Early This Morning, Judge Dismissed Case Against Four Septuagenarian Rainbow Ridge Activists
“They arrested us before we could do something illegal,” Ellen Taylor said when reached for comment this morning. Lear Asset Management Team which was working for HRC stopped the four early on June 10 at Monument Gates.
At first, Taylor said, the Team was a little rough but after they saw they were dealing with elders, they became “quite gentle and quite kind.”
She added, “That wasn’t how it was with younger forest defenders who were arrested [in other actions that year.] Some of them got roughed up. Those cases are still ongoing.”
Michael Evenson contended that “the action the company’s security took to arrest us…there was really no basis for it. Eventually, they wasted the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputies’ and Court’s time because there was no basis for arresting us.”
Their attorney Omar Figueroa said that Lear Asset Management was “infamous” adding that “if the reports are true that they were repelling down from helicopters and cutting people’s [marijuana] crops without a court order, then they were acting like domestic terrorists.”
Spokesperson for the Lost Coast League which the four elders belong to, Attorney Nate Madsen, issued a statement saying,
It is an atrocious state of affairs when our elders (all over 70) are forced into a position where they feel compelled by rampant logging in never before logged forests, forests that are managed under a certificate of sustainability from the Forest Stuardship Council (FSC), to take a stands like this! Sustainable forestry operations should be happening in previously impacted regions, not the last remnants of unspoiled landscapes in California. The dismissal of all charges today is appropriate under the circumstances and a long overdue result for the principled act taken by these four dedicated elders who have spent decades working to protect these very forest stands. Their actions should be commended not prosecuted and that is the result we reached today.
When reached for an interview, John Andersen, Director of Humboldt Redwood Company, said they are reviewing the case and are not yet ready to comment.
Evenson said that protestors had hoped to be able to work smoothly with Humboldt Redwoods. “We thought we finished with that because Humboldt Redwood Company had committed to preserving the old forest. But what they did instead was redefine old growth as a way of protecting individual trees and not the value of the forest as wild places.”
Evenson wanted to make clear that Rainbow Ridge is an important area in need of conservation. He said that the Northern Spotted Owl was found in the Rainbow Ridge area. He argued, “Rainbow Ridge contains vast acreage of thriving old growth habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl which went from Threatened to Endangered requiring more serious protection of all its present habitat.”
He added,
We feel that this is such a valuable spot in the county, in the region, and even on the planet, because there are so few regions that have not been touched by industrial extraction. We need to preserve them to recover the great forests of Humboldt County. We’ve had 170 years of exploitation. [And] just like a burn victim needs patches of healthy skin to grow back, our region needs these last patches of intact forests [to heal].
He noted, “The charges were dismissed. This says [these were] baseless charges…We did nothing illegal in speaking up for our public trust resources.
Evenson then added, “We have been protecting these resources since 1990. We haven’t wavered. We’re hoping the Humboldt Redwood Company will come to some kind of accommodation…to change the management goals for Rainbow Ridge and then we can work together.”
Earlier Chapters:
- Two Protestors Arrested at Rainbow Ridge Logging Blockade
- Protesters Say They Are Locking to Gate to Stop Logging After Humboldt Redwoods Company Removed Tripod Sitter
- Man Protesting Logging Rainbow Ridge Describes Ordeal
- Demonstrators Picketed Humboldt Redwoods Company Yesterday in Hopes of Stopping Logging Planned for the Rainbow Ridge Area
- Truckers and Protesters Concerned About Plans to Log Rainbow Ridge Clashed Near Scotia Mill Yesterday
- Sheriff’s Office Warns Logging Protesters Near Rainbow Ridge This Morning
- Timber Fallers on Rainbow Ridge, Protesters Again at Monument Gate
- ‘Elders Defend Elders,’ Say Activists as Four Arrested This Morning Trying to Stop Logging on Rainbow Ridge
- Well-Known Attorneys Step in to Defend Septuagenarian Rainbow Ridge Activists
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Just because they say they didn’t do anything wrong doesn’t mean they didn’t. Just because charges were dropped doesn’t mean they were innocent. It’s kind of a tradition for judges in this county to let environmentalists who break the law go. It’s also traditional for judges to rule against logging, mills, and other jobs in the woods that are actually employing people and rule in favor of nonworking protestors.
I guess just chalk it up to the fact that I have seen enough to know there’s no DA or judge in Humboldt that I have one percent confidence in.
Yeah, can’t have a place to take your dying timber and make a little money. If it burns it might be legal to log.
I guess you never heard of the innocent until proven guilty in a court of law part of our justice system
Shouldn’t subjecting others to accordion “music” carry a penalty of some kind?
Q: What’s the difference between an accordion and a chainsaw?
A: You can tune a chainsaw.
That’s FUNNY!!!🤣😂🤣
Yes, a penalty like the one for someone playing a viola.
I can’t wait to be a Septuagenarian!
My new favorite word!
I guess there’s a circus!
Yes…a fabulous word to add to my vocabulary.
I do have to say though that I am really looking forward to being a sexagenarian in a few years.
“Youth is wasted on the young “.
I’ve been a sexatarian for decades! Wait- is that the right word?!
I do see what you did there…It was neither kind nor classy.
Does being mean about someone else’s clothing choices make you feel good about yourself?
It wasn’t me, I swear!
No, I know who it was.
Get some rest. I promise to be polite. Apologies to all.
I don’t get it…did you change the picture?
The only thing that stands out to me is that one person seems to be sitting on some type of cool magical, invisible chair.
Re, “arrested and charged after they planed to stop timber fallers” … So, aircraft were involved?
That is very good news. I know all of the involved and they are some of the most hard working compassionate people I know. Bless you guys and thank you for taking a stand to protect our public resources for future generations.
Dammit… they missed the protests over the 4,359,517 acre fires in California !
Fires caused by abnormally long dry seasons, which are caused by… Any guesses?
All 4 of you vintage 1960’s hippie eco terrorists knew full well why you drove to that gate and to be there making your pathetic statement. You weren’t lost on the mountains-HA! You CHOSE to be there to do whatever you could in an anti manner and to use your freaking AGE as an escape pathway and not receive charges. Damm the Judge-you’re a loser as well!!!!
“Oh poor me I’m old” will play out again and again-just wait and watch. The Judge just set PRECIDENT in his pathetic court decision
Evenson said:
“Humboldt Redwood Company had committed to preserving the old forest. But what they did instead was redefine old growth as a way of protecting individual trees and not the value of the forest as wild places.”
So HRC was protecting the old growth trees but not the entire forest those trees were located in. That seems like a decent compromise to me since the old growth trees are protected but HRC still makes money from their investment (which creates jobs and pays taxes and helps fight forest fires).
Yo hold up, FULL STOP!!!
LEAR Asset Management Group is the same company who Kamala Harris used taxpayer dollars to pay and raid cannabis farms in Laytonville The same team who only cut Farms that had high-cbd plants The same team who cut literally everybody’s water tanks on the road on their way out of town.
https://www.willitsnews.com/2014/09/05/sheriff-speaks-on-marijuana-law-raid-rumors-in-laytonville/
They even have a facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Consulting-Agency/LEARassetmanagement/posts/
Now they are being paid taxpayer dollars to harass, detain, and arrest elderly people who have yet to even commit a crime?
What kind of clown world state is california?!?!
That was 2014. Kamala Harris is now a ” progressive”. And Joe Biden is super cool groovy. They both “really care” about the regular people. Please try to keep up with the media imaging!!
Honk honk!
Know Your Meme
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Clown_World
Your dogwhistle is broken, everyone can hear it. Time to go off to 4Chan for a new one.
Michael Evenson is perhaps overly modest in not recommending his beautiful film which explores Rainbow Ridge. I highly recommend it. It is called Rainbow Ridge and the Redwoods. The link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l50norP8_1Q&t=74s
Maximum Respect ! to my Elders ! Jane and David, Michel E and Helen
Old Growth defenders of Old Growth. trees- Double O.G. i Love you all . Thank you for your service.
all commenters who sit and talk smak via you fancy typewriters really NEED to get off your asses and check out where we live -in person .
Age brings with it experiance and wisdom especially when one lives consciously and radicaly .
I encourage all you frequent RHBB daily responders who think so highly of their own opinions
( you know who you are ) to do something for this enviroment ( world , planet, community et al ).
I mean it . Build something, dig a hole in the ground, get outside of your comfort zone ,experience life as a living human being- a part of the whole.
By now your already to rip and shred me for any thing that is not in your headspace/ way of thinking.
Have some care and concern for those around you . This epidemic is a chance for us all to really slow down and take stock of what is really REAL in our lives and family s and friendships and most of all stop the noise
w/in our own selves. Reality what does it mean ?
I know ya ll think yer so frikkin smart and clever and witty and love to boast and spout off all kinds of irrelevant jive . Let me ask you smart alecks one question…
…. What have YOU EVER done from conviction for anyone or anything other than yourself?
– For Real ? Esp that smug and self righteous commenter who really got my goat a few post back .
Heaven help us all -is all i can say ,
Stevie Wonder has a song called that . Check it out.
I feel so much for us all .We need to come together now more than ever . The fan has hit the shit! We are in it .
Can i get a witness ?
Please i mean no offense we all just need more love in our expression . Caring and sharing from the heart.
Turn down the “us and them “chatter and really find our quiet calm center . For many of us its in the forest , its sacred ,its in ourselves we and the forest are one in harmony thats why we live here. I ask sincerely people
who also live here – do not put us down and ridicule us for that. Show some respect esp. for your Elders.
Live the Life you Love
Love the life you Live
May the Forest be with you
Amen.
I’m pretty sure old white people cant be elders.😉
In our culture, we call them elderly.
Elders are Native American old people, don’t steal their thunder.
And I love the presumption by activists that nobody but them has ever done anything for anybody.
They are the only martyrs we are to believe.😁
When I oppose liberal enviornmentalism, it not because I oppose natural conservation, it’s because I oppose the social platform of liberalism broadly.
I was arrested in old headwaters protests and other bicycle rights demo’s years back, so don’t be so quick to presume that some of us haven’t been on you side at some point in our previous lives..
ieldran is the oldest English form of elder that I know of. (The Tolkein fan that I am loves that word) It evolved about 900 AD to mean elder like village elders.
I deeply admire these active citizens!! They put themselves on the line in many ways to protect what nature created, that sustains us and so many other life forms. Bless all those who do the challenging and historically important work of protest and social engagement!
Nature does not create, God creates. Nature is a creation of God’s. All life forms, as is all life, are created by God. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus, God’s holy son, our savior.
So convenient when the religion you were raised with just so happens to be the One True Religion™.
There is NO GOD!!!! It’s all a Construct of the Church to separate you from your hard earned $$!!!
Further, Christmas was a rebranding of the yearly solstice, an actual celestial event celebrated for thousands of years, as opposed to the imaginary religious fantasies ie spiritual fake news.
I could not agree more. Our current crop of Septugenarians are probably our greatest natural resource.
I’m old enough to know that I’ll always be a wannabe, though. They used to call us baby baby boomers “the Me generation” back in the ’90s as opposed to “the Viet Nam generation”.
Youth is, indeed, wasted on the young.
Generation Jones.
The later “baby boomers” didn’t have to deal with the Draft. The difference between me and my husband, who is three+ years older than me. Born in ’53, he was drafted and sent to Vietnam (which, yes, was still going on in 1972/73). The boys born around ’55 and after did not have that hanging over their heads.
I’m not against logging, but Humboldt Redwood Company is just as rapacious as Hurwitz. Big city owners who really dont care but say they do. They are logging second and third growth redwood that is too young and touting it as quality wood. I dont understand why they wanted to log that last patch of virgin Douglas fir on Rainbow ridge. Not necessary . Not the best quality fir either. On the other hand, the pot growers havent done the watershed much good either. The Mattole watershed is now an eyesore and criminally infested because of pot.
It’s true, the pecker poles are junk
Dont forget to read the real story about these four.they plead guilty to the charges and agreed to a pre plea. to not enter any HRC property for six months…just enough time for them to log. in exchange for mercy of the courts dismissal…
That’s called a slow plea. A negotiated settlement. If they dont violate the agreement for six months the plea can be withdrawn and the charges dismissed. So the judge can’t be blamed here. And HRC whacked away. The merchantable timber is long gone. And the few old “virgin firs” they agreed not to cut were probably rotten old hooters anyway. Now there is no grove integrity and HRC could care less. I would also note HRC has been very unfriendly to neighbors over traditional access as well as to the public, blocking river access at Scotia for boats that Pl allowed traditionally is just one example. A bad company. Owned by the Fisher family out of the Bay Area I believe. Part of the phoney leftwing political elite there.
bottom line here boss..they plead guilty..because they were,they want everybody to believe their innocent.but they finance and support the little tree sitter anarchist thugs.
Wow ya’ll are a TRIP.