LAGUNA BEACH : Toll Road Protesters Continue Their Vigil

Anticipating a court ruling allowing bulldozers back into Laguna Canyon, opponents of the San Joaquin Hills toll road continued their protest Tuesday, waving signs and slowing traffic, but the court order never materialized.

Tuesday afternoon, protesters vowed to maintain their vigil at the planned toll road construction site, about three-fourths of a mile north of El Toro Road.

“We’re going to stay here forever,” Earth First member Patrick Mitchell said, “until this thing goes one way or another, until the canyon is no longer under threat.”

The demonstration is part of a protest that began June 14 when U.S. District Judge Linda H. McLaughlin rejected a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which is charged with building the road, and the Federal Highway Administration.

Within hours, bulldozers began plowing through the hillsides, causing some demonstrators to start sobbing.

The following day, lawyers for tollway opponents won a temporary injunction from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals halting the grading.

On Tuesday, Laguna Beach Councilwoman Lida Lenney, wearing a “Keep It Wild” T-shirt, said more than 100 people met in the canyon the night before to be trained in civil disobedience.

Tim Carpenter, who helped in the training, said people are willing to be arrested if the grading begins again.

“We’re here to save the canyon,” he said.

Tollway agency spokesman Mike Stockstill had no comment about the demonstration Tuesday.

The San Joaquin Hills tollway would stretch 17 miles, cutting through Laguna Canyon as it links Newport Beach and San Juan Capistrano.

California Department of Transportation workers dampened the protest Tuesday afternoon by posting “no parking” signs along both sides of the roadway. Lenney said she would ask her colleagues at a regularly scheduled City Council meeting Tuesday night to approve a permit allowing protesters to use a city-owned parking lot next to the demonstration site.