Almost three weeks after Occupy San Jose was formed, Debra Figone, San Jose’s city manager, directed police to arrest eight protesters in the early morning of Friday, Oct. 21. A city ordinance forbids people from camping on city property, and Figone suggested the decision was made because of health and safety issues.

Whether it was fatigue from sleeping on the sidewalk, a lack of company in the cold night or anonymous death threats, which at least one outspoken female member received, the occupation in San Jose was noticeably dwindling in bodies and enthusiasm as the arrests started.

And then Shaun O’Kelly, known to his friends as Cracker, went climbing. For more than two weeks he has been sleeping on a 36-foot wall at San Jose’s City Hall.

Were it not for O’Kelly’s actions, it’s quite possible the Occupy Wall Street movement would have only two homes in the Bay Area: San Francisco and Oakland. Fifteen people in San Jose have been arrested and 28 have been cited, according to police, and Cracker was the first on both counts.

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