The College Fix

Fed up with the government shutdown’s closure of the Colorado National Monument, 24-year-old Colorado Mesa University student Jamison Perez recently drove to the park and crossed the man-made barrier in what he called an act of defiance.

“It’s entirely stupid that President Obama is making the common man suffer and put a stranglehold on our national treasurers,” Perez told The College Fix. “I parked and walked beyond the barricade.”

Perez is not alone.

Between veterans tearing down barricades at the WWII memorial, to the father throwing cones to allow his family access to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, to college students ignoring closure signs and picking up trash at the Pearl Harbor monument, Americans across the country have had it with their government needlessly blocking off venerable national monuments and parks and maliciously ticketing patriots.

Those are just a handful of such examples of civil disobedience. Another protest took place recently in Utah, where protestors stormed Zion National Park.

“It’s an American legacy, this is something that was set aside for us, it’s supposed to be preserved and protected for all generations so we can come here enjoy this area, and right now we can’t enjoy it,” said James Milligan, who climbed the barricade at Zion National Park with many others in a First Amendment action.

In addition to the average Joe’s Occupy America efforts, some governors have joined the fight, and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Governor Gary Herbert of Utah are among them.

Walker went so far as to remove various barriers installed by federal authorities.

“I think not just in Wisconsin, but in states across the country there’s a lot of governors and lawmakers in both parties who wish the folks in Washington would act more like the states and less like our nation’s capital,” Walker said.

Herbert forged an agreement to keep most of his state’s parks open, paying up to $1.67 million— $166,572 per day—to reopen eight national sites in Utah for up to 10 days.

“Utah’s national parks are the backbone of many rural economies and hard-working Utahans are paying a heavy price for this shutdown,” Herbert stated.

Utahans like Andy Pierucci, 24, a junior at Utah State University, who said he was encouraged by Governor Herbert’s actions in the face of the congressional deadlock.

“I was proud of him because he recognized the people needed the money from the national parks,” Pierucci said. “I am frustrated with both sides. People are living their lives in fear. I have hope when I see people like Governor Herbert.”

#OccupyAmerica

Fix contributor Aslinn Scott is a student at CU Boulder.

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