Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Timber thugs attack Remedy tree-sit
Hired thugs of Maxxam/Pacific Lumber are right now, Monday March 17, 2003, trying to forcibly remove tree-sitter Remedy from an old growth redwood near Eureka, CA, putting her life in danger. Remedy has vowed to nonviolently resist. She has occupied the giant tree for one week short of a year.
Maxxam/Pacific Lumber hired thugs are right now attempting to forcibly remove tree-sitter Remedy from a giant old-growth redwood tree near Eureka, CA. Earth First!er Darryl Cherney sounded the alarm on KMUD radio about 8:50 AM today, Monday, March 17, 2003. Cherney went on the air to sound the alarm, declare an emergency endangering the life of Remedy, and call for witnesses to come out to the site on Greenwood Heights Road near Freshwater, which is northeast of Eureka.
Remedy has said in radio interviews that she will nonviolently resist being removed from the tree. The attempt to remove her from her perch 150 feet up in the giant tree will likely put her life in danger. Maxxam has recently been using contracted tree climbing thugs to forcibly remove tree-sitters.
Other KMUD reports said there is a large law enforcement presence, including deputy sheriffs, CHP and other agencies. They have closed the public road which adjoins the treesits, and a line of officers reportedly pushed member of the public down the road to prevent their witnessing what happens. They have told residents of the area, the majority of whom support the tree-sits, that the road will be closed for the next three days while operations continue to remove the sitters.
According to other reports just in at 1:35 pm, longtime forest activist Naomi Wagner and two others were arrested today after they locked down to the base of Remedy's tree. They have been taken to Humboldt County jail, charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. Climbers are reportedly up in the tree with Remedy and that of another sitter named Wren. They are trying to figure out how to remove them.
Remedy has been receiving national publicity in recent weeks, including major newspapers and TV networks. A rally to mark the anniversary is scheduled for next weekend. Maxxam obviously intends to forcibly end her tree-sit before the additional publicity that her one-year anniversary celebration would bring. They're afraid of another Julia Butterfly, whose 2-year tree sit garnered worldwide media and public attention on the company's liquidation logging of the few remaining giant redwoods.
Maxxam Corporation last week obtained a temporary court order against all of the approximately 20 tree-sitters currently defending old-growth redwoods in Humboldt County. Their operatives nailed the court order to the base of some occupied trees last Thursday.
Some beleive Maxxam is acting now against Remedy and other sitters in an effort to shift public attention away from the $245 million fraud suit filed against the company in February by new Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Last Tuesday more than 50 log trucks surrounded a meeting of the county governing board as loggers and sawmill employees packed the meeting room to agitate against allowing the DA to contract for legal help from a prominent Bay Area law firm which specializes in corporate fraud cases. Timber interests are trying to organize a recall of Gallegos, who scored an upset electoral victory over longtime pro-timber DA Terry Farmer last November. Gallegos campaigned on a platform that included equal protection of the laws for both forest reform activists and timber companies.
Remedy has said in radio interviews that she will nonviolently resist being removed from the tree. The attempt to remove her from her perch 150 feet up in the giant tree will likely put her life in danger. Maxxam has recently been using contracted tree climbing thugs to forcibly remove tree-sitters.
Other KMUD reports said there is a large law enforcement presence, including deputy sheriffs, CHP and other agencies. They have closed the public road which adjoins the treesits, and a line of officers reportedly pushed member of the public down the road to prevent their witnessing what happens. They have told residents of the area, the majority of whom support the tree-sits, that the road will be closed for the next three days while operations continue to remove the sitters.
According to other reports just in at 1:35 pm, longtime forest activist Naomi Wagner and two others were arrested today after they locked down to the base of Remedy's tree. They have been taken to Humboldt County jail, charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. Climbers are reportedly up in the tree with Remedy and that of another sitter named Wren. They are trying to figure out how to remove them.
Remedy has been receiving national publicity in recent weeks, including major newspapers and TV networks. A rally to mark the anniversary is scheduled for next weekend. Maxxam obviously intends to forcibly end her tree-sit before the additional publicity that her one-year anniversary celebration would bring. They're afraid of another Julia Butterfly, whose 2-year tree sit garnered worldwide media and public attention on the company's liquidation logging of the few remaining giant redwoods.
Maxxam Corporation last week obtained a temporary court order against all of the approximately 20 tree-sitters currently defending old-growth redwoods in Humboldt County. Their operatives nailed the court order to the base of some occupied trees last Thursday.
Some beleive Maxxam is acting now against Remedy and other sitters in an effort to shift public attention away from the $245 million fraud suit filed against the company in February by new Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Last Tuesday more than 50 log trucks surrounded a meeting of the county governing board as loggers and sawmill employees packed the meeting room to agitate against allowing the DA to contract for legal help from a prominent Bay Area law firm which specializes in corporate fraud cases. Timber interests are trying to organize a recall of Gallegos, who scored an upset electoral victory over longtime pro-timber DA Terry Farmer last November. Gallegos campaigned on a platform that included equal protection of the laws for both forest reform activists and timber companies.
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
A KMUD news update at 3:55 pm reported that another Freshwater treesitter within sight of Remedy and Wren said that as of 3:30 pm the two were about to be removed from their trees and arrested. The sitter said high-speed grinders were being hauled up into the trees to cut the two longtime sitters loose from lockboxes which secured them.
There have been several arrests of tree-sit supporters earlier in the day as a large contingent of sheriff's deputies, CHP and other law enforcement acted as though they were private security for Maxxam/Pacific Lumber. Of course, that's the way it has always been behind the Redwood Curtain.
Deputies threatened to use pepper spray on the tree-sitters if they refused to unlock, a tactic which the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has clearly said constitutes "unreasonable force" in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Humboldt County, Sheriff Gary Philp and ex-sheriff Lewis are being sued by Nine Headwaters Forest defenders over 1997 incidents where deputies used pepper spray on Q-Tips thrust into the eyes of locked down demonstrators.
Major newspaper editorials and Amnesty International branded the tactic as "torture" or "tantamount to torture" when police videos of the incidents were broadcast on national TV. A second trial in the case was granted by the appeals court, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The trial is set to begin May 12, 2003 in Eureka. The county refuses to settle the case despite the clear appellate ruling against them, apparently clinging irrationally to the belief that they will be able to keep on using pepper spray torture against nonviolent activists. It appears Humboldt authorities think the U.S. Constitution does not apply behind the Redwood Curtain.
The Humboldt pepper spray plaintiffs have a website at http://www.nopepperspray.org
For a good illustrated article about the Freshwater tree-sits see the Sacramento News & Review cover story at the website http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2003-03-06/cover.asp
There have been several arrests of tree-sit supporters earlier in the day as a large contingent of sheriff's deputies, CHP and other law enforcement acted as though they were private security for Maxxam/Pacific Lumber. Of course, that's the way it has always been behind the Redwood Curtain.
Deputies threatened to use pepper spray on the tree-sitters if they refused to unlock, a tactic which the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has clearly said constitutes "unreasonable force" in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Humboldt County, Sheriff Gary Philp and ex-sheriff Lewis are being sued by Nine Headwaters Forest defenders over 1997 incidents where deputies used pepper spray on Q-Tips thrust into the eyes of locked down demonstrators.
Major newspaper editorials and Amnesty International branded the tactic as "torture" or "tantamount to torture" when police videos of the incidents were broadcast on national TV. A second trial in the case was granted by the appeals court, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The trial is set to begin May 12, 2003 in Eureka. The county refuses to settle the case despite the clear appellate ruling against them, apparently clinging irrationally to the belief that they will be able to keep on using pepper spray torture against nonviolent activists. It appears Humboldt authorities think the U.S. Constitution does not apply behind the Redwood Curtain.
The Humboldt pepper spray plaintiffs have a website at http://www.nopepperspray.org
For a good illustrated article about the Freshwater tree-sits see the Sacramento News & Review cover story at the website http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2003-03-06/cover.asp
How dare Pacific Lumber remove the tree-sitters from the land (and the trees) that Pacific Lumber owns!!! :o
thanks for the updates, please keep them coming.
It's about time that PL removes the tree sitters. They should have done it a long time ago. The local citizen's are fed up with them and there trash. There are better ways to stand up for what you believe in. Most of these people are gullible college students that have not found there purpose in the REAL world.
i'm sure you're having a great time being a part of the problem working at Wal-Mart and then coming home and complaining about immigrants as you drink bud and watch Married with Children. Great life, glad you found your purpose.
Earth First! represent!!!!!!
Earth First! represent!!!!!!
i'm sure you're having a great time being a part of the problem working at Wal-Mart and then coming home and complaining about immigrants as you drink bud and watch Married with Children. Great life, glad you found your purpose.
Earth First! represent!!!!!!
Earth First! represent!!!!!!
How can Pacific Lumber claim ownership of a magnificent redwood? Nobody at PL could have made that tree, or the soil it is growing out of. The challenge is to revoke the concept of land ownership. If someone living nearby decides to pollute/destroy a stream just because it is in "his" land, what about the people living downstream?
This goes back to the beginning of European immigrants onto the North American continent, the concept of property is fallacy, the forests belong to everyone, most of all the people who take care of the trees, bond with them and sleep in them, held safe by the loving embrace of redwood branches...
Pacific Lumber does not have any rights to that land or the peaceful trees that make it their home, all they have is heaps of rusted machinery and worthless money..
This goes back to the beginning of European immigrants onto the North American continent, the concept of property is fallacy, the forests belong to everyone, most of all the people who take care of the trees, bond with them and sleep in them, held safe by the loving embrace of redwood branches...
Pacific Lumber does not have any rights to that land or the peaceful trees that make it their home, all they have is heaps of rusted machinery and worthless money..
Only a whacko-freak wants to sleep in the "loving embrace of redwood branches." Most folks prefer beds. Aren't some of you more intelligent conservationists embarrassed by this wierdo stuff? Ewoks are only movie characters, really. And for all of you out there who have never met an activist, the reason they get slammed for stinking, is that they really do smell worse than you can imagine even when they do have access to running water. Nobody wants to be around them, let alone talk with them or touch them. I think they enjoy being repulsed.
I have an uncle and some friends who struggle against the world. Their bosses are jerks, their neighbors are shallow, their friends are effervescent and briefly transient. They don't get the breaks. The government is against them, and everything is unfair. I'll tell you the secret. It's them. The world, the laws, the man is out to get them because they are deluded and don't get it. They face a long and unending struggle because the world is not going to change. You can claim to be ethicists against the eurocentric ideology of ownership, but that is the way of the world, people, and you have a global fight that you can't win. You will grow old and tired, and then you will relent and bathe, put on real clothes (not rags), get a job in corperate generica and regale your children on you enlightened past life.
DING DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD.
I have an uncle and some friends who struggle against the world. Their bosses are jerks, their neighbors are shallow, their friends are effervescent and briefly transient. They don't get the breaks. The government is against them, and everything is unfair. I'll tell you the secret. It's them. The world, the laws, the man is out to get them because they are deluded and don't get it. They face a long and unending struggle because the world is not going to change. You can claim to be ethicists against the eurocentric ideology of ownership, but that is the way of the world, people, and you have a global fight that you can't win. You will grow old and tired, and then you will relent and bathe, put on real clothes (not rags), get a job in corperate generica and regale your children on you enlightened past life.
DING DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD.
Please, I beg supporters and witnesses to post more information--the whole nation is watching, holding our breath, and we aren't getting enough information.
if you have that kind of a mindset, then you have no place inn the revolution. you will be washed away like so many others when they have the carpet of false security ripped from underneath their feet. just think, in 20 years, trade dependant economy will not be functional on the basis that oil, clean water, topsoil, all our precious nnatural resources will have been squandered due to unsustainable living practices. however if you begin walking the path of sustainablility, you will not have to fight and struggle against thee government, you will simply become the wsolution, annd the revolution will pass over you will little or no harm done.
If you're against us then say something intellegent. Don't patronize us.
Remedy and Wren are now down. They were brought down and hauled off to jail on 3-17-03. P.L. and law enforcement will be doing this all week. We need more support!
There has also been a few cases of cop brutality (unnessessary pepper sprays and wacks with billy clubs). More to come!
-Turtle Shell
There has also been a few cases of cop brutality (unnessessary pepper sprays and wacks with billy clubs). More to come!
-Turtle Shell
Listen now:
Tree-sitters Remedy and Wren were both cut loose from their lockboxes and arrested late Monday. Remedy was released on bail, but Wren and three supporters arrested yesterday remained in jail.
Meanwhile, both Remedy's and Wren's trees were reoccupied by new tree-sitters on new platforms during the night. So far today, there has been no action to remove them. Instead, Maxxam forces are focusing on a group of interconnected treesits called the Lower Village.
Remedy was forcibly removed just four days short of a full year in the tree, never touching the ground during that time.
More than 50 supporters and witnesses gathered yesterday at the police roadblock, and according to one report some pepper spray was used. Forest defenders are not backing down. Supporters continued arriving yesterday and overnight, and more actions are expected.
In advance of this action, CHP revoked the press credentials of SF Indymedia reporters on the pretext that SF Indymedia does not qualify as a news organization.
A sheriff's spokesperson on KMUD News Monday evening said that Greenwood Heights Road, a public road, was closed at the request of Maxxam/Pacific Lumber simply because there would be an active logging operation adjacent to the road. Clearly that is a pretext, considering the dozens of police of various agencies who were on the scene Monday morning. The road will be closed from 8 AM to 5 PM daily through next Friday.
I'll post a more complete update with names and quotes later today, possibily as a new story rather than as a comment to this post.
As I was finishing this, KMUD broadcast a 10:30 AM update and interviews with Remedy and others. It's an excellent short program with lots of information. I'll post an MP3 of the 24 min. program along with this comment. It's a 20 kbps file, 3.5 MB
In a surprising and disturbing move, cops arrested longtime Earth First! organizer Karen Pickett of Bay Area Headwaters Coalition, who reportedly was not trespassing and was merely observing and taking photos.
Darryl Cherney reported from the scene, calling for additional nonviolent supporters to come to the area. He gave his phone number as 707-923-4949 for people to call for more information.
By the way, the SF Police were exposed as monitoring SF Indymedia for the purpose of spying on activist plans. That may explain the number of dumb troll comments that appear. Best thing is to ignore disruptive comments.
Meanwhile, both Remedy's and Wren's trees were reoccupied by new tree-sitters on new platforms during the night. So far today, there has been no action to remove them. Instead, Maxxam forces are focusing on a group of interconnected treesits called the Lower Village.
Remedy was forcibly removed just four days short of a full year in the tree, never touching the ground during that time.
More than 50 supporters and witnesses gathered yesterday at the police roadblock, and according to one report some pepper spray was used. Forest defenders are not backing down. Supporters continued arriving yesterday and overnight, and more actions are expected.
In advance of this action, CHP revoked the press credentials of SF Indymedia reporters on the pretext that SF Indymedia does not qualify as a news organization.
A sheriff's spokesperson on KMUD News Monday evening said that Greenwood Heights Road, a public road, was closed at the request of Maxxam/Pacific Lumber simply because there would be an active logging operation adjacent to the road. Clearly that is a pretext, considering the dozens of police of various agencies who were on the scene Monday morning. The road will be closed from 8 AM to 5 PM daily through next Friday.
I'll post a more complete update with names and quotes later today, possibily as a new story rather than as a comment to this post.
As I was finishing this, KMUD broadcast a 10:30 AM update and interviews with Remedy and others. It's an excellent short program with lots of information. I'll post an MP3 of the 24 min. program along with this comment. It's a 20 kbps file, 3.5 MB
In a surprising and disturbing move, cops arrested longtime Earth First! organizer Karen Pickett of Bay Area Headwaters Coalition, who reportedly was not trespassing and was merely observing and taking photos.
Darryl Cherney reported from the scene, calling for additional nonviolent supporters to come to the area. He gave his phone number as 707-923-4949 for people to call for more information.
By the way, the SF Police were exposed as monitoring SF Indymedia for the purpose of spying on activist plans. That may explain the number of dumb troll comments that appear. Best thing is to ignore disruptive comments.
The attached file is a streaming link to the MP3 file uploaded with my previous comment.
KMUD broadcast a 10:30 AM update and interviews with Remedy and others. It's an excellent short program with lots of information. 24 min., 20 kbps MP3 file, 3.5 MB
In another brief KMUD update at 12:10 PM today, a Freshwater resident named Stormy reported that she could see a woman tree-sitter being lowered from her tree with her arms and legs tied. She said peaceful, nonviolent people were being arrested and abused by police, and that this was unacceptable to the community.
In the previous KMUD today, it was reported that three people required first aid yesterday evening for pepper spray in the eyes. Others were struck with police batons. These police assaults happened when forest defense supporters were sitting on the closed road (on the public side of the police line) and police decided to force them to back up.
According to Darryl Cherney, the road closure has been abandoned because residents of the road complained that they had been given no notice. As of about 11 AM today, people were able to use Greenwood Heights Road. The action today is focused on the Lower Village treesits, located about 1.4 mi. up the road from Three Corners Market.
KMUD broadcast a 10:30 AM update and interviews with Remedy and others. It's an excellent short program with lots of information. 24 min., 20 kbps MP3 file, 3.5 MB
In another brief KMUD update at 12:10 PM today, a Freshwater resident named Stormy reported that she could see a woman tree-sitter being lowered from her tree with her arms and legs tied. She said peaceful, nonviolent people were being arrested and abused by police, and that this was unacceptable to the community.
In the previous KMUD today, it was reported that three people required first aid yesterday evening for pepper spray in the eyes. Others were struck with police batons. These police assaults happened when forest defense supporters were sitting on the closed road (on the public side of the police line) and police decided to force them to back up.
According to Darryl Cherney, the road closure has been abandoned because residents of the road complained that they had been given no notice. As of about 11 AM today, people were able to use Greenwood Heights Road. The action today is focused on the Lower Village treesits, located about 1.4 mi. up the road from Three Corners Market.
I have an update: I treesitter just went poop into a bucket.
I have a new update, as of 2:10pm on Tuesday. The bucket of poop was lower down on a rope for somebody to bury in a hole.
Update as of 3:17pm Tuesday: Somebody has buried the poop and then washed out the bucket. The bucket is now ready to be used again!
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$230.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network