Occupiers Could Forestall Showdown with Police Wednesday Evening

The battle over whether Occupy Santa Cruz will be able to continue occupying San Lorenzo Park will shift yet again to a courtroom Wednesday.

On Monday Santa Cruz Police got the Parks and Recreation Department to file for an eviction notice, claiming the group of 90 campers is a public nuisance and ordering them out of the park by 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Occupy responded by saying its website that it would file an application for a temporary restraining order against the eviction notice.

The notice says police will arrest or cite anyone there and will confiscate all property left behind to be returned upon proof of ownership.

Occupiers had moved indoors last week by breaking into the empty Coast Commercial Bank at 75 River St. They vacated Saturday before police would have arrested them.

Police have said there would be cases filed against the trespassers but none has been filed yet. Late Tuesday the Santa Cruz Police Department posted pictures of occupiers at the bank from media sources and asked for the public's help identifying them.

Police said they have spent $73,000 monitoring the occupiers, paying for private security and on lights during the four day bank occupation, but didn't have a breakdown of the figures for release Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the other law enforcement agency dealing with the movement, the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department, said it has spent more than $40,000 since the occupation outside the county building began Oct. 8. 

According to the KION News website, that includes $6,000 to clean up human waste, $15,000 for sheriff costs, $12,000 for security guards and $3,500 to modify security at the facility. It doesn't specify whether the $6,000 includes the human waste behind the Veterans Center, which police said at the time was not linked to the Occupy movement.

Monday sheriff's deputies gave occupiers at the courthouse a few minutes notice before they began taking down tents including the big geodesic dome.

Tuesday night there were still tables of protesters at the side of the courthouse distributing pamphlets.

Two protesters who chained themselves with bicycle locks to the railing at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse at 11 p.m. Sunday were arrested Monday about eight hours later.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Thomas O'Leary, 25, and Bobby Donehoo for trespassing after the duo had chained themselves to the railing. Deputies asked the men to unlock themselves. O'Leary wouldn't, so a fire department crew had to come out and cut the U-shaped lock, according to Sheriff's deputy April Skalland. He was  also charged with obstructing an officer. Donehoo had a key and unlocked himself.

A third man, Randy Morgan, 41, was arrested at 7:45 a.m. for cutting through the fencing by the jury trailer and going to the bathroom on the lawn. He was arrested for trespassing and vandalism.