>
>
>"Lessons must be learned after death"
>
>David Chain was a person.
>
>Some people have already lost sight of that fact. Chain had parents who
>loved him and friends who enjoyed his company. He was a young idealist
>who wanted to make the world, in his mind, a better place to live.
>Certainly nobody can fault him for that.
>
>But some have faulted him for dying. He was trespassing on Pacific
>Lumber Co, land with about eight other Earth First activists when a tree
>fell on him and killed him. Yes, he shouldn't have been there, but Chain
>didn't deserve to die, as some callous people who have grown weary of
>protesters have said. We realize those heartless souls are in the
>minority and [we] prefer to believe that despite where people stand on
>the timber issue, everybody thinks like Joe Rogers, a 32-year PL
>employee, who said: "We need people to pursue causes. But you don't want
>to hear of anyone losing their life, even if it is for the wrong war or
>the right war."
>
>Rogers brought up another salient point: "No matter where you stand, the
>loss of someone's life is tragic. But I'm also surprised it already
>hasn't happened. The guys who work out there lose their lives from time
>to time."
>
>Logging is one of the most dangerous professions in the United States.
>The limbs from a fallen tree that get hung up in another standing tree
>are called widow makers for a reason. A 300-pound limb dropping 180 feet
>with no warning is a recipe for disaster.
>
>There are other hazards that loggers face as well - sharp equipment,
>heavy logs and giant machinery. People who work in the woods - like
>commercial fishermen and coal miners - face enormous risks and should be
>thankful every evening when they make it home from work.
>
>There's a lesson there for environmental activists. Loggers are trained,
>skilled and have the benefit of the best equipment - yet loggers are
>still injured or killed. A logging operation is no place for
>spectators.
>
>Activists know this, yet trespass anyway and take the risk. They think
>their battle is important enough. The Humboldt County Sheriff's
>Department says it doesn't have enough staff to go track down
>trespassers in the forest. So what we're stuck with is a problem with no
>solution - unless Earth First puts an end to the predicament.
>
>The activists in the area near Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park the day
>of the accident were trying to persuade the loggers to quit cutting
>trees. The method is called "cat and mouse," which Earth First spokesman
>Josh Brown described as "engaging [the loggers] in dialogue and asking
>them not to cut trees."
>
>We can't see many loggers laying down their saws and refusing to cut the
>trees. They have jobs to do. they have families to feed. Judging from
>the video that Earth First said was taken at the site about 90 minutes
>before the accident, all the "dialogue" managed to do was upset a logger
>and cause him to spew a bunch of four-letter words.
>
>If earth First must protest, there have to be better methods. There have
>to be methods that won't get anybody else killed.

Voice of the Environment
Box 355
Bolinas, CA 94924
415-868-2868
415-868-9505 (fax)




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