Another fitting headline may have been: Drones of News Choppers Nearly Drown out Tree Choppers and Sitters.

At any rate, the entire bay area is abuzz as tensions and violence flair at Oak Grove. You think we’re exaggerating? Scaffolding, helicopters and negotiators now surround the redwood that served as a tree home (tree home: like a tree house, but much more comfortable) to our Berkeley tree-sitters. On the ground, tree supporters have chained themselves to the tree and each other; arrests have been made.

The university may have called for an ultimatum, but the tree-sitters have their own ultimatum in mind as well. They’ve begun throwing buckets of “toilet waste” at arborists. Curse you, Mercury Times, for not specifying the contents of these buckets!

Image Source: Skyler Reid, Daily Cal
Most Trees Down Near UC Berkeley Stadium [Daily Cal]
End appears near for UC Berkeley tree-sitters [Mercury News]
Earlier: UCB Says Goodbye to 42 Trees and 21 Months of Litigation

It all seemed so perfectly timed considering Fresh had also just written quite an eye-opening op-ed that appeared in the Daily Cal this morning. It was printed alongside a lovely tree illustration and three other opinions that argued about the effectiveness of his protest. Fresh’s perspective, of course, was the most informative–we actually got to read about his many causes in an organized fashion, rather than hear random bursts of “Democratize the regents!” We imagine all readers chimed in for a collective, “Ooh, so that’s what he’s been protesting all this time!”

Perhaps he should have written the op-ed before–instead of partaking in an irritating, confusing and disorganized tree-sit. Then again, we probably wouldn’t have read it.

Poll after the jump.

So, taking the new literature and the civilized tree-side discussions into account:

Image Source: Michael Kang, Daily Cal
“I would like to point to the root cause of the problems: the regents.” [Daily Cal]
Protester Outside Wheeler Hall Cited After Leaving Tree [Daily Cal]
Earlier: I Don’t Wanna Come Down! I Want Ya’ll to Rise Up, Baby!