O.R.C.

Eco-activist Tre Arrow was sentenced yesterday to 78 months. Since his time served in Canada counts towards his total, he is actually facing between two years and thirty months more, depending on which corporate media outlet you listen to. Note that The Vancouver Sun, a Canadian paper, calls him an environmental activist, while The Portland Tribune calls him an eco-arsonist. Of obvious note is that the Tribune is owned by Dr. Robert Pamplin, the third richest man in Oregon (net worth in 1998: $560 million), who also owns Ross Island Sand & Gravel, the company whose earth-exploiting trucks were lit aflame.

In the category of “last minute” posts, there is a benefit show being held tonight, monday august 11th, in Portland Oregon for the recent green scare arrest Brian Lefey (more on this arrest here and here). Acts include Anansi, Fukumup, Killingsworth, and Try My Cabbage, and the flyer suggests there will be “a ritual butoh performance of bondage and liberation featuring members of Nequaquam Vacuum, Power Circus, Societas Insomnia, and cast members from this year’s water in the desert festival.” It’s at a bar, Plan B, is at 9pm, is 21+ only, and is apparently pay-what-you-can.

On September 7th, there will be another benefit in Olympia that is all ages. Information here.

More information has emerged on the Rhinelander indictment we posted about saturday. First of all, a pdf of the indictment is available online, courtesy of the excellently acronymed EWOK! (Earth Warriors are OK!). Of particular interest is the indictment’s inability to distinguish between the ELF and Earth First!, essentially suggesting that both groups are the same. They also have apparently little regard for grammatical rigor, as they consistently leave off the exclamation mark that is in fact part of the name of Earth First!. Katherine Christianson and Aaron Ellringer, whose arrest status we cannot seem to confirm, are due to be indicted tomorrow in Madison, Wisconsin.

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From The Olympian (second article here), it looks like one Bryan Rivera has been arrested as a suspect for the July 2000 attack on genetically engineered trees (info on GE trees here and here) in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Over 500 GE trees were destroyed at the site. Read the action’s press release here, or corporate propaganda about the incident here. Another two have been indicted and will appear in court, but it’s not clear if they are currently in custody.

Confirmation of Rivera’s arrest comes from FBI Special Agent Robbie Burroughs (photo). Burroughs was in the news last year defending paranoid anti-terror tactics such as harassing arab-americans who “behaved oddly” on a washington ferry.

Albert “Ali” Kazemian, of NJ, is a dedicated animal rights activist who works with the group BEAR. Despite two previous convictions (for interfering with black bear hunting and interfering with black bear trapping), he poured urine on the bait of bear live-traps to prevent bears from entering them. A home-owner saw him and the police set up surveillance on the trap. When he returned, he was caught. He was sentenced to the 30 days, but fought for an appeal. Now, the sentence has been confirmed and he has begun to serve his term (see link for address). Read more

Eco-defendant Briana Waters is now legally a terrorist, having received the terrorist enhancement at her sentencing. She was sentenced to six years in prison and three years on probation. Her sentencing went ahead on June 19th despite new evidence that undermine the legitimacy of Ms. Kolar’s testimony against her. But this of course, is to be expected. However, Briana Water’s sentencing is of particular note: Briana, who was convicted of politically-motivated, terrorist arson, was sentenced to six years, while Eric McDavid, convicted of thinking about committing arson, received 19 years and 7 months. Before Briana took her case to trial, many environmentalists rationalized that the comparatively low sentences the green scare defendants were receiving were on account of having pled guilty. But now, the message the government is sending appears to be a bit surprising: it’s much more dangerous to plot arson than to commit it.

As many of our readers are aware, there is a woman named Marie Mason who is currently under house arrest in Michigan (separated from her family and friends in Ohio), awaiting trial for an ELF action that took place in the midwest almost a decade ago. Her visitors are being harrassed. Involved in her case is the snitch Frank Ambrose.

Marie Mason’s defense team has requested help doing preliminary research into a number of topics. So anyone with experience with the dangers of GMO, global warming, environmental collapse, and deforestation please read what they need and help out!

There’ve been a few internet-things related to the whole FBI provocateur “Anna” being in Elle Magazine thing (see our previous post). First of all, the rest of the article is now online, including all pages.

Secondly, it appears that someone has begun to detourn the magazine, claiming (with stickers, the pdf of which is available) that Elle wishes to retract the article. Elle, of course, denies the retraction.

An impassioned plea for intervention in the case of Eric McDavid has been posted around the internet, entitled “A Humble Appeal to the Intellectual and Literary World For Intervention in The Case of Eric McDavid” that describes anarchists as the caged canaries of the free-speech mine.

Finally, an excellent analysis of the Elle article has been posted as well. For an introduction to the case, see the earth first journal story about him, and visit his support website.

Over on Livejournal, it looks like someone has posted scans of the Elle Magazine article on that infamous provocateur “Anna” who was so instrumental in destroying Eric McDavid’s life. Unfortunately, some pages appear to be missing at the moment on the livejournal page, but hopefully that will be rectified soon.

Eric McDavid’s sentencing has been moved once more, to May 1st. For more information on the whole of the Green Scare (this latest rounding up of environmentalists by the US Government), please check out CrimethInc’s excellent analysis of the situation.

by Arnica
Much has been made of Tre Arrow, and his case will soon stand the test of the American Justice system. The case is as much a test of the draconian punitive nature of post 9-11 America as it is anything else. To date there is no forensic or physical evidence linking Tre to the crime, and all indications suggest that three college students who knew Tre implicated him in their sloppy firebombing, thus guaranteeing reduced sentences. People know this: they also know that the corporate media has labeled Tre as everything from a “trippy hippie” to an “eco-terrorist”. But psychologically, people know very little. It’s the purpose of this article to shed some light on his psyche.

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