A local man convicted recently for his actions in a protest of logging in the Shawnee National Forest says that he plans to appeal the decision on the grounds of improper procedure by the U.S. Forest Service.

Amanda Robertson, assistant U.S. attorney, said that Joe Glisson, of Creal Springs, was convicted Wednesday for his actions in the forest.

Glisson was tried and convicted by Judge Philip Fraser in the U.S. District Court in Benton for entering an area closed by the U.S. Forest Service, Robertson said.

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Glisson was fined $250 and given until Friday to pay either the fine or file an appeal. An appeal would put a hold on the fine until further action is completed on the case.

Glisson, arrested on the first day of logging in the forest, said that he and others were arrested illegally and said that he planned on appealing the judge’s decision.

The Forest Service did not have the area properly closed off, Glisson said. I will definitely appeal this decision because proper procedure was not followed in this matter.

The case involves charges filed by the Forest Service in reaction to protests held last September when activists attempted to halt logging in the Cripps Bend region of the Shawnee National Forest, located near Pomona.

A total of nine protesters, including three SIUC students, were either arrested or cited for charges ranging from violation of the closure order to intimidation of forestry officials during a 10-day, on-site protest of logging at Cripps Bend.

Eight of the nine activists settled out of court and received fines of $100. Glisson’s case was the only charge to go to trial, Robertson said.

Glisson, who acted as his own counsel in the case, said he would be ready to defend his position in the forest again even if it meant arrest.

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I want the Forest Service to follow the law, he said. I had six witnesses ready to testify that the area was not closed properly, and Judge Fraser refused to listen. After one police officer testified for the Forest Service, the judge said it did not matter what the witnesses had to say since the forest official said it was closed.

Becky Banker, spokesperson for the Forest Service, said when an area is to be closed by the Forest Service, definite measures are taken to alert people of the closure.

Signs are used to close off an area, she said. They need to be posted for an area to be considered off-limits for whatever reason that the service would need to close an area.

Jan Wilder-Thomas, spokeswoman for the Shawnee Defense Fund, said that Glisson and people like him are instrumental in the preservation of the forest.

If it was not for the work of Dr. Glisson, the Regional Association of Concerned Citizens (RACE) and Earth First, the forest would have suffered considerable losses, she said. I was arrested for protesting in Cripps Bend also, and I would do it again. We are here to speak for those that cannot speak for themselves.

Logging was completed in Cripps Bend last fall.