>
>
>READER BEWARE OF WHAT LIES AHEAD
>Be careful to get the correct info to accompany article before you
>forward.
>
>My sources say that the team turned back on their own because they were
>not fully prepared for the terrain.
>
>
> Investigators blocked from
> logging site
>
> Sep. 26, 1998
>
> By MIKE GENIELLA
> Press Democrat Staff Writer
>
> A blockade Friday by environmental
>activists
> prevented Humboldt County authorities from
> taking a team of outside investigators into
>a
> Pacific Lumber Co. logging site where a
> 24-year-old protester was killed last week
>by a
> falling redwood.
>
> Members of the team, which included a
> Washington state expert in reconstructing
>logging
> accident scenes and representatives of
>activist
> David Chain's family, were forced to turn
>back
> because the main access road has been
>blocked.
>
> "It's ridiculous,'' said Pacific Lumber
>President
> John Campbell. "They claim they want an
> independent investigation, but they make it
>
> extremely difficult for investigators to
>get to the
> site.''
>
> Sheriff's investigators said the team will
> reassemble at 9 a.m. today to make another
> attempt to inspect the scene of Chain's
>death.
> Earth First! spokesman Josh Brown promised
> protesters will not attempt to block the
>team's
> access.
>
> "We just blockaded the main road to keep
> logging crews away,'' Brown said Friday.
>
> Meanwhile, about 100 people gathered at
> downtown Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square
>
> on Friday night to protest Chain's death
>and
> cheer the blockade in Humboldt County.
>
> "The immediate thing is that we'll protect
>the
> evidence,'' said Jan Westphall, known in
>Earth
> First! as Crazy Owl. He told the crowd the
>30
> activists mounting the blockade are
>determined
> also to halt what they believe are illegal
>logging
> practices by Pacific Lumber.
>
> A number of participants in the Santa Rosa
>vigil
> said despite published statements by an
>Earth
> First! attorney who said he has no doubt
>the
> logger had no intention to kill anyone,
>they
> believe the logger purposely felled a tree
>in the
> direction of Chain and five others.
>
> "The activists overall have not said this
>is an
> accident,'' said Jeremy Plumb. "This is not
>an
> accident.''
>
> The Humboldt County Sheriff's Department
> hired an expert on reconstructing logging
>scene
> accidents to review the Pacific Lumber
>site. An
> attorney and an investigator hired by
>Chain's
> family are also part of the entourage, as
>is a team
> from Pacific Lumber.
>
> Activists contend Chain was crushed to
>death
> after veteran Pacific Lumber logger A.E.
> Ammons deliberately cut a tree to fall
>toward
> demonstrators. The company says Ammons was
> unaware Chain was still in the area when
>the tree
> was cut.
>
> Chain's family plans to visit the site
>sometime
> early next week. About 300 people attended
>the
> activist's funeral Thursday in his hometown
>of
> Pasadena, Texas.
>
>
>
>
>
David M. Walsh
P.O. Box 903
Redway, CA 95560
Office and Fax(707) 923-3015
Home (707) 986-1644


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