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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 11, 1998 RALLY FOR HEADWATERS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH Headwaters Forest Coalition calling for an end to MAXXAM's illegal logging and violence Contacts: Alicia Littletree, Mendocino Earth First! Alicia Littletree 468-1660 Kevin Bundy, Environmental Protection Information Center (707) 923-2931 Josh Brown, North Coast Earth First! (707) 825-6598 Arcata, CA--The Headwaters Forest Coalition is calling for a huge march and rally, Sunday November 15th, 1998, beginning at noon, at the Arcata Plaza in downtown Arcata. The Rally will cap off an important week in the struggle to protect Headwaters Forest from logging by Maxxam Corporation and Pacific Lumber. A Eureka public hearing on PL's Habitat Conservation Plan drew hundreds of community members on Tuesday, November 10th, the same day that the California Department of Forestry announced its decision to suspend PL's timber operator's license due to continuing violations of the Forest Practice Act. Sunday's rally is an opportunity to let lawmakers and Pacific Lumber know that there is overwhelming opposition to their illegal logging, and to the use of force and violence against nonviolent protestors who try to stop it. Green Party candidate for governor Dan Hamburg and noted civil rights attorney J. Tony Serra will speak at Sunday's rally, along with other voices from the environmental and civil rights communities. We will also hear from the nonviolent protestors who had pepper spray swabbed directly into their eyes by Humboldt Sheriff's deputies while protesting PL's destructive logging practices. Several tree sitters will speak via cellular phone from different threatened watersheds including Freshwater and Stafford. We will also hear the latest news about the investigation of the death of Earth First! protestor David "Gypsy" Chain, killed on September 17 when a PL logger deliberately felled a tree in his direction. Two weeks ago, Sheriff's detective Juan Freeman told Chain's mother that he was recommending to the DA that manslaughter charges be filed against the other environmentalists who were with Chain when he was killed, ignoring PL's escalating use of violence toward protestors in the woods. No charges have yet been filed against anyone for the death. Members of the Headwaters Coalition--including EPIC, Trees Foundation, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters, and Earth First!--have been working to protect the ancient redwoods in Headwaters Forest for over 12 years. In 1986, Charles Hurwitz and his MAXXAM corporation staged a hostile takeover of locally-owned Pacific Lumber, using junk bonds to finance the buyout. In the years since, Hurwitz has tripled the rate of cut, clearcut massive tracts of the company's 200,000 acres, relaxed workers' safety standards, and sold off valuable components of PL's assets. Environmentalists strongly oppose the pending Headwaters Forest agreement, because it pays Hurwitz $500 million of taxpayer money for a fraction of the ancient forest owned by Pacific Lumber, and requires the government to grant PL a Habitat Conservation Plan that would allow the company to log the rest. Hurwitz and MAXXAM are currently being sued in administrative court by the Office of Thrift Supervision for their involvement in the S&L scandal that cost the taxpayers $1.6 billion. The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) P.O. Box 397 Garberville, CA 95542 (707) 923-2931 Fax 923-4210
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