LOGGING PROTESTERS ARE STILL DISRUPTIVE AFTER COURT HEARING

Logging in the Shawnee National Forest, which covers much of Southern Illinois, and environmental protesters mix like oil and water. For years the environmentalists have fought the U.S. Forest Service's sales of timber in the national forest, citing such concerns as wildlife habitat.

The latest clash, which began a couple of weeks ago, involves a plan to cut approximately 600 trees on a 31-acre tract in the Cripps Bend area of southern Jackson County, which is near Pomona, Ill. Once again, the environmentalists are trying to stop the logging. This time they claim the timber cutting will hurt the endangered Indiana bat.

To stop the logging, the environmentalists have tried everything from going to court to literally hugging the trees as forest rangers and sheriff's deputies showed up to remove them.

While the federal government certainly is capable of making mistakes in judgment, it seems the attempts to stop the logging in the Shawnee National Forest are based more on the green politics of blind environmentalism rather than sound arguments.

For example, the environmental protesters sought a federal court order to halt the logging. A judge temporarily stopped the cutting while looking into the matter but then allowed the timber harvest to continue. Why? While the environmentalists said it would hurt the endangered bats in the area, the Forest Service presented information that said the bats aren't even there.

In the adversarial context of a court, a judge must decide what to believe when conflicting evidence is presented. In this case, the judge sided with the Forest Service and its contention that the timber cutting is in the best national interest and doesn't harm any endangered species.

In a land of laws, the protesters lost, but now they continue to disrupt the logging operation. They have tied up law-enforcement manpower and delayed loggers and their equipment. They have cost both the federal government and the company cutting the timber thousands of needless dollars. Several of them have been arrested, adding more cost and more workload for federal prosecutors.

The Forest Service wants the trees cut. A judge says there is no good reason to halt the cutting. The protesters should behave like law-abiding citizens and return to their jobs, their schools and their homes.