San Jose Radio: Pacifica Sit-In Ends

Summer Reese

The words "you're fired" didn't mean much to Summer Reese.

On Monday an Alameda County judge said it again, and Reese, according to mercurynews.com,  the fired head of the nonprofit that runs Berkeley radio station KPFA 94.1 FM, ended a two-month occupation of her office and went home.

"I respect the law whether it goes my way or not," Reese said Tuesday. "I said all along I'd obey whatever the judge orders."

Reese was fired from her $105,000-a-year job on March 13 by an 11-7 vote of the board of directors of Pacifica Foundation Radio, which runs KPFA and four other radio stations around the country.

She returned a few days later with a pair of bolt cutters. Declaring the board vote illegal, she cut a padlock on the door to the office, and began an around-the-clock occupation with supporters, including her mother.

The board members who backed her then filed a lawsuit seeking to reinstate her. But the board members who wanted her fired went to the same judge and asked for a temporary restraining order barring her from the office.

"Her continued occupation of (Pacifica Foundation Radio's) national office constitutes a trespass and nuisance," Judge Ioana Petrou said in her ruling Monday.

High drama at Pacifica Foundation Radio and KPFA, both headquartered in Berkeley, is nothing new. There have been occasional power struggles over the past 15 years, mostly owing to budgetary problems.

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