HEADWATERS PROTESTERS TORTURED BY SHERIFFS Shocking footage shows deputies applying chemical agent directly on eyes of passive protesters
See "www.HeadwatersForest.org" for the entire story (includes articles from the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, CNN, MSNBC, and ABC, and links to video on the Web of the brutal pepper spraying incident).
----------------------- UPDATES -----------------------
1. Quoting Sheriff Lewis: "Pepper spray 'best option'"
2. Activists' hearing postponed - Press Democrat Nov. 5, 1997
3. HEADWATERS ACTIVISTS RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL from "ENVIRONEWS AMERISCAN SUMMARY TO MIDNIGHT NOVEMBER 4, 1997"
4. H E A D W A T E R S F O R E S T U P D A T E 10-28-97
5. H E A D W A T E R S A C T I O N A L E R T 10-28-97
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----------------------- 1. Quoting Sheriff Lewis: "Still feel it was right thing to do" -----------------------
An article titled "Sheriff: Pepper spray 'best option'" appeared in the print edition of today's Press Democrat, but is not available online. Subtitled "Still feel it was right thing to do," and written by Press Democrat staff writer Mike Geniella, the article reported that the "Embattled Humboldt County Sheriff Dennis Lewis, who has found himself in the center of a national furor over the use of pepper spray on nonviolent protesters, offered no apologies Tuesday for a tactic he defended as safe and reasonable."
The following quotes of Sheriff Lewis appeared in this article:
"Given everything we face, I still feel it was the right thing to do."
He says he went ahead with it because "it seemed the safest tactic. It still does."
"...If people could only understand why we chose to do what we did after years of dealing with demonstrators, sometimes nearly every day, they might see it differently."
"...But we have a job to do. When someone asks us to remove demonstrators from their private property or offices, we have no choice. It has to be done."
"I'm not ashamed of what we've done. We have a good record, and we will stand on it."
FYI: The telephone number of the Humboldt County Sheriff Department is 707-445-7251
----------------------- 2. Activists' hearing postponed - Press Democrat Nov. 5, 1997 -----------------------
from pressdemo.com
Nov. 5, 1997
Activists' hearing postponed
By MARY CALLAHAN Press Democrat staff writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- Environmental activists who claim they were brutally "tortured" with liquid pepper spray during videotaped sit-ins in Humboldt County will have to wait another week for a chance to ask a federal judge to ban such treatment in the future.
Judge Vaughn R. Walker postponed a Tuesday hearing until Nov. 14 because demonstrators' lawyers had not properly notified officials on the other side. Activists, who gathered outside the federal court rallying against force by police, are requesting an injunction barring police use of the chemical agent in situations involving peaceful protests.
In seeking postponement, Nancy Delaney, attorney for the Eureka Police Department and the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department, said officers deserve an opportunity to properly prepare their case.
"We're talking about a situation where law enforcement are being asked not to use something they believe is being used to avoid injury," she said.
But attorneys for the activists raised new questions about the incidents and alleged that authorities falsified reports about the number of times some protesters were daubed or sprayed with the caustic substance.
The tapes suggest, the lawyers said, that some of the protesters -- locked together with V-shaped metal sleeves -- had begun to free themselves when others in the group were sprayed or swabbed with cotton swabs containing the substance a second time.
"The point is once the circle's broken you can cart the remainder of them out of there easily," said Macon Cowles, an attorney for the activists.
Arcata attorney Mark Harris also said law enforcement officials withheld needed first-aid in order to prolong and exacerbate protesters' pain, "so the abuse was two-pronged."
"Pepper spray is designed to get worse without any kind of first aid," he said.
The attorneys additionally announced that two more tapes of recent protests ultimately will be made public, once they're turned over to lawyers themselves, and "we don't know what the new videotapes hold," Cowles said.
One of the protesters, Lisa Marie Sanderson-Fox, said it would have been enough to have a chance to state her message before she would have complied with police requests to vacate Congressman Frank Riggs' office in the last of three protests in which the pepper spray was used.
"We have a moral right to commit civil disobedience," she said.
Attorney Delaney continued to defend law enforcement's actions.
"The facts will demonstrate the deputies acted appropriately," Delaney told reporters. "When you learn everything about it, you will understand that what the officers were trying to do was prevent, rather than cause, serious injury."
The debate, aired both in the federal courthouse and outside, where scores of activists gathered to rally against the use of force by law enforcement, springs from three protests in which police and sheriff's deputies used cotton swabs to apply liquid pepper spray around protesters' eyes.
One Oakland woman featured prominently in nationally aired tape footage also had the substance sprayed at her eyes from just inches away and said she still feels the effects but declined to discuss them Tuesday.
Demonstrators were protesting a pending $380 million congressional deal to acquire the 7,500- acre Headwaters forest from Pacific Lumber Co. owner Maxxam Corp.
Environmentalists want legislation preserving a full 60,000 acres in and around the ancient redwood grove, the largest old- growth forest still in private hands.
The videotaped actions took place Sept. 25 at Pacific Lumber's Scotia headquarters, Oct. 3 at a logging site called Bear Creek and Oct. 16 in Congressman Frank Riggs' Eureka office.
It's the Oct. 3 police tape that has not yet been turned over to environmentalists' legal team, Harris said.
Moreover, a second videotape of the Scotia incidents apparently was made by representatives for Humboldt County's insurer, Harris said.
Molly Burton, 18, one of those subjected to the spray, said, "Why we were there in the first place, I feel, is more important than the fact that we were pepper sprayed."
But many of the nine involved in the protests admitted the pepper-spray incidents have drawn attention and, they believe, support to their cause.
"I feel a lot of hope, actually, that people are so outraged," said Sanderson-Fox, one of those arrested in Riggs' office three weeks ago.
"I think it's kind of turning out to be a blessing in disguise," she said. "It's kind of sad that this is what it took, though."
Copyright 1997, The Press Democrat
----------------------- 3. HEADWATERS ACTIVISTS RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL from "ENVIRONEWS AMERISCAN SUMMARY TO MIDNIGHT NOVEMBER 4, 1997" -----------------------
HEADWATERS ACTIVISTS RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL - More than 200 people gathered in front of the California state capitol at Sacramento Monday to demand that all 60,000 acres of the Headwaters ancient redwood forest in northern California be preserved. Pacific Lumber Company, owned by Charles Hurwitz, has plans to cut all but 7,500 acres which are to be purchased in a joint federal-state arrangement. Giant puppets, musicians and dancers enlivened the rally. Speakers included several of the young people who suffered pepper spray applied by police directly into their eyes during two earlier demonstrations aimed at protecting the ancient redwoods. That police action is now the central issue in a federal lawsuit filed by Headwaters Forest Defense against the Humboldt Country sheriffs department and the Eureka police department. Rally organizer Robert Parker told the crowd, "The Headwaters protection issue goes right to the heart of government accountability and public trust."
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----------------------- 4. H E A D W A T E R S F O R E S T U P D A T E 10-28-97 -----------------------
H E A D W A T E R S F O R E S T U P D A T E Update 10-28-97 -- Tuesday, October 28, 1997 [Look for the adjoining Action Alert]
INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL OUT OF COMMITTEE, SAILS THROUGH HOUSE Headwaters activists call for presidential veto
The Interior Conference Committee has loaded up the Interior Appropriations bill with favors for the timber industry which threaten not only Headwaters, but also our national parks, national forests, and other public lands. Clinton must keep his promise to veto this bill!
The anti-Headwaters language...
--> A provision eliminating the critical habitat designation for the marbled murrelet -- the sparrow-sized seabird dependent on old-growth forests for survival -- once an "incidental take permit" is issued on lands covered by the HCP.
--> Language giving the authorizing committees the ability to impose any number of additional burdensome conditions on the acquisitions through riders to the FY97 Supplemental Appropriations bill early next year.
--> The killer provision requiring Congressional authorization before any more funds can be appropriated to enlarge the Headwaters Forest beyond the proposed acquisition.
Working to defeat the bill, Representatives George Miller (D-CA) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) sent a letter on October 25 to their colleagues which read, in part, "Are you tired of anti-environmental riders in appropriations conference reports?... then oppose the conference report." The administration should have authority to acquire the 7,500 acres of Headwaters Fores and other threatened lands without Congressional action. The Interior Conference Committee's decision to send the bill to Republican controlled committees for approval virtually guaranteed these hostile amendments. Clinton should send a clear message that he won't accept this dangerous precedent and veto the bill.
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D.C. FAITH COMMUNITY TAKES ACTION FOR THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Several religious organizations held a Capitol Hill press conference this week expressing their commitment to protect endangered species. Representatives of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, Christian Environmental Coalition, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, American Baptists Churches USA, Presbyterian Church, and the United Methodist Church endorsed the principles embodied in HR 2351, and said the Senate's S. 1180, would not protect endangered species. "Protecting endangered species is not only a matter of politics or economics, but one that touches our deepest values," said Thom Fassett of the United Methodist Church.
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JANUARY PRAYER FOR THE REDWOODS SITE COORDINATORS NEEDED
Preparations are now underway for the Prayer for the Redwoods. The interfaith, clergy-led events will be held at downtown locations at noon on January 15th all over northern California. Headwaters Sanctuary Project needs volunteers to help with outreach and organization in various cities, including Berkeley, Oakland, Walnut Creek, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Redding. If you would like to help spread the word to congregations in your community, or would just like more information to take to your place of worship, please contact Susan at Headwaters Sanctuary Project at 510.444.4710 or susans@nextgeneration.org
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WEEKLY FEATURE -- HEADWATERS GROVE DESCRIPTION
OWL CREEK GROVE AND RESIDUALS (approximately 748 acres) Ranging from 750 to 3,172 feet in elevation, Owl Creek constitutes an ecotone transition from lowland redwood forest to upland prairie and butte. Residual stands stem from the South Fork Yager Creek and main Yager Creek drainages up to the intact grove/prairie/butte core habitat. Giant redwoods and Douglas-fir provide habitat for federally listed threatened marbled murrelets and spotted owls. Black Butte, the highest point within the 60,000-acre Headwaters Forest, constitutes prime breeding and roosting habitat for sensitive raptor populations such as bald and golden eagles, northern goshawk, and peregrine falcon. Owl Creek has a profusion of small streams feeding into its deep ravines and rushing waters. Owl Creek Grove retains great beauty and habitat value, and its rugged and varied terrain harbors some of the most diverse vegetative and wildlife compositions within the Headwaters Forest area.
From the Headwaters Forest Stewardship Plan, Oct. 1997. To view a map of the Headwaters Forest, aim your browser at... http://www.headwatersforest.org/about/about_HWF.html
----------------------- 5. H E A D W A T E R S A C T I O N A L E R T 10-28-97 -----------------------
H E A D W A T E R S A C T I O N A L E R T O c t o b e r 2 8 , 1 9 9 7 [Look for the adjoining Weekly Update]
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CALL CLINTON AND DEMAND A VETO OF THE INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL!
The Interior Conference Committee has loaded up the Interior Appropriations bill with favors for the timber industry which threaten not only Headwaters, but also our national parks, national forests, and other public lands. Clinton must keep his promise to veto this bill!
The anti-Headwaters language...
--> A provision eliminating the critical habitat designation for the marbled murrelet -- the sparrow-sized seabird dependent on old-growth forests for survival -- once an "incidental take permit" is issued on lands covered by the HCP.
--> Language giving the authorizing committees the ability to impose any number of additional burdensome conditions on the acquisitions through riders to the FY97 Supplemental Appropriations bill early next year.
--> The killer provision requiring Congressional authorization before any more funds can be appropriated to enlarge the Headwaters Forest beyond the proposed acquisition.
Other anti-environmental provisions in the bill...
--> An expansion of the so-called "Purchaser Roads Credit Program," a taxpayer subsidy to the timber industry, despite the fact that both the House and Senate were just one vote shy of cutting the subsidy altogether. This subsidy encourages excessive roadbuilding in our National Forests and allows timber companies to log in remote areas with steep, unstable terrain where they would not have been able to afford to build roads without the subsidized with tax money. Such roadbuilding projects lead to increased erosion and mudslides, polluted rivers, and silted streams.
--> A major strike against the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which would tie the LWCF up in political red tape. The LWCF, funded by a fee on oil companies that drill off our coasts, has been used to purchase and protect millions of acres of critical and threatened land and water resources over the years. The bill would allow these funds to be siphoned off to pay for maintenance on existing properties, rather than to purchase new acreage. This provision would also require Congress to vote on the merits of specific projects, rather than to allow scientists, local communities, and professional land managers to decide on an area's importance. This is unnecessary, precedent-setting language which would politicize the process and prevent the government from purchasing and protecting critically important areas.
The administration should have authority to acquire the 7500 acres of Headwaters Fores and other threatened lands without Congressional action. The Interior Conference Committee's decision to send the bill to Republican-controlled committees for approval virtually guaranteed these hostile amendments. Clinton should send a clear message that he won't accept this dangerous precedent and VETO THE BILL.
CONTACT INFO...
President William Jefferson Clinton The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington DC 20500 phone: 202-456-1111 fax: 202-456-2461 email: president@whitehouse.gov
------------------------------------------------------------ S E N T B Y Headwaters Sanctuary Project and Bay Area Action. Repost at will -- Please include all attributions & contact info. www.HeadwatersForest.org | headwaters@enews.org ------------------------------------------------------------
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