8 Arrested in Protest Against O.C. Tollway : Transportation: Foes of the San Joaquin Hills project chain themselves to earthmovers. Construction proceeds.

Eight Earth First! activists, staging the most dramatic protest yet against the San Joaquin Hills tollway, chained themselves to bulldozers early Monday, only to be cut free several hours later by firefighters.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested and released the eight protesters at the Laguna Niguel substation on misdemeanor trespassing charges, which carry a maximum six-month jail term and $500 fine. It is the first time demonstrators protesting the tollway have been arrested.

There were no injuries during the peaceful five-hour protest, which tied up eight pieces of earthmoving equipment for about 3 1/2 hours but failed to halt construction work on the tollway in Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel.

The $1.1-billion tollway, intended to ease South County’s chronic traffic problems, is scheduled to connect Interstate 5 in San Juan Capistrano to the Corona del Mar Freeway in Newport Beach by March, 1997. Along its route, it traverses undeveloped and environmentally fragile areas.

Protesters sneaked into the dusty equipment yard, next to a shopping center on Greenfield Drive in Laguna Niguel, before dawn. By early morning the sun was blazing on the storage area, but the protesters, using inch-thick bike locks to attach themselves by the neck to the machines, were prepared. They had supplies of sun screen, bottled water, food and blankets.

Craig Beneville, one of two Earth First! activists allowed by authorities to observe the firefighters’ extrication efforts, passed out dried peaches to the chained protesters at one point in the morning.

Many of the activists also chained themselves to parts under the machines, shielding themselves from the sun and making it even more difficult for firefighters to cut them free.

“This is about protecting life,” said Udo Wald, 51, of San Diego, as he sat chained by the neck to the underside of a large earthmover with a bottle of water and a copy of “The Dream of Earth” by Thomas Berg. “There needs to be something left for the children.”

Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman with the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridors Agency, which is building the road, said her agency is “concerned about safety” of anyone in the work area. “Our policy is that anyone who trespasses with the intent to stop construction will be arrested . . . and we will continue that policy,” she said.

Just down the hillside near the Center at Rancho Niguel, about 25 people held “Stop the Tollroad” signs and sang songs in solidarity with the eight inside the yard, who say the road will destroy some of the county’s most ecologically sensitive land.

“Awareness is the key to stopping the toll road,” said Marion Pack, a supporting demonstrator with Alliance for Survival. “It’s never over till it’s over.”

Workers on the project declined to comment on the obstructionist tactics, and crews nearby continued grading work. The sounds of their tractors were mixed with the peaceful commotion made by the protesters, who sang songs and made wildlife catcalls at the continued work.

“This is just sick,” said Kristin Painter, 23, an Orange County native who chained herself to the axle of a large motor-scraper. “You used to be able to see the hills and the green. Now there’s just houses everywhere. They don’t know when to stop.”

Protesters also claimed that construction workers tried to intimidate them by starting the engines on two of the machines before deputies arrived.

“It was pretty scary there for a while for some of us,” said Michael Richey, who was chained to one of the machines.

Construction supervisors could not confirm or deny those reports.

Crews started full-scale work on the 17.5-mile tollway in Laguna Niguel and Laguna Hills on Sept. 9, culminating 20 years of stop-and-go planning and negotiation for the San Joaquin Hills road. A federal judge who ordered that work could go ahead on most of the route delayed construction on a 4.5-mile section in an area around Laguna Canyon Road, which is considered by some the most environmentally threatened.

Activists have staged several demonstrations against the project in the past, but this is the first to lead to arrests.

The protesters, who say they had been planning the demonstration for several days, sneaked past security guards into the unfenced construction yard shortly before 6 a.m.

Firefighters, called from as far away as San Juan Capistrano, appealed to protesters several times during the morning to simply unlock the chains, and avoid the time-consuming process of being cut free with lifesaving equipment--which, officials said, might have been needed elsewhere for emergencies.

But the activists refused, saying they would remain locked to the equipment until sundown.

It took about 10 firefighters more than an hour to cut loose the protesters and free the earthmoving equipment, using two “Jaws of Life” machines with scissorslike cutting attachments.

An ambulance was standing by at the scene, although fire officials said the extrication procedures were not risky to the protesters.

By about 11 a.m., all eight had been safely freed and construction workers fired up the equipment and started work.

The eight arrested on suspicion of trespassing Monday were: Michael S. Richey, 34, of Costa Mesa; Bradford W. Berger, 33, of Irvine; Nicole A. Gasparik, 24, of Irvine; Martin C. Stout, 33, of Oceanside; Patrick T. Mitchell, 26, of Garden Grove; Udo Wald, 51, of San Diego; Geoff S. Neilson, 20, of Tustin, and Kristin A. Painter, 23, of Santa Ana.