Actor Ed Begley Jr. shimmies up old oak to protest its move

Saturday December 14, 2002

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) Actor-activist Ed Begley Jr. overcame his fear of heights and shimmied up an old oak tree on Saturday as part of an effort to keep it from being moved to make way for a road-widening project.

Begley joined John Quigley, an environmental activist who has spent the past 44 days in the branches.

``I'm not a climber,'' Begley said. ``I'm not good with heights, but it was very important, so I put that aside and just climbed on up.''

Begley hung out in the 400-year-old tree for 90 minutes. He supports asking the developer to postpone the road-widening project, possibly for years, or rerouting the road around the oak.

The tree became a rallying point for Southern California environmentalists after plans were disclosed to cut it down.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)