Laguna Tollway Foes Lamenting Lack of Support : Environment: Activists say they have called hundreds--and gotten excuses. An injunction has halted work until Jan. 5.

There were supposed to be hundreds of them.

But as the afternoon lengthened during the first full day of demonstrations against construction of the San Joaquin Hills tollway in Laguna Canyon, only eight protesters held their ground.

By that time, the bulldozers had cleared about 40 acres of oak trees and shrubbery and were gnawing at the hillsides themselves.

“And nobody out here to help us, after all the telephoning we had to do,” said Laguna Beach resident Eleanor Henry, her voice thick with anguish. “They said they would be here.”

But after the courts dissolved an injunction Tuesday, allowing grading to begin, and until a second injunction halted the bulldozers again Friday until Jan. 5, a paltry number of demonstrators actually appeared along Laguna Canyon Road each day to protest.

For months, tollway foes say, they have been compiling a list of more than 400 people who asked to be called if the bulldozers rolled in the canyon. They even gave civil disobedience training to those who might risk arrest to block earth movers.

“I was so disappointed so few people showed up,” said Imke Bomer, a Costa Mesa resident who attended a candlelight vigil in the canyon Friday evening that eventually drew 60 demonstrators as news of the latest injunction spread. “Yet the ones here are so determined, so committed, it’s almost like their lives depend on it.”

Those who did protest during the past week have been hearty, arriving in the chilly morning darkness and often staying through dusk. They skipped work and Christmas shopping. By Friday, 21 people had been arrested, at least four of whom locked their necks to bulldozers.

But they fought discouragement when their numbers, which at best swelled to 60, at times thinned to single digits.

Laguna Hills resident Max Brown, 36, who spent five hours in jail Wednesday and returned to the picket line that afternoon, said he called recruits Tuesday night but many begged off, saying they had doctor appointments or that 6 a.m. was just too early.

“I was disappointed,” Brown said. “You should have heard the lame excuses I was getting.”

On Thursday, Alexis Penn who attends college in Santa Cruz but was home in Tustin for the holidays, took her place with about two dozen protesters. Penn said she read about the grading in the morning newspaper and hurried to the canyon but was shocked by how few others had responded.

“It’s disturbing. I thought there would be a lot more people out here,” said Penn, 19. “If this was Santa Cruz up north, there would be hundreds, but Southern Californians are just lazy.”

Environmentalists have fought for years to keep development out of Laguna Canyon. In 1989, between 7,000 and 8,000 people converged on the canyon to protest a planned housing tract.

This latest battle centers on construction of the 17-mile toll road, which would slice through the middle of some 175 acres of open space, including the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, as it links Newport Beach to San Juan Capistrano. A demonstration earlier this year against the corridor attracted roughly 1,000 people.

While construction at opposite ends of the roadway has proceeded steadily, a court injunction had halted work between El Toro Road and Newport Coast Drive for the past 15 months, except for 12 hours in June when the injunction was briefly lifted.

When the courts dissolved the initial injunction Tuesday, the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which is building the roadway, moved swiftly. The agency got the green light at 9:30 a.m., and the bulldozers were revved by 11. By Friday, workers had finished “clearing and grubbing” all but about 25 acres, agency spokeswoman Lisa Telles said.

“I think we probably caught them off guard,” corridor manager Gene Foster said Wednesday afternoon.

Some opponents bemoan the agency’s decision to unleash earth movers the week before Christmas, when many who vowed to demonstrate were gone for the holidays.

“What are people doing the week before Christmas?” asked Dana Point resident Diane Valentino, 41, at Friday’s vigil. “It’s been a real chore for all of us who’ve managed to get out here.”

Some say that timing, combined with a sense of powerlessness and the fatigue that accompanies long-term battles, was simply too much for many who love this gently sloping landscape.

“They just feel totally disempowered at this point,” said Marion Pack, executive director of Orange County Alliance for Survival, who drove 55 miles from her home in Norco to the protest Thursday morning after being arrested during a demonstration the day before.

But those with fight left in them say they won’t give up.

“It’s our opinion that until there’s concrete down on this and people driving on it, it’s reparable,” said Patrick Mitchell, a Garden Grove resident and member of the activist group Earth First!

And some think the new injunction will draw fresh recruits.

“We’ve got time now,” Valentino said. “We can get our calls out.”

Laguna Beach resident Patti Ripley, whose daughter Kelly was one of those arrested Thursday morning, said she and another daughter are willing to lock themselves to a bulldozer, if necessary, to halt the work.

“We look at it this way, we don’t know how much we can do, but to sit and do nothing is worse,” she said.