diff --git a/json-path/pom.xml b/json-path/pom.xml
index 43b124aa..84d775e1 100644
--- a/json-path/pom.xml
+++ b/json-path/pom.xml
@@ -34,10 +34,6 @@
             <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
             <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
             <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java
index b67faf5d..8745d260 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java
@@ -101,14 +101,14 @@ import static org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate.*;
  */
 public class JsonPath {
 
+    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(JsonPath.class.getName());
+
     private static Pattern DEFINITE_PATH_PATTERN = Pattern.compile(".*(\\.\\.|\\*|\\[[\\\\/]|\\?|,|:\\s?]|\\[\\s?:|>|\\(|<|=|\\+).*");
     private static Pattern INVALID_PATH_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("[^\\?\\+=\\-\\*/!]\\(");
 
 
     private PathTokenizer tokenizer;
     private LinkedList<Filter> filters;
-    
-    private final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(JsonPath.class);
 
     private JsonPath(String jsonPath, Filter[] filters) {
 
@@ -126,7 +126,9 @@ public class JsonPath {
 
         this.tokenizer = new PathTokenizer(jsonPath);
 
-        logger.debug("New JsonPath:\n{}", this.tokenizer);
+        if(LOG.isDebugEnabled()){
+            LOG.debug("New JsonPath:\n{}", this.tokenizer.toString());
+        }
 
         this.filters = new LinkedList<Filter>();
         this.filters.addAll(asList(filters));
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 821991cb..50c83fd6 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -261,7 +261,10 @@
         Global dependencies
         ==================================
         -->
-
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
 
         <!--
         ==================================