. He lives in Springfield, Oregon.

He frequents Eugene, especially the Whiteaker neighborhood, and regularly shows up at activist events. He is a stalker, a harasser, and an obsessed de…lusional sicko.

If you need a concrete example of his behavior and why I am posting this, his delusional writings can be found at https://rosamondpress.wordpress.com/

If you see him in your neighborhood, on the street, or anywhere, call him out. Expose him. Make it known that you will not accept and tolerate someone who harasses and obsesses over young women in our community. This man is a very sick individual. Anyone who deliberately makes women feel unsafe should not be tolerated in this or any community.

The banks targeted included Umpqua, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and Chase. Bike cops whizzed around as the protesters made their way from the plaza to their first stop at Umpqua Bank and began their skit. Several protesters, cast as trees, stood in front of the bank’s glass doors and were chain-sawed down by a bearded Matthew Hawks cast as Allyn Ford, chairman of Umpqua’s Board of Directors. 

Hawks said Umpqua was targeted along with the larger banks because in 2008 it accepted almost $215 million in bailout money it didn’t need. Umpqua returned its bailout funds on Feb. 17, 2010, according to Pro-Publica. 

The protesters hoped to capture the collusion between the bank and logging of old-growth forests done by Roseburg Forest Products, a company owned by Ford, according to Hawks. “The timber barons are part of the 1 percent,” he said.

After the skit the protest divided into affinity groups and spread out to the five banks for the next several hours. The numbers of protesters fluctuated through the day, with numbers estimated at up to 200. Groups of protesters blocked doors to the banks by sitting down and linking arms. Bank of America and Chase Bank requested the aid of the Eugene Police Department. Umpqua, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank closed their doors for several hours until the protests ended. 

Both protesters and passersby commented on the calmness of the EPD during the protest, in contrast to protests in years past where EPD used Tasers and pepper spray.

Police Chief Pete Kerns said that from EPD’s perspective the arrests weren’t handled any differently from previous protests. He said “Every time we learn there will be a protest in Eugene we try to find out who the organizations are and work together with them.” He said, “Ideally it would be lawful; in this case it wasn’t, but I think that was the intent of the protest — commit the crime of criminal trespass.” Kerns said EPD has been in touch with Occupy Eugene “constantly since before the first march.” He said the police sat down with the group before that march and Occupy was “very cooperative and helpful, and that’s the way it’s been ever since.”

Zachery Quale, one of the 17 arrested, said before he was arrested at Bank of America, he went to the Wells Fargo protest and closed his account. He said when he was arrested at the rear entrance to BofA, “the police were very gentle, kind, and courteous.” 

Quale said as more arrestees were put in the paddy wagon, they began to make jokes such as “at least we are carpooling.” In response to the songs and chants that continued from inside the wagon, (“We’re not the ones that you should be arresting!”), he said police officers made jokes such as “Hey, don’t yell at me, I’m in a credit union, too!” and in response to the protesters singing of “Solidarity forever!” one officer responded: “Now! Just the altos and tenors!”

Fellow arrestee Terra Williams, who was arrested at Chase Bank, said she became involved in the bank protest because “the big banks have gotten away with illegally foreclosing on millions of families since 2008, among other crimes, but this was the big one that lit a fire under me.” She adds, “Participating in the protest was my way of saying, ‘people are waking up and we’re not going to forget this.’”

Williams said protests such as this create a dialogue, “I had no intention of being arrested that afternoon, but I’m glad I did, because it’s helped move the public discourse to focus on these injustices which has been a personal goal of mine.”

Full interviews with some of the arrestees can be found here. — Camilla Mortensen and Andrew Hitz

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2011/11/23/news.html