The owner of a logging company hired to cut timber in the Cripps Bend area of the Shawnee National Forest says he is concerned for the safety of protesters at the logging site who plan to stand in the way of the operation.

Stan Curtis, owner of Carbondale Veneer Co., said protesters who are camping out at Cripps Bend, located near Pamona, are placing themselves in danger. He said when his company logged part of a seven-acre region of the forest six months ago, protesters were risking their safety.

I’m worried (about the protesters) because it is a matter of safety, Curtis said. They don’t know how close they came to getting hurt six months ago. They were down there in shorts and sandals hanging in the woods and not knowing where the timber-cutters were cutting.

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Curtis said he understands why the protesters want to prevent the logging, but he said he is only trying to fulfill a job that the Forest Service is paying him to do.

I’m just out there trying to do a job, Curtis said. All we do is fulfill a project.

Curtis said he is still unsure of when the logging will begin. He said the final go-ahead for the logging will come from the Forest Service.

Despite warnings of danger, protesters said they are prepared to stay in Cripps Bend until a decision regarding the logging is made in court.

We plan on maintaining a vigil here until the case is settled in the courts, Jim Reh, a logging protester, said.

Environmentalists said they are uncertain when an appeal in a lawsuit against the Forest Service to stop the logging at Cripps Bend will be filed, but the details of the appeal are already written.

The appeal, claiming logging would disrupt the habitat of songbirds, would allow a previous case to again come before Judge Phil Gilbert. Once the case is under re-examination, a restraining order would be issued, keeping loggers out of the Cripps Bend area, environmentalists said.

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In July, environmentalist Bill Cronin filed the first lawsuit against the Forest Service, claiming they had not undergone proper guidelines in assessing the impact a logging project would have on the environment.

Last Tuesday, Gilbert ruled on a technicality in the case, giving the Forest Service the right to log the area. Since ruling, environmentalists have been camping at Cripps Bend protesting the logging.

Reh said public support for the protesters has been strong.

People come and go all the time. There will continue to be people in and around the area until it (the case) is resolved in the courts, and long after, either way, to protect the area or to celebrate.