Lo, the Ballad of Benedict cove And it’s low, so low (go low on vocal) In Benedict cove is a guild of thieves Their treachery beyond belief Gas Corp profiteers bought the sheriff Their pipeline enforcement team They poison the water the air the land Filthy lucre is what they seek Lo, the Ballad of Benedict Cove And it’s low, so low This is just one story from the many of folk Who fought the wicked Gas Corp Of one flawed man and the stolen land Of that he was fighting for And the deputy, who once his bride to be Could not protect him from the storm Lo, the Battle for Benedict Cove We must go, must go

Take a listen and I’ll spin you a tale. It’s a story as old as the old west itself... of betrayal, murder, and greed but set in modern day Oregon. If you can, conjure up in your own mind an image of The Rogue Valley and the rest of Southern Oregon, What do you see? Farms, Orchards, and vineyards tucked in between foothills of madrone and evergreen trees. Or did you imagine wide open spaces in the high desert with snow-capped mountains in the distance. Just like something in a Western movie? Or... did you see the Pacific Ocean crashing her waves along forested cliffs.. Well, if you imagined any of that or any of the wild streams that connect it all together you have a vision of southern Oregon. And you can also see what stands in the way of a fossil fuel pipeline project being promoted by Gas Corps. Now there’s many folks opposed to this but our story revolves around one man, Cliff West & several folks who were once his friends, including the sheriff. Another little thing about this story... it answers the long wondered question: who shot the deputy? I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot no deputy I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot no deputy All around in my hometown They're tryin' to track me down They say they want to bring me in guilty For the killing of a deputy For the life of a deputy, but I say I shot the sheriff But I swear it was in self defense Yeah, I say, I shot the sheriff and they say it is a capital offense Sheriff John Brown always hated me For what, I don't know Every time I plant a seed He said kill it before it grow He said kill them before they grow, and so Freedom came my way one day And I started out of town, yeah All of a sudden I saw sheriff John Brown Aiming to gun me down So I shot, I shot, I shot him down Chorus Reflexes had got the better of me And what is to be must be Every day the bucket a-go a well One day the bottom a-go drop out One day the bottom a-go drop out, If I am guilty I will pay

(Sound of car driving over gravel) NARRATOR: In the distance we hear the gravel crunching as Sheriff John Brown drives his county SUV up the remote and private driveway belonging to Cliff West CLIFF: What are you doing up here, Sheriff? SHERIFF: Well that didn’t sound too friendly. And to think you were once such a good boy. Why I remember you and my son Nate, God rest his soul, always together- thick as thieves, on all the teams. In fact, it was you, Nate, and the Spencer brothers that brought home that state championship. I was real proud of you then. Nowadays, you spend more time down at Lucky’s than you do out here on you land. But I am not here to reminisce, I am here to give you a piece of fatherly advice, and a little advice from the law. I know you are out here growing weed and it’s legal and all these days but you gotta dot those i’s and cross those t’s or you could lose this land. Now, gas corps is offering you a good money for just a small easement nad you get to keep you land. You do that and I don’t think there’s gonna be any problem with you growing pot up here. No, not at all. Don’t lose this land that’s been in you family for generations gosh, I reckon all the way back to the Rogue Indian war, right? Yeah, don’t risk it, Cliff! CLIFF: What good is this pipeline going to do me OR our town? Sounds to me like it’s profit for a few and maybe fill up the coffers for the county and state government. Yeah, I don’t want that pipeline through here. You see that stand of trees over there? Imagine natural gas running through there and catching on fire. We got enough problems with forest fires as it is now. And then it goes down through my creek, they are gonna tear that whole thing up. It’s alive! Then across my best farm land. Heck, the export facility is on a fault line and in a Tsunami zone. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. Nah, you know, gascorps was out here yesterday with a couple of their freshly bought deputies accompanied by the Spencer Brothers. They all told me to sell. I’ll tell you the same thing I told them: Get off my land... and another thing: DAN: Just gonna change harmonicas here and a sip of water CLIFF: And another thing: Well they tell me of a pie up in the sky Waiting for me when I die But between the day you're born and when you die They never seem to hear even your cry So as sure as the sun will shine I'm going to hang on hard to this world of mine And then the harder they come The harder they'll fall, one and all Ooh the harder they come The harder they'll fall, one and all Well this guild of thieves is trying to bring me down Trying to drive me in to the ground And they think that they have got the battle won I say forgive them Lord They know not what they've done And I’ll keep on fighting for this land were on Even though I know that when im dead im gone But I'd rather be a free man in my grave Than living as a puppet or a slave SHERIFF - A free man in your grave, eh?? We’ll that can be arranged -

NARRATOR: Later that evening we find Cliff on his favorite bar stool at Lucky’s when in comes. the spencer brothers along with some gascorps executives. CLIFF: Well look what the weasels brought in the Spencers brothers and their new best friends from Gas Corps - or should I say gas Corpse! Yeah, Boys it’s hard to believe we were on the same team once and you had my back every friday night. But I guess just like in Eugene how you doubled crossed me and my Fiance Agnes. You are doing it again. I guess My question is, Why?! (SONG) DOUBLE CROSSING ME: I work this land and don’t you know that it’s mine You want a piece well bud you’d better get yourself in line You got one speed and don’t you think that you’re fast But the race is long and yeah I’m still built to last Why you double crossin’ me? Why are you double crossin’ me? You grab that chain you’d better hang on hard And leave that bag of tricks where you found em on the ol’ schoolyard You’re bringing trouble it’s gonna dump on your head And in the morning you’ll wake up and wish you were dead We had a deal now that’s all down the drain You burnt me twice but that won’t happen again I see your friends and don’t you think you’re so tight When the chips are down they’re gonna fly off at night

NARRATOR: A bar fight between Cliff and the Spencer Brothers promptly ensued! After the fight Cliff wound up in the back of a county squad car. Not just any squad car, though. It was the one belonging to his former fiance, now Deputy sheriff, Agnes Stone. AGNES: Cliff, Clifford J West it’s been awhile and I gotta say It’s too bad it turned out like this. Going after the Spencers NOW?!... well, doesn’t mean a thing me. Could have back in Eugene when they did me wrong and doubled down telling you I’D been unfaithful. But you believed their story and not your woman’s. CLIFF: Agnes, I regret every day not believing you about what happened. We were going to get married and I lost you. Now it looks like I am going to lose my land, too. AGNES: Cliff even though our ship has sailed, I hate to see you or anyone around here lose to GasCorp and that may well happen! They are coming after you hard, just about everybody in power is involved. It’s as crooked a deal as the crick that winds through your property. ...I have orders to take you down to the city jail. You need to get sobered up AND get sober! Sheriff’s gone come let you out in the morning. Now listen, Cliff. Just trust me for once. I found out what’s really going on with GasCorp and the County. Once I blow this thing open, you might not be forced to sell. You keep your nose clean and your head down when the sheriff comes back. You got me? NARRATOR: Deputy Stone left Cliff alone in the drunk tank at the city jail. Not much later he was awakened by the sheriff’s fists. CLIFF : Oooof, oh oww, sheriff, what are you doing? Sheriff, we all used to look up to you! You know you used to take Nate and I hunting, fishing, make us sandwiches, SHERIFF: Don’t you bring up Nate, PUNK! Yeah, you know we tried to be nice about it. Gascoprs yesterday and then I came by today but you think you know better, better than us! We’re gonna get that pipeline through. NARRATOR: As Cliff is taking another beating he looks out and notices the cell door is open. SONG- Rusty Cage: You wired me awake And hit me with a hand of broken nails You tied my lead and pulled my chain to watch my blood begin to boil But I'm gonna break I'm gonna break my I'm gonna break I'm gonna break my I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run Too cold to start a fire I'm burning diesel, burning dinosaur bones I'll take the river down to still waters And ride a pack of dogs When the forest burns along the road Like God's eyes in your headlights And you put it in cruise control Cause you're barely in control And the rain beats down like icepicks on your steel shore And the dogs are looking for them bones Homeless looking for their homes

SHERIFF: Deputy Stone, I’m gonna need you back down here down at the jail right away. Yeah I’m having a little trouble with your old boyfriend. Get down here! AGNES: I’ll be right there, Sheriff NARRATOR: Agnes quickly arrived at the jail. AGNES: Sheriff, what’s happening here? SHERIFF: What’s happening here is a murder. A pissed off old boyfriend and his sweetheart who happens to be in law enforcement arrests him after his night of drinking and fighting. And he shoots her and then himself AGNES: Wait, WHAT?! You going to do me like this? SHERIFF: I know what you’ve been up to, Stone. You’re a good cop and all. Maybe too good. Yeah, you found out what’s going on. You know too much. So we're gonna have to, click, take care of things. You think a pipeline company as big as gascorps is gonna come around here and let us do whatever we want? You got three choices when a company like this comes in: You can get on board, get out of the way or you can get run down. NARRATOR: And BAM - and with that the sheriff shot Agnes Stone in cold blood. But as she went down she was able to grab knock loose the Sheriff’s gun. Cliff who had been on the floor near unconsciousness managed to get his head together find the gun and fire off a several shots. One hit the Sheriff and Cliff was able to make his break. Now, when he went outside on the town street he was hoping he’d find a car with keys in it. A town this small, it can happen. But no, he had to settle for a beat up old mountain bike. he headed for the hills and in the night sky he saw the planet Mars - Mars, the God of War. SONG- If you Wanna go to Mars:

NARRATOR: While Cliff West was making his escape the sheriff got himself bandaged up and his story straight. This is wha t he told his new deputies, his posse: SHERIFF: Alright Spencer Brothers you are the best trackers in this county and that’s why you’ve been deputized. But when you track down Cliff back off and let the gascorps deputies do the work they knew how to take care of. To you gascorps boys this is what I gotta say: Cliff West has no next of kin and he owes a lot of money, a whole lot of money to the county. I think you can put two and two together and bring him back the right way. NARRATOR: Cliff was moving fast on his mountain bike. And he heard the horses coming up from afar. He knew if he could last long enough he’d eventually tired tire out the horses but as he hit some rocks on a steep grade he lost he lost traction and fell to the bottom of the ravine. Song- Tough Get Goin': There's a mountain lion on your tail In the sky the turkey buzzards sail and your water's starting to run low and you're not sure which way to go oh no! The tough get goin' You'd better get goin' Seems a thousand years since yesterday and the Devil is coming for his pay Your troubles can not be undone By that bullet left inside your Gun oh, oh! The tough get goin' You'd better get goin' If you could turn back time you know you would A wish like that won't do you any good You know you could have took the other path Instead you face the posse's dreadful wrath At last you've had some time to clear you mind You left that tired horse along behind And the posse boys fell dropped in your lap Just in time to spring that deadly trap

NARRATOR: As he struggled to his feet Cliff heard the posse coming and he knew he must make a trap. He saw a pile of boulders up the hill. He quickly grabbed a large branch and scrambled up the slope to dislodge the stones down upon his pursuers. But the posse caught sight of what he was doing and opened fire. As he tried to hide from the gunfire behind the rocks, he noticed a chain across those boulders, holding them up. With last bullet left in the sheriff’s gun he fired and hit the chain square on. It just richoced off that’s all and he knew he was done for! Just then the whole ground came out from under him. It was rock slide, a giant avalanche of shale and stone that had been pent up for years and years. And as he crashed down along with it.... he and a horse were all that survived. Now, in any good western this would be an almost tidy ending. Cliff would take the horse and go back to town, have a showdown with the sheriff in the street, and likely win. But that’s not what happened here. On the night she was murdered, Agnes Stone, had a fishy feeling in her stomach when she was called back to the town jail. So she had put on a body camera connected to a server. That video is what took down the sheriff. As far for the pipeline... it wasn’t going to be a few dead dead bodies, some corruption, or even a disaster to stop a company like stop gas corps. No, what stopped it was community coming together, NOT violence. Local tribes along with many others from around the region stopped this pipeline with a combination of legal efforts and non-violent direct action as well as some help from the great-grandaughter of Oregon’s most famous governor. Yes, Governor Tammy McCall gets some credit for putting and end to it, as well. And, Cliff West also played a part. He took it pretty hard especially after seeing Agnes, his fiance, killed right in front of him and also being responsible for the killing of his old friends the spencer brothers. He was drinking even more now and having nightmares every night. But one night he had a vision so clear it was like reality. As he was falling he saw the shadow of a large bird come down and grab him up by the talons. It flew him across the fields and over to his property and dropped him down in the crick. As he sunk to the bottom he looked up. He saw seasons pass quickly and he realized he must be going back in time when he heard his uncle play the song “this land is your land” and from there he saw his grandparents and great-grandparents, he saw the US calvary and the volunteers who had fought during the Rogue indian wars. And from there he saw generation after generation after hundreds of generations of people who had been on this land. And he turned into a warm stone at the bottom of the crick. When he awoke, he realized what he needed to do. The many things that he needed to do! (Eagle Sound effect) DAN Now this next song was inspired by the Standing Rock Sioux and the water protectors. It’s called Your Land. And there’s some opportunities to sing along. SONG- Your Land: You claim it's your land But you don't own the air You don't own the water But you don't own the air You don't own the water You claim it's your land But you don't own the sun you don't own the daughter you don't own the sun you don't own the daughter You want to take and wreck this land Then this you've got to understand We know just what you want to do We're gonna stand in front of you We're gonna stand, we're gonna stand In front of you. They say it's our land But we don't own the air We don't own the water We don't own the air We don't own the water They say it's our land But we don't own the air We don't own the sun We don't own the daughter We don't own the daughter We want to keep and heal this land Then this we gotta understand It’s the most important thing we do And to the people we’ll be true To the people for the people well we must be true

I hoped you enjoyed listening to this Modern Western Opera. In real life, stories of fossil fuel companies influencing the government and taking the land are being played out up and down the Pacific Northwest. These export terminals, pipelines, and processing facilities for fracked fuel, shale oil, and coal come with significant risks. Many tribes who carry treaty rights and other advocates for the land, air & water, and are defending what some are calling a thin green line from Oregon to British Columbia. Also, landowners along the routes and others concerned about property rights are pushing back against government land-grabs that with protection of local law enforcement, would force folks to sell to the corporations behind these projects. As we make decisions about how we go forward in a way that heals the land, water, and air need to think about what benefits the next seven generations. In this we must be wary of the greenwashing. That is, a product or policy that claims to be beneficial to the environment but does little, nothing, or worse. (Sound of tuning in a radio) SONG- Greenwash: I got a new car I run it on Nuclear Power They say it’s so clean and so green It feels like taking a shower In the greewash Jump in with me In the greenwash So refreshing We’ll pave the whole planet cause who needs the dirt And I got a new detergent for this stain on my shirt And the Greenwash And the Greenwash I got a new job In clean burning natural gas You’ll love what it does to the water Let’s see if you can swallow a glass Of the greenwash, have one on me Of the greenwash, so refreshing We’ll light up the nighttime ‘til the darkness is gone And you can put that in the bowl of your electronic bong With the greenwash Yup the greenwash We’ll conquer the planet There’s no stopping that And when the good is all gone We’ll have a feather for our cap And some greewash Yeah some greenwash We’re expanding all the freeways We gotta make room for more cars And when we clog ‘em up again We’ll at least we’ll have room left on Mars And some greenwash, go there with me And some greenwash, so refreshing We’ll pave the whole planet ‘Cause who needs the dirt When you start to get hungry You can have a little squirt Of some greenwash Like a whitewash Or a brainwash It’s Soylent Greenwash