It was as if it were meant to be...The toxic waste incinerator, WTI was planning to open in a few months, the last stages of a byzintine permitting process was coming to a well oiled close with the people of upper Ohio Valley losing the effort to stop "the monster" from opening, a toxic waste incinerator, big enough to consume all the toxic waste from europe and beyond in one location, with a multi-million gallon toxic waste 'tank farm' situated right on a 100 year flood plain of the Ohio River and less than 500 feet from an elementary school...
A local nurse housewife, turned activist was making waves, along with hundreds if not thousands of others and someone was listening...especially in hollywood.
The list of notables who had come to the front and enlist their help in this struggle was growing. First came hometown notable and pop singer, Mark
Then came others and soon, the heavy hitters of the environmental movement, became interested including internal greenpeace volunteers and then the big name
guys, including Vice President Al Gore himself and his office operatives.
Yet,among the biggest celebs, came the all too catholic for every western's taste, Martin Sheen, whose strict catholicism fit right in inside the dense, poor, eastern Ohio river hugging towns and cities where the government leaders of both political parties had decided a decade or more before, to situate and locate the world's largest inland incinerator.
It was not a bad gig...thousands of people came out to assist the famous actor and the lead activist against this deux machina's opening...it was summer and the weather was perfect for a revolt.
There were numbers of police and even national guard ready to stand guard over corporate america's latest invention and end of the line waste decider...
When the long day's protest began to get dicey however, was when the kneeling and praying local activist Terry Swearingen and the Actor decided to do a bit right out of the movies together and increase the dramatic tension of the day's protest....
They together decided to climb the fence of the incinerator's actual construction site, a thing long forbidden by the powerful economic interests who backed this
fine american undertaking, with the power of the local and state police at all times.
It produced the desired results, almost. the actor and the lead activist got half way up the fence and almost over, and then were hauled down and arrested.
[Civil Disobedience in America had not yet died by 1991]
It was after this telling moment, the protest became uneasy and the police began to close in on the entire day's activities. Lines were drawn and the tension outside of the lead activists jail cell grew. The people were shouting for their release and the local poor and onlookers were beginning to become very interested in what just had happened at their most favorite public gathering spot---a major name had come to town and got himself arrested as if he were a local bar regular and motorcycle gang member....
As i was escorted into the jail, the jail before the new republican governor of Ohio of that era would have his own brother make over 300 million dollars in building new ones across all of ohio, i first notices both the faded, poor lime green color of the walls and entrance area, that was everywhere.
With this color scheme as a background, i then noticed the crowded spaces and the old wooden doors trying hard to keep in and out its cargo. I then felt pressed against the wooden old looking desk with a sergent stating, "you here to bond Mr. Sheen?"....i said, in low tones, "yes"...
Well, there he is....and as i turned, i saw a somewhat dishelved, martin, looking up and stating almost instantly, "you're the one they sent to free me...?"
looking very quizzingly at me....
I said, back to him, "yes, i guess i'm the one Martin..."
With this, he smiled and said.."please, get me out of here...i'm due back in New York tonight..."
It was a bad cell by all measurements. It was not reserved for the special kinds of people that sometimes occupy it and it certainly was not kind of cell that would attract the approval of a major international film star.
He was discomforted not so much by the fact he was in a cell, but the fact it was extremely dirty, unpainted, dimly lit and probably full of the kinds of things one would expect a dirty damp and cramped space jail space in a small Ohio town would contain...
the thing most memorable about this particular jail cell, was the lamp cord hanging from its unseen ceiling, hanging down in an all too lose manner, for what seemed like a half mile, with no light cover and only a single hanging unlit light
bulb of the garden variety you would find at the local hardware...
no one dared to touch this light and turn it on...the wire was as old as the jail itself and it appeared as if it were allowed in and down and near the inmate housed inside of the tiny wet jail cell, more as an option "out" of the jail for those particularly unsatisfied with their present circumstances and life, rather than for any intended purpose of bringing light to an otherwise unwell setting.
this was no hollywood back lighting either. Martin wanted out and he wanted out now and ...as i began to process the bond and the papers, for him....he began to smile and state, "i truly do need to get back to a play in New York tonight and if i remain in here, god knows what will become of me..."
The police were not impressed, although they were somewhat taken back that such a figure was so willing to place himself at their disposal. They deep down, did not wish to have him housed in their all too dated facility either but they did their job as if he were the local town drunk
One of the higher ranking officers, managed a signature from his most popular
charge and the crowd of media and onlookers grew exponentially as we walked Martin out of the jail cell into the fading sunlight of an eastern ohio late summer day...
and into a car that would take him away from the community for at least several weeks, until he would come back and do the admirable thing and sit for trial inside the local municipal judges court room, on charges of criminal trespass...
Martin was at all times respectful and despite being a bit of a rascal, not unlike any one who was 'coerced' for a while inside a local jail cell of the former kind that really were substandard and decidedly so...he was a perfect gentlemen
and even better activist.
Martin would come back to the small Ohio town and w/ the egalitarian manners he seemed to be known for in his major blockbusters, he would stand trial like the rest of his fellow dozen or more accussed who had followed his lead and taken to jump the fence of corporate america...
He smiled often, sat attentively and did not complain that he had to take more than a week to stand trial for this case inside a cramped old court house inside a small Ohio town....He played basketball with the local kids that week at a local gym and he often smiled and signed what autographs he could when it made sense to do so.
He even fielded the question well put to him , in front of hundreds of cameras and dozens of tv stations reporters when asked, as he sat down next to me and
said...in response to the most obvious question a judge would ask any regular defendant..."how do you plead sir?"
"not guilty mam, with both mock seriousness and a certain little twang that he was famous for...
I had him sign the paper work at his right hand and then took a quick look up and around at the judge and the camera's and said, "judge, you honor, Mr. Sheen would like to continue his bond at the set amount..."
she with a smile, and a look to the right of the camera's said..."no problem Mr. Sheen will remain out on bond during this trial..."
So i turned and shook the hands of Martin and he said something to the effect, of
"good job counselor!"....
I told him, it was a pleasure and we tried to professionally manage a moment before the camera's each ...before the next accused was sat down next to me, in the rush to get martin the famous defendant accommodated back to the back of the court room, for the entire hearing to be continued.
This was not the Martin of the 1960's, who was also used to being found having to find a lawyer to get out of local dark jail cells, with a certain look of some fear involved.
this martin was however, almost as famous for other reasons, and yet had shown a real geniune committment to the poor and compassion for those of Eastern Ohio and surrounding tri state region.
He was also humble, often playing basketball with the kids in town during his week long jury trial for the criminal trespass charge. He often managed a signature for those when he could and he never displayed any arrogance nor made any complaint of having to be detained on bond for over a week and seated inside a court room in a small extremely poor regional city situated along the upper Ohio River.
A life in the law and most often, one can find the special moments of one's legal career inside very brief moments.
the memorary of seeing how Martin the actor, was seated, uncomfortably inside that dark, damp, unwell jail cell inside the city of east liverpool ohio, looking up and out at me, is something one will not forget.
IN that moment, with the all too loose dangling cord, this famous actor needed a lawyer...a solid one and he needed such a lawyer very badly...
It was at moments like this, one felt one better understood why one even became a lawyer and could participate with reason in such a system of law...
Martin was freed and he was respectful and hopeful about the situation after i had worked to bond him from that local cell, and freeing him to get on his way back to a play that evening in new york...
It was one of kind special moments which burned itself into my memory and career memory itself, quickly setting itself into one's conciousness
a famous actor-activist needed a lawyer, and one that could be trusted at that moment...there were no expensive new york or la lawyers near by and there were no major celebrity lawyers on their way to this town...
it was the simplicity of the surroundings and the humble status of the actor which made for a all too hollywood like setting...it was as if the 1960s and the other martin were not very far away at all...in spirit....
and it was not an act....
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