Greetings all,
Here’s the news about the trial. I hope my description makes sense. I’ve
been in ‘legaleeze’ world for awhile now. Please know that I did not
fight this case out out of fear–to protect myself. Corporate timber will
get nothing from me but resistance. I just don’t want lawsuits to silence
or deter anyone from doing what they must to stop the unconscionable
destruction caused by corporate greed.
PL claims that protesters have caused it damages, loss of money. But
Maxxam’s PL has cost this county hundreds of millions of dollars and the
priceless health of current and future generations to come, for all
species.
——————————————
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote from a Birmingham jail during the Civil
Rights movement that it wasn’t the KKK or other white supremacist groups
and individuals that he believed MOST threatened desegregation and the
Civil Rights movement he was in. It’s the people, he said, who say “We
believe in your cause, but do you have to make such a scene ??…”
Friday, March 17, saw the close of the 4-week-long trial, a SLAPP
[Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation] by Pacific Lumber Company
(“PL”) and Scotia Pacific (“Scopac”). The case came after a lock-down
protest to a protest car at the companies’ headquarters in the company
town of Scotia (August,2002). PL wanted to scare and distract people with
lawsuits and quell dissent– while they ravaged the land heavier than
ever. Yesterday, the jury came back 10 to 2 in the civil trespass case
saying that I and two other (not in court) protesters owe PL and Scopac
2900 dollars as punishment and liability to the Maxxam subsidiaries. BUT
Maxxam and its dirty tricks both in and out of the courtroom were not
subjects allowed to be discussed in the fatally corrupt court. The
action/protest ‘in question’ was an urgent plea to PL to stop destroying
the old growth forests of the Mattole River Watershed during a year that
saw Maxxam/ PL liquidate more forest than in most other years.
I had to fight every moment of the trial to be able to say anything
related to anything REAL! You may remember the Mattole Free State in 2000
and 2001. Well, PL made it so dangerous to be in the woods to stop the
heavy destruction of the awesome old growth doug fir, and hardwood
forests, we went to town to make some strong pleas there. In the early
2000’s, while PL’s President and CEO, Robert Manne (notorious downsizer)
told the media and the local government that he ‘just wanted
critics/protesters to come talk to him’ and characterized us as
unreasonable and as terrorists, he refused to talk to any of us. Before
the action in Scotia, some of the local activists put together the below
urgent proposal—and were blocked by PL at the doors of headquarters trying
to present it– and ignored after phone calls, faxes, emails…
———————————————————
Proposal to End the Conflict in the Mattole Watershed
As concerned community members of Humboldt County, we present the
following proposal as a means of resolving the ongoing dispute over the
Pacific Lumber Company’s logging operations in the Rainbow Ridge area of
the Mattole River watershed.
It is our goal to ensure that further destruction of the Mattole ecosystem
can be averted, and that adverse impacts to company employees and
contractors can be minimized. We hope that the company will consider our
requests while keeping in mind that such an agreement would prevent any
future tragedies such as the death of David “Gypsy” Chain, who was killed
during an attempt to halt illegal logging in 1998. This is something that
no one wants to see repeated. Also, we are afraid that logging operations
in the Mattole area greatly increases the likelyhood of a Sudden Oak Death
(SOD) outbreak there. The Mattole is home to many SOD hosts, for instance:
Bay-Laurels, Madrones, Maples, and several species of Oak. All these
species are common to this area and can be found in large quantities
throughout the Mattole watershed.
We ask that all timber harvesting related activities in the Mattole be
halted at once, until a solution is created that all parties involved can
agree to. Activities that we wish to see end include tree felling, road
building, and the creation of new timber harvest plans. This does not
include legally required surveys.
We ask that the company compensate employees and contractors whose work is
interrupted by conservation efforts.
If these two steps are implemented at this time, direct action to stop
logging operations in the Mattole area will cease.
If the following practices were abolished by your company (MAXXAM/Pacific
Lumber,) we find it likely that direct action on all of your holdings
would cease.
Clear-cutting
Logging Old-Growth
Logging on steep and unstable areas.
Spraying Herbicides.
We hope that you will respect our attempts to resolve this issue in a way
that you have suggested you would be open to. Please remember that there
is
much community support for the effort to save the Mattole watershed.
——————————————————————–
[Also, during this time, PL was lying to residents who were in
‘quiet’negotiations with PL to buy land in the Mattole—to save it. PL
cut it and faked negotiations.
Some of such residents have had their home property flooded due to PL’s
cutting. Many of them have been involved in salmon restoration work in
the Mattole for 25-plus years.]
Back to the trial…
Talking with some of the jurors after the verdict was announced,
they(jurors) said that they had been instructed by the court to think of
the protest as if it happened at their home!(corporate
personhood?)Outrageous.
And DESPITE jurors’ analysis that PL representatives who testified
were often lying, that it was absurd to equate local forest activists with
terrorists as PL has been trying to do, that most of the jurors were
inspired by mine and others’ courage, and that they did not want the
verdict to be seen as approval of PL’s deforestation practices—-the jurors
kept their quick (maybe 4 hours) decision confined to the unjust limits
imposed by the court. Humboldt Judge Bruce Watson did not allow the jury
to be
instructed in the specific, unique law related to First Amendment rights
for protesters at COMPANY HEADQUARTERS IN A PRIVATELY-OWNED TOWN. [Unlike
other private property, people have the right to redress grievances at the
big boss office of a company town, since it’s the governing body like city
hall.] The judge also did not allow the jury to be instructed, as I
requested, in law related to witness credibility (or INcredibility) or to
my defense related to the bad faith and bad conscience behavior with which
the Plaintiff companies come.
Not only did Judge Watson’s court curtail justice by disallowing
legitimate issues of law to be heard by the jury in my defense, but it
also allowed the Plaintiffs, PL and Scopac, to play dirty tricks on the
jurors. For instance, Richard Bettis, PL (**or is it
Scopac’s?)representative intentionally displayed an incendiary book
(‘Eco-Terrorism’ with a drawing of a bomb) in the courtroom and in the
court hallway, and the judge did not take appropriate action for the
intentional jury tainting.
PL will lose on appeal.
The tape that PL brought as evidence was made by the Humboldt Sheriff’s
Dept. (remember the pepper spray incidents?). The tape had 48 different
cuts in it!! The tape that I brought had the entire incident, except
where the videographer was not allowed to see. That tape made a liar out
of every witness PL brought (except me, who they also had testify). PL
had called the Scotia protest a ‘fake car bomb attack’ in a full-page ad
in the local paper 8 months after the protest occurred, and tried to say
it was ’so frightening’ for them. In trial, two of the three PL employee
witnesses said they were so scared to go near the lock-down protest that
they stayed far away and didn’t talk with any protesters until the cops
were there to ‘secure the scene’. But when we watched the tape I
brought, we saw those witnesses, right when they got on the scene,
hanging all over the car lock-down and talking with protesters, unafraid.
One of many lies that should have resulted in the jury finding no true
evidence brought by PL’s case. And the big terrorism LIE came out as
every witness in the case testified that they have never seen violence
from me (or any forest activist). It was clear that PL’s testifying
witnesses (3 employees and a Sheriff Sarg.)are able to rely upon their
knowledge of a non-violence committment by protesters to feel safe. Two
employees who testified, however, regularly assault protesters of PL.
On the other hand, all of the volunteer witnesses testifying for my case
were so solid and real — such fine people. They made me so proud to do
the work I do– with the people I do it with. Throughout the trial I was
accompanied by my friend, Tracy, who is an attorney. She took great
notes of everything that happened in the trial and helped me
tremendously. Representing myself, I had more freedom to argue with the
judge for a glimpse of justice and expose things the court didn’t want me
to say. I am so grateful for Tracy’s help and the encouragement and
advice I received from other righteous attorneys and tireless comrades.
I learned a lot. And it was so comforting to have supporters in the
audience.
Even with all the money behind PL’s litigation, the people, including
myself, will continue to put up a good fight to stop the slaughter of the
Earth and to stop the slaughter of justice. I ONLY PRAY THAT THIS
TRIAL’S STORY INSPIRES FOLKS TO MORE ACTION RATHER THAN LESS.
Next is the Mattole SLAPP with 7 remaining protester/defendants, which
is supposed to start on Monday—but PL has played dirty in that case for
5 years, and didn’t expect such a long trial this last time with only
one person– so we’ll see whether the Mattole trial even happens. Maybe
we’ll get a better judge- I challenged Judge Watson (last week) in the
Mattole case for bias, to try and keep him from hearing the next PL
trial. He is one of the last Humboldt judges left who we haven’t
successfully challenged and disqualified as having bias in favor of the
‘local’ corporate timber industry. Still waiting for the decision about
him.
The potential upcoming trial will likely involve lots of evidence about
what PL has done to destroy everything and everyone it touches.
**Note: none of the witnesses (longtime PL employees) in the Scotia trial
representing the Plaintiffs could testify ‘remembering’ the split of The
Pacific Lumber Company in the 80’s (that created ScoPac) in Maxxam CEO
Hurwitz’s financial scam/scheme— Essentially, the PL witnesses claimed no
memory of the event (the Maxxam takeover) that is arguably responsible for
more damage to the area’s physical, political, economic, and cultural
‘landscape’ than any other event in the last hundred years.
There are many other things I can tell you about the Scotia SLAPP trial,
but I’d love to get away from this computer. PLEASE, don’t be intimidated
by corporate bullying, in the courts or anywhere. We must stand up to the
horrendous attack on the Earth, on the forests, on all that lives. We owe
it to our ancestors, our non-human relatives, and to our descendants.
There is nothing as liberating as knowing the truth—and acting on it.
————————————————————————————–
If you are in the area, please come at 8:30amon April 3rd to Courtroom #1
in Eureka. PL and ScoPac will be requesting ‘injunctive relief’ (an
order to keep me away from Scotia headquarters). It’s like prohibiting
someone from going near city hall… Anyway, show your support and we’ll
hold our heads up high.
If anyone hasn’t heard, Maxxam’s PL and Scopac are selling off the town
of Scotia—including all the houses timber families live in. Cut and run
corporations have no mercy.
—————————————————————————————–
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the
exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”
–Frederick Douglas
“The battle we have fought, and are still fighting for the forests is a
part of the eternal conflict between right and wrong, and we cannot expect
to see the end of it. … So we must count on watching and striving for
these trees, and should always be glad to find anything so surely good and
noble to strive for” – John Muir
“Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide
the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create
unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you
yourself are essential to this World. Believe that! Understand both the
blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to
save the soul of this World. Did you think you were put here for
something else?”
~ Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White
Buffalo Calf Pipe
“Polite conservationists leave no mark save the scars upon the Earth that
could have been prevented had they stood their ground.” — David Ross
Brower
Hoping for Blessings in your Lives,
In Defense of the Earth and Her Peoples,
Verbena