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Logging protester arrested near Balfour

Jessica Ogden remains in custody until a hearing date is set
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Jessica Ogden was arrested near Balfour on Friday. Facebook photo

Logging protester Jessica Ogden is in jail at least for the rest of this week.

She was one of a group of people blocking a logging road near Balfour when she was arrested on Friday for refusing to obey a police officer’s order to allow logging trucks to pass.

The officer was enforcing an injunction obtained the day before by Cooper Creek Cedar Ltd. in B.C. Supreme Court.

Named as defendants on the injunction are Ogden, Mick Grabowsky, Brock Schneider, and “persons unknown.”

Ogden is in custody because she refused to sign a promise to voluntarily appear in court.

On Friday, a judge in Kelowna will set a date for a hearing.

The goal of the blockade, according to the group’s Facebook page, is to bring attention to “destructive logging practices and lack of appropriate regulation and legislation in B.C.”

Ogden was also arrested also with two others in the spring of 2018 at a blockade near Meadow Creek.

This story was changed on Sept. 10, 2019, to remove the statement that Jessica Ogden and others were charged with intimidation during an incident in March. There were in fact no charges laid.



Bill Metcalfe

About the Author: Bill Metcalfe

I have lived in Nelson since 1994 and worked as a reporter at the Nelson Star since 2015.
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