Eight people who were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience to stop construction of a fracked gas pipeline in the Valley will be in court July 18 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. They are asking the public to come to court to support them. “The trial starts at 9 a.m.,” Ellen Graves of West Springfield, Massachusetts told the Valley Post in a telephone interview. She is one of the people who were arrested on June 24 in Sandisfield, Massachusetts. “There is only one court in Great Barrington. I feel good about how the protest went. We succeeded in bringing attention to this pipeline.”

Dennis Carr was also arrested at the protest. He lives in Cummington, Massachusetts. “This was the first time I have done civil disobedience,” Carr told the Valley Post in a telephone interview. “It went well. We intend to continue to resist." The activists have a web site at www.SugarShackAlliance.org.

In other news from the Valley, about 130 people attended a rally in Northampton on July 11 to protest the federal government's plan to deport a local man to Iraq. More information is at:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVd8bwGwEt-E_xOzgR6GZ7NDhh9Ghe.... Rally organizers can be reached via www.pvWorkersCenter.org.

In Keene, there will be a rally for better public schools. The rally will be on Central Square, on July 22 at 12:30 p.m. More information is at www.monadproalliance.org/education.html.