Their father was visibly angry, and, Garett and Elizabeth Pierson said, they became angry, too.

They are not landowners, but, the 16-year-olds said, they identified with the issue they perceived was at hand — private-property rights.

“Slowly but surely, our American God-given rights have been taken away,” Garett Pierson said.

So, the two founded the Humboldt Property Alliance as a direct result of a Humboldt County Board of Supervisors’ interim ordinance passed Oct. 9.

The ordinance suspends building permit entitlements on all timber production zone lands in the county.

HPA held a protest/petition signing Saturday on the steps of the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka.

During the succession of podium speakers, passing cars and trucks honked their horns in response to a variety of picket signs. The sizable gathering ranged from families with small children to people like Joe Russ, whose family is notable in the ranching community, to Supervisor Roger Rodoni.

The latter dissented on the Oct. 9 and an Oct. 23 supervisors’ vote, which was to have the county Planning Commission develop two ordinances addressing single-family residential development on TPZ lands.

The supervisors are due to hold a public hearing on Tuesday at approximately 1:30 p.m. or shortly thereafter to consider extending the interim ordinance.

They were not compelled to hold the hearing on Tuesday; they had 45 days by law. However, a staff report said, the supervisors will not be meeting on Nov. 13 or 20.

Supervisors Jill Geist and Bonnie Neely previously said they introduced the interim ordinance as a result of Pacific Lumber Co.’s proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan, which includes the sale of 21,800 acres of second-growth commercial timberland for a Redwood Ranch Development — 136 residential “trophy” parcels.

Staff has said the plan potentially could conflict with state law as outlined in the 1982 California Timberland Productivity Act.

California Government Code Section 51104 (h) states a “compatible use” is one that “does not significantly detract from the use of the property for, or inhibit, growing and harvesting timber” on TPZ land.

In that same section, there is a phrase that found its way into supervisors’ discussions on Oct. 9 and is also in county planning staff’s proposed revisions of the county TPZ code — “A residence or other structure necessary for the management of land zoned as timberland production.”

That depends on how one reads state law, and, Eureka attorney Bill Barnum said, county planning staff is misrepresenting that law. He said the key word in the aforementioned sentence is “or.”

He spoke about his concerns during the Saturday protest, as well.

Barnum also has taken county planning staff to task for, in his opinion, ignoring the supervisors’ Oct. 23 direction to have the Planning Commission “develop, hear, consider and recommend” two draft ordinances to the supervisors.

A revised TPZ ordinance, including several newly composed sentences in the “Special Restrictions Regarding Residences” section, will be heard first by the Forestry Review Committee Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Those aforementioned sentences include: “Credible evidence has been provided that demonstrates that the residence is necessary for the management of the timberland.”

“Obviously most of the community doesn’t own TPZ land,” Elizabeth Pierson said during an interview before Saturday’s speeches began. “Everybody in the community should be concerned about property rights, in general.”

At a little past noon, speakers addressed the crowd.

Elizabeth Marshall Maybee said she has heard supervisors discuss the beauty of the redwoods.

She spoke about what she considers the beauty of liberty and personal freedom.

Debbie Provolt also spoke about freedom, and her belief that revising the TPZ ordinance to include a special-permit or a conditional-use permit process “will not help the timberlands in this county.”

“You will have to prove your house is needed for the management of the timber,” she said.

Russ said the interim ordinance was a first for him.

He formerly was on the county Planning Commission and has served on the California Board of Forestry.

“I’ve never seen anything in my life that paralleled what happened the other day,” he said.

He, like previous speakers, gave his opinion that the majority ought to make itself heard and fight for what it believes.