The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) was founded in Brighton, England in 1994 by members of the Earth First! environmental movement. The name was derived from the Animal Liberation Front. In the September-October 1993 issue of the Earth First! Journal, an anonymous article announced the creation of the ELF. It stated that the ELF "is a movement of independently operating eco-saboteurs" that split from the British Earth First! movement, which has focused directly on public direct actions. The author noted that unlike the ALF which seeks publicity, "ELF cells, for security reasons, work without informing the press and do not claim responsibility for actions... The surest way to be done for conspiracy or to attract surveillance or infiltrators is to seek attention."
Members of the Earth Liberation Front have destroyed luxury homes, SUVs, and other private property thereby costing Americans millions of dollars in damages. Their strategy is based on protecting the environment through destroying property. Their activities are the same to that of other terrorists that operate as a loose-network of individual cells.
How are we able to say this? The answer is based on the actions and statements from those that pride themselves in being members of the Earth Liberation Front. They hold dear a very hardcore Marxist based Anarchist belief system that does not accept the right of property ownership. As can be seen from their illegal actions, they have very little respect for the laws that allow for private property ownership or the possessions of others. Private property laws are instrumental in the foundation of the American Capitalist society that is the envy of the world and Marxist and Anarchist doctrine stands firmly against the entire idea of Capitalism and does not see the need or acknowledge the right of property ownership.
The Earth Liberation Front as a group is becoming less and less satisfied with laws and ordinances that merely prevent the removal of a tree, the building of a fence or house, or the dumping of a few loads of dirt without permission. The concept of Property Rights and private ownership of property are concepts that they wish to abolish. This comes from the Marxist doctrine that is at the center of their core beliefs. Their new "Holy Grail" is designed to create vast expanses of wilderness zones that will not just regulate human usage, but will be completely off limits to everyone from venturing into such areas even to just enjoy the beauty of nature in its natural surroundings. This is the ultimate goal of the Eco-Fascist movement taken to its ultimate conclusion and that is the total elimination of human beings.
There was a time when you paid for a piece of land and paid the property taxes, it was yours and you could do whatever you wanted, within reason like build a cabin or fill a hole in the ground. But now someone with no legal claim on the land, such as the person in the picture above, can dictate what a landowner can or cannot do on their own land. There are some places where these actions are against the law and punishable by tens of thousands of dollars in fines and/or forfeiture of the property in question.
This is directly from the Earth Liberation Front Website. Currently, the domain EarthLiberationFront.com is FOR SALE (including .com, .org, .info, .us) to the highest bidder, however, some individual did make a new website at www.earth-liberation-front.org where the individual that owns the website discusses the finer points of "Operation Backfire".
Welcome to the website EarthLiberationFront.com
The ELF is an underground movement with no leadership, membership or official spokesperson. The intention of this web site is to inform and chronicle issues related to E.L.F. This web site's management, webmasters, affiliates, or other participants are not to be considered spokespersons, members, or affiliates of The Earth Liberation Front.
Don't believe what the government and mass media say about the ELF, find out for yourself! The first book to be published on the underground Earth Liberation Front (ELF) will soon be hitting the shelves of independent bookstores around the country. 'Earth Liberation Front 1997-2002,' edited by former ELF Spokesperson, Leslie James Pickering, traces the ELF's first five years of activity through communiqués, underground newspapers, interviews, testimonies and releases.
Wait a minute. I thought that there was no official spokesperson. Who is this "former ELF Spokesperson, Leslie James Pickering"?
The Earth Liberation Front is an international underground organization that uses direct action to sabotage corporations and government agencies that profit from the systematic destruction of the natural environment. The ELF are considered the #1 domestic terrorist threat by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and have caused over $45 million in damages in the US since their appearance in 1997. Their record includes the $12 million arson at Vail Resorts in October, 1998, the $1 million arson at Boise Cascade's NW Regional Headquarters in December, 1999, the $1 million arson at the United States Forest Service Northeast Research Station in Irvine, Pennsylvania, on August 11, 2002, and over 3 dozen other serious actions.
In 2002, the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for an arson attack causing more than $700,000 in damage to a U.S. Forest Service research facility in Irvine, PA. After the fact, it issued a communiqué suggesting a willingness to take action:
"While innocent life will never be harmed in any action we undertake, where it is necessary, we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice, and provide the needed protection for our planet that decades of legal battles, pleading, protest, and economic sabotage have failed so drastically to achieve."
The ELF is a Domestic Terrorist Threat no different than HAMAS or the PLO. They pose a considerable danger to all Americans and that last statement proves it.
This 350-page published work is the first time a complete and thorough text on the Earth Liberation Front has been made available to the public. The text includes all communiqués released by the ELF between 1997 and 2002, articles from underground newspapers on the ELF, testimonies from the February 12, 2002 House Subcommittee on Eco-terrorism, an interview with an ELF Spokesperson and much more, and is intended to leave the reader with pondering the realization that a revolution is necessary in America.
This book was written by former Earth Liberation Front spokesperson Craig Rosebraugh.
Here is an example of their handiwork showing their true agenda.
What does your typical ELF activist look like? Here are a few pictures.
ELF activists Jonathan Paul (left), Suzanne Nicole "India" Savoie (center), and Jacob Ferguson (right)
ELF activists William "Avalon" Rodgers (left), Joyanna Zacher (center), and Nathan Block (right)
Daniel McGowan (left), Stanislas Meyerhoff (center), Chelsea Dawn "Country Girl" Gerlach (right)
Joseph Dibee (left), Josephine Sunshine Overaker (center), Rebecca Rubin (right)
Kevin Tubbs (left), Darren Thurston (center), Sarah Kendall
Harvey (right)
Lacey Phillabaum (left), Briana Waters (center), and Jennifer Lynn Kolar (right)
These are 17 suspects in a decade-long investigation of numerous arsons and other crimes committed by members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The most high-profile of these acts was the fire at the Two Elk Resort in Vail, CO, which caused some $12 million in damage and drew international attention to the actions of eco-saboteurs. Others suspects in these attacks are Sarah Kendall Harvey, Daniel McGowan, Josephine Overaker, Joseph Dibee, Kevin Tubbs, Rebecca Rubin, Stanislas Meyerhoff, William C. Rodgers and Darren Thurston. William C. Rodgers who was considered to be the mastermind of the action in Vail, CO, committed suicide in an Arizona jail. All of these people are suspects in a series of environmental arson and vandalism attacks in the Pacific Northwest that occurred between 1996 and 2001 that caused a total of $20-million in damage.
Jonathan Paul is being represented by attorney Marc Blackman.
Kendall Tankersley is being represented by attorney Shaun McCrea.
Darren Thurston is being represented by attorney Dan Feiner.
Nathan Block is being represented by attorney John Storkel.
Stanislas Meyerhoff is being represented by attorneys Terri Wood and Richard Fredericks.
Joyanna Zacher is being represented by attorney Bill Sharp.
Chelsea Gerlach is being represented by attorney Craig Weinerman.
Daniel McGowan is being represented by attorney Amanda Lee.
Kevin Tubbs is being represented by attorney Marc Friedman.
Lacey Phillabaum is being represented by attorney Gil Levy.
Briana Waters is being represented by attorneys Robert Bloom of Oakland and Neil Fox of Seattle.
Here is the official document courtesy of the Civil Liberties Defense Center explaining the charges against some of the people listed above and the Government's Sentencing Memorandum that explains in a bit more detail the crimes that these eco-terrorists have committed.
In 2001, Stanislas Meyerhoff and William Rodgers wrote an online manual showing step-by-step instructions on how to build incendiary devices. Posting the document as an official ELF manual, the two men hoped to popularize the design of their home-built incendiary device so it would no longer be unique to their crimes and thus hinder detection.
If you do not believe that these people are a danger, just look at what they openly support, acknowledge, and print.
Here is the ELF Manual written by Stanislas Meyerhoff and William Rodgers, proving that the ELF are Terrorists. This manual is the "Smoking Gun!" Proof positive that these people and their supporters are dangerous people that support Terrorism.
Suspects in Investigation of Radical Environmentalists
The U.S. Justice Department on Friday announced a 65-count indictment against 11 people on conspiracy charges for attacks that had been claimed by the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front. Here is a list of the suspects and the individual charges against them. Ages and hometowns are given where known.
Josephine Sunshine Overaker, 31: charged in the burning of the Detroit Ranger Station in Detroit, OR, Oct. 28, 1996; arson of Oakridge Ranger Station on Oct. 30, 1996; May 1999 arson of Childers Meat Co., in Eugene; toppling of a Bonneville Power Administration tower east of Bend, OR on Dec. 30, 1999; arson of Bureau of Land Management Department of Interior Wild Horse and Burro facility in Burns, OR, Nov. 30. 1997; 1999 arson at a Boise Cascade office in Monmouth, OR.
Overaker is a fugitive.
Kevin Tubbs, 36, of Springfield, OR: charged with arson of Oakridge Ranger Station; arson of Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, OR, on July 21, 1997; attempted arson at U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, OR, in December 1998; arson at Childers Meat Co., in Eugene; Sept. 6, 2000, arson at the Eugene Police Department West University Public Safety Station; Jan. 2, 2001, arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR; using a destructive device to set fire to sport utility vehicles at a Eugene, OR, car dealership in March 2001; arson at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie, OR, in May 2001.
Tubbs has been arrested.
Joseph Dibee, 38: charged with arson at Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Ore.
Dibee is a fugitive.
Jonathan Christopher Mark Paul, 39, of Ashland, OR: charged with arson at Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Ore.
Paul has been arrested.
Sarah Kendall Harvey, 28, of Flagstaff, Ariz.: charged with arson and attempted arson of U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, OR Released Jan. 9 on $250,000 bond.
Rebecca Rubin, 32: charged with attempted arson at U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, OR.
Rubin is a fugitive.
Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff, 28 of Charlottesville, VA.: charged with May 1999 arson at Childers Meat Co. in Eugene; 1999 arson at Boise Cascade office in Monmouth, Ore; toppling of a Bonneville Power Administration tower; arson at the Eugene Police Department West University Public Safety Station; arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR; arson of sport utility vehicles at a Eugene car dealership; arson of Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie.
Meyerhoff has been arrested.
Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, 28, of Portland: charged with arson at Childers Meat Co. in Eugene; arson at a Boise Cascade office in Monmouth, Ore.; toppling of a Bonneville Power Administration tower; arson at the Eugene Police Department West University Public Safety Station; attempted arson at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie in May 2001.
Gerlach has been arrested.
Daniel Gerard McGowan, 31, from New York, NY: charged with 2001 arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR.; attempted arson at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie in May 2001.
McGowan has been arrested.
Suzanne Nicole Savoie, 28, of Applegate: charged with arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR.
Savoie has been arrested.
Darren Todd Thurston, 34, charged with conspiracy to commit arson and destruction of an energy facility east of Bend, OR in 1999.
Thurston has been arrested on immigration charges.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
On July 20, 2006, Darren Todd Thurston had a court appearance where he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and destruction of an energy facility of the United States and received a 37 month sentence. During the proceedings, he testified with regard to his accomplices in his criminal activities. Beginning in October 1996 and continuing through October 2001 he (Darren Todd Thurston), Josephine sunshine Overaker, Kevin Tubbs, Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff, Daniel Gerard McGowan, Joseph Dibee, Rebecca Rubin, Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, Kendall Tankersley, Suzanne Savoie, Jonathan Christopher Mark Paul, Nathan Fraser Block, Joyanna L. Zaher, Jacob Jeremiah Ferguson, Jennifer Lynn Kolar, William C. Rodgers, and other persons did conspire and agreed to destroy by arson buildings, vehicles and property.
Darren Todd Thurston will have his sentencing hearing for his guilty plea on 14 December, 2006.
Darren Thurston has also been associated with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Back in his home country of Canada, Canadian police identified Darren Thurston and another Animal Liberation Front (ALF) member David Barbarash in 1999 as suspects in an RCMP investigation into mail bombs and booby-trapped letters that were sent to a variety of Canadian addresses. Both were charged with 27 counts each, but the charges were stayed in 2000 when investigators decided to drop the case rather than disclose documents concerning another investigation.
Chelsea Gerlach and Stanislas Meyerhoff were arraigned in federal court in Eugene, Oregon on 27 September 2006 and they are to be sentenced on 14 December 2006 when they will also be sentenced for other arson-related crimes to which they pleaded guilty in July.
Stanislas Meyerhoff pled guilty to 54 charges related to seven separate attacks. Prosecutors recommended that he be sentenced to 15 years and eight months.
Chelsea Gerlach pleaded guilty to 18 charges in five separate attacks. After being arrested, she apologized for the harm and fear created by her actions, which she said were motivated by "a deep sense of despair and anger at the deteriorating state of the global environment." Prosecutors have recommended Gerlach get a 10-year sentence. At the time of her arrest, she was selling drugs in Portland with her current boyfriend Darren Todd Thurston. Thus far, drug charges are not pending with either Gerlach or Thurston.
Both Chelsea Dawn Gerlach and Stanilas Gregory Meyerhoff have admitted and pleaded guilty to some of the $20 million worth of arsons committed between 1996 and 2001 by a Eugene-based cell of the Earth Liberation Front known as "The Family" (a la Charles Manson). Under their plea deals, they agreed to have charges from the 1998 Vail arson transferred from Colorado to Oregon to be settled along with their other cases. They freely admitted to their participating in the firebombing fire to the Vail ski resort restaurant in 1998 as part of an Earth Liberation Front campaign. Two others indicted in the Vail arson, Josephine Sunshine Overaker and Rebecca J. Rubin, remain at large.
The arson at Vail, Colorado brought national attention to the secretive Earth Liberation Front and other similar domestic terrorist groups. The firebombing of the ski lodge at Vail is just one of 18 separate attacks that took place in the Northwest between 1996 and 2001 that the ELF claimed credit. The Vail arson was one of 20 fires in Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming and Colorado suspected of being committed by the Eugene-based cell of the Earth Liberation Front known as the Family.
Lacey Phillabaum pleaded guilty to conspiracy, arson, and use of a destructive device that destroyed the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001. The university spent $7.2 million to rebuild the center. On 19 August 2008, Lacey Phillabaum was sentenced to three years in federal prison and three years' probation. Additional information and photos of Lacey Phillabaum can be found on the Official Lacey Phillabaum website that is maintained by some of her friends.
Jennifer Lynn Kolar of Seattle, WA, pleaded guilty in Seattle in connection with the firebombing at the University of Washington. Under the plea agreement, she received a sentence of five to seven years.
Briana Waters of Berkeley, CA, has pleaded not guilty in the arson case at the University of Washington. Her trial is scheduled to begin on 11 February 2008.
On 08 November 2006, Joyanna Zacher, Nathan Block, Daniel McGowan and Jonathan Paul represented by Attorney Lauren Regan from the Civil Liberties Defense Center, appeared in federal court and entered guilty pleas and accepted responsibility for their roles in a series of environmentally motivated arsons in Oregon between 1997 and 2001. All four pled guilty to arson and conspiracy charges involving 13 members of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front with the condition that they would not have to provide information or testify against anyone now or in the future.
There has been a push to have these people sentenced as Terrorists under terrorist enhancement sentencing guidelines. But there are still people that will not acknowledge the actions of these people.
A government sentencing memo describes Meyerhoff as a career anarchist and recommends a sentence of 16 years. But civil rights attorney Lauren Regan from the Civil Liberties Defense Center says Meyerhoff got involved in environmental activism mainly to impress women.
Does Lauren Regan really believe what she is saying? Are these the actions that she finds impressive in a person? It could be true because when William Rodgers was 26, he met Chelsea Dawn Gerlach who was 16 at the time and he began a sexual relationship with her. A 26 year old man having a sexual relationship with a 16 year old girl. Does anyone see anything wrong with this? You have to wonder what Chelsea's parents thought about sending her to an Earth First! encampment in Idaho so a grown man of 26 years could have sex with their daughter.
This is just another example of the Liberal mindset that causes the public to have little faith in the legal system. It does make you wonder what his motivation was for writing the manual entitled Setting Fires With Electrical Timers - An Earth Liberation Front Guide. We noticed that she did not mention that in her argument. It would be interesting to hear her explain away that fact.
Meyerhoff's attorney, Terri Wood, says Meyerhoff and his co-defendants, acting as members of the Earth Liberation Front, took precautions to avoid injuring others.
Oh... well... that explains and justifies all of their actions. And here we are selfishly thinking that their destructive activities were wrong. What were we thinking? (Note sarcastic tone)
The Sentences
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken sentenced radical environmentalists to sentences that were called acts of terrorism.
Stanilas Meyerhoff was the first of the radical environmentalists called "The Family" to be sentenced to prison. Meyerhoff, who admitted to fashioning the devices to start the fires, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Meyerhoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson charges in a string of 20 fires that did $40 million worth of damage in five states, including a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort in Colorado.
Kevin Tubbs, was sentenced to 12 years 7 months in prison for the arson of a forest ranger station, a police substation, a dealership selling SUVs and a tree farm. Tubbs pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson charges in a string of 20 fires that did $40 million worth of damage in five states, including a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort in Colorado.
Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, the third of this group of radical environmentalists, confessed and was sentenced to nine years in prison for committing acts of terrorism by setting fires at a police substation and a tree farm and toppling a high-voltage Bonneville Power Administration transmission line east of Bend in late December 1999. Gerlach pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson charges in a string of 20 fires that did $40 million worth of damage in five states, including a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort in Colorado.
Lacey Phillabaum accepted a plea bargain and began serving her sentence in May 2007, the length was undetermined pending the outcome of her pro-prosecution testimony at the trial of Briana Waters, the sole defendant to fiercely claim innocence and demand a trial. She was accused of serving as a lookout and helped rent a car for the team that set the fire.
On 19 August 2008, Lacey Phillabaum was sentenced to three years in federal prison and three years probation. At the sentencing, she cried in court, but composed herself enough to apologize to her victims. "When I think about the damage I did to you my heart is heavy," she said. "I acted as a bully and a tyrant, and I am ashamed that I tried to strong-arm social change."
Darren Todd Thurston, 37, a Canadian citizen, was the fourth to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken after pleading guilty to conspiracy and arson charges. Thurston was given a sentence of 37 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson in the 2001 fire at the Litchfield, Calif., U.S. Bureau of Land Management wild horse corrals.
Suzanne Savoie was the fifth to be sentenced in U.S. District Court after they pleaded guilty to arson and conspiracy charges. She was sentenced today to more than 51 months in prison for her role in two arsons. Suzanne Savoie was given sentence 8 months less than expected because of her cooperation with investigators.
Kendall Tankersley, the sixth to be sentenced, received a 3-year, 10-month sentence. Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Tankersley to five months less than she agreed to when she pleaded guilty to arson at the U.S. Forest Industry's office in Medford in 1998 because she cooperated and left the conspiracy immediately after the arson.
On Friday, 01 June 2007, Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Joyanna Zacher, the seventh to be sentenced, received, to 7 years, 8 months. Judge Aiken stated that Zacher had not renounced her criminal past or shown any remorse for the damage she had done.
Joyanna Zacher, #36360-086, FCI Dublin, 5700 8th St.- Camp Parks- Unit F, Dublin, CA 94568.
On Friday, 01 June 2007, Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Nathan Block, the eighth to be sentenced, received, to 7 years, 8 months. Judge Aiken stated that Block had not renounced his criminal past or shown any remorse.
Nathan Block, #36359-086, FCI Lompoc, Federal Correctional Institution, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436
Daniel McGowan, the ninth of the defendants, was sentenced to seven years in prison and designated a terrorist for his role in two acts of environmentally motivated property destruction in 2001. Daniel McGowan was one of only four defendants that refused to help investigators who took part in similar actions. Judge Ann Aiken told McGowan that he was a coward for donning a mask and setting fires to scare people rather than working positively to protect the environment.
Daniel McGowan, 63794-053, USP Marion, US Penitentiary, PO Box 1000, Marion, IL 62959.
Jacob Ferguson admitted on Friday, October 26, 2007 in Eugene that he set fire to the U.S. Forest Service Ranger Station in Detroit, OR and a government pickup in 1996.
On March 6, 2008, in the court of Judge Franklin Burgess, Briana Waters was found guilty of two counts of arson for the 2001 arson at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture. A federal jury found that Briana Waters was among a group who firebombed the building in the predawn hours of May 21, 2001. The primary evidence against her were rental car, phone, and bank records corroborated by the testimony of two other participants in the fire, both of whom have pleaded guilty. Prosecutors recommended a 10 year prison sentence. On June 19, 2008, Briana Waters was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday and ordered to pay $6.1 million in restitution.
Jonathan Paul was sentenced to 51 months for an
ALF arson on a horse meat plant. He also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF
conspiracy.
Jonathan Paul, #07167-085, FCI Phoenix, Federal Correctional Institution, 37910 N 45th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85086.
Joseph Dibee, Josephine Sunshine Overaker, and Rebecca Rubin are fugitives and are still being sought.
These people all belonged to a Eugene-based cell of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front called "The Family". The damage they caused totaled $40 million not to mention the fear that they tried to inflict to anyone holding opposing views. To try and effect the changes by legal methods that they believed was the right course of action and policy never entered into their plans or strategy. They never considered using legal methods, but preferred to engage in illegal actions because of some romantic notion or just selfish motives knowing that the rest of the world is not behind them. ELF/ALF rules include strict non-violence guidelines which include Sabotage, Vandalism, Arson, and others. They see these acts as nothing but non-violent activism. But it does make you wonder how would they feel if these acts were aimed toward them?
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
From the Associated Press on 13 August 2008:
Court upholds arson sentences of activists
A federal appeals court upheld a sentence of nearly four years for Kendell Tankersley, part of a 1996-2991 multistate arson spree directed at U.S. Forest Service offices and private businesses.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday the sentence was reasonable despite her lesser level of involvement than some.
She and about 15 co-defendants were members of the Earth Liberation Front and a Eugene-based group called "The Family".
Tankersley, then 28 and preparing for medical school, pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges including conspiracy to commit arson from 1996 through 2001.
The court also rejected sentence appeals of co-defendants Kevin Tubbs, sentenced to more than 12 years, and Jonathan Paul, sentenced to more than 4 years.
A Brief History of "The Family"
Their guilt is not in question
Here are some of the plea agreements already in effect.
When Chelsea Gerlach was 16 she attended an Earth First! gathering in Idaho where she met William C. Rodgers, an instructor who referred to himself as Avalon. It was at this retreat where she began a sexual relationship with William Rodgers who was 10 years her senior when she joined the Earth Liberation Front at age 16. It was here where she was introduced to the world of the sabotage in the name of protecting the environment also known as "Monkey Wrenching".
It is here where Federal Prosecutors believe that she developed a heavy crush on William Rodgers and joined his cell of the Earth Liberation Front in Eugene known as "The Family". This group later became responsible for 20 arsons around the Western United States that did $40 million in damage, including the 1998 fire that destroyed a restaurant and other facilities at the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado.
Rodgers later committed suicide in jail in 2005 after investigators persuaded one of its members to become an informant. Gerlach and nine others were facing sentences for their parts in the fires, which include forest ranger stations, meat packing plants, wild horse corrals, lumber mill offices, research facilities and an SUV dealer.
At first, prosecutors want a federal judge to declare them terrorists. This was something defense attorneys argued never happened in the other 1,200 arsons nationwide claimed by Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. They continued to argue that adding this terrorist label was more about politics than prison time.
Judge Ann Aiken will hear arguments on 15 May 2007 in U.S. District Court in Eugene on a motion by the government to add terrorism enhancement to sentencing guidelines for the six men and four women who have already admitted to their role and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and arson. These charges carry sentences ranging from three to 16 years.
A ruling that adds the label of "terrorists" is will probably not add to the time they spend behind bars, but it could send them to tougher prisons.
"Operation Backfire" as it was known, is to date the largest prosecution of environmental extremists, and has changed the common belief that arsonists generally act alone and not in organized groups.
"We thought these people operated for the last 15 years under this kind of uncoordinated violence approach, just like the extreme right was doing - leaderless resistance," said Brent Smith, director of the Terrorism Research Center at the University of Arkansas. "The idea that there was a big conspiracy involving a large group was foreign to most federal authorities' thinking about the extremist fringes of the environmental movement. That's why this case is so very different."
Prosecutors argue that although the defendants were never convicted of terrorism, they qualify for the label because at least one of the fires each of them set was intended to retaliate against government policy.
For example, the 1996 firebombing of the Oakridge Ranger Station on the Willamette National Forest was in retaliation for the U.S. Forest Service plan to cut down trees burned by the Warner Creek fire. Activists wanted the trees left standing.
By 2001, even though members of the "The Family" had gone dormant, at least temporarily, out of fear of getting caught, their sympathies had not changed. Gerlach bought numerous firearms at a Las Vegas gun show in 2003 that she cached and Daniel McGowan mailed out copies of a manual William Rodgers wrote on building detonators to underground distributors.
The Defense filed papers countering that none of the fires killed or injured anyone. They claimed that the terrorism enhancement is nothing more than an avenue for the government to claim a victory in its war on terror.
Attorney for Stanislas G. Meyerhoff, Terri Wood said, "The Government has Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' political agenda to advance with this case, and nothing else to lose if the Court declines to impose the enhancement." Meyerhoff faces the stiffest sentence recommendation of 15 years and eight months for his involvement in seven fires and toppling a high-tension power line.
Attorney Terri Wood also said that by branding the defendants with Terrorism Enhancement will officially label them as "Terrorists" and from the Bureau of Prisons perspective, this will likely result in high security designations that will drastically increase the risk of physical and sexual assault against cooperating defendants like Mr. Meyerhoff.
After the group disbanded in 2001, Rodgers ran a bookshop in Prescott, AZ and Gerlach became a DJ in Portland, OR. Meyerhoff enrolled in college in Virginia. McGowan worked for a women's advocacy law firm in New York City.
After years of investigation that seemed stalled most of the time, investigators found one of "The Family" willing to wear a wire. Jake Ferguson, with a pentagram tattoo on his head, searched out other Family members. The recordings provided investigators the evidence that they needed.
After being arrested, McGowan told investigators he threw cream pies at the president of the Sierra Club, uprooted genetically modified corn, and how he helped plan the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle before joining "The Family", in 2000. He admitted to his involvement in secret meetings and the setting fires at a lumber mill office and a tree farm.
Apparently his family did not know anything about his terrorist actions. His confession came as a total surprise to his sister, Lisa McGowan.
"He told me exactly what he did," she said. "We can't compare people who murder hundreds of people to someone who destroys an empty building. It's not the same thing."
But the fact remains that it is Arson... and Arson is still a serious crime at least by most people's standards. The exceptions are within the elitist Left-Wing thought process that does not see the law as being applicable to them. In every single case of the Left-Wing and Eco-terrorists, everyone involved in the commission of the crime always want to equate the Arson/Firebombing act in question as nothing more than mild vandalism or Free Speech. The truth is these are acts of Terrorism. The fact that no one was injured or killed was just a matter of luck. Firefighters are killed every year trying to put out fires. Take note how these arsonists never gave the people in this profession any thought or concern at all.
"I don't approve of what he did," she added. "But being put away for dozens of years is ridiculous when people, who are real terrorists, are planting bombs." She does not seem to have a clear understanding of the crime. These people "Firebombed" these buildings! It was pure luck that no one was hurt. And if someone had been injured, what would they have done? The fact is that they would have done nothing. And in the tradition of Timothy McVeigh, they would have considered any loss of life to be nothing more than collateral damage. And had it been the owner of the property, they would have considered it to be deserved for having an opposing viewpoint.
On 21 May 2007, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken issued a ruling from the bench that these people are indeed terrorists as we have said from the beginning. The string of 20 arsons in five Western states by a cell of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF) are terrorist acts and thereby qualify the defendants for longer sentences and tougher prisons under federal guidelines. At this point, all of the attorneys banded together and continued to try and justify their actions as though their clients had not harmed anyone. They are trying to challenge that assertion by arguing that by specific targeting of infrastructure, they avoided injury or violence to people, and therefore should not be terrorists.
All of that education and they still flat out refuse to understand how and why these people are Terrorists.
The firebombed remains of the Cavel West horsemeat packing plant in Redmond on July 21, 1997 courtesy of the US Attorney's Office in Portland Oregon.
Here are the remains of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.
The University of Washington firebombing took place early on May 21, 2001. The horticulture center, which was rebuilt at a cost of about $7 million, had done work on fast-growing hybrid poplars in hopes of limiting the amount of natural and old-growth forests that timber companies log.
This act of terrorism was committed because they incorrectly assumed that Professor Toby Bradshaw was making transgenic poplars. The arsonists removed all the animals from the building and set a fire in Professor Bradshaw's office. The fire quickly spread to adjacent labs doing research on conservation and wetlands biology. One of these labs included the lab of Sara Reichard, who had 100 Showy Stickseed Plants which she and her students had painstakingly cultivated. These plants are so rare that Sara Reichard's collection represented one-third of the total world population.
The Showy Stickseed Plants are so rare that one-third of the total world population was destroyed in the fire.
Never forget they destroyed one-third of the world's population of a rare plant species. These are the same people that will complain about cutting down a single tree from what is classified as "Old Growth" timber or building near the habitat of the Spotted Owl.
This is what is left of the poplar tree nursery in Clatskanie, OR, in May 2001.
These are several examples of the handiwork of ELF activists.
A Moral Question
If it is morally right for "Animal Rights Activists" to attack and destroy property in the name of animal rights, the environment, global warming, etc..., is it morally right for someone to target and commit an act of violence or destruction against the same activist for whatever reason they view as justifiable?
From their website, here is what the Earth Liberation Front has to say.
This is a Communiqué from the Earth Liberation Front (E.L.F.)
As an early New Year's gift to Long Island's environment destroyers, the Earth Liberation Front (E.L.F.) visited a construction site on December 29 and set fire to 4 unsold Luxury houses nearly completed at Island Estates in Mount Sinai, Long Island. Hopefully, this caused nearly $2 million in damage. This hopefully provided a firm message that we will not tolerate the destruction of our Island. Recently, hundreds of houses have been built over much of Mount Sinai's picturesque landscape and developers now plan to build a further 189 luxury houses over the farms and forests adjacent to Island Estates. This action was done in solidarity with Josh Harper, Craig Rosebraugh, Jeffrey "Free" Luers, Craig "Critter" Marshall, Andrew Stepanian, Jeremy Parkin, and the countless other known and unknown activists who suffer persecution, interrogation, police brutality, crappy jail conditions, yet stand strong.
If you don't think that these people are a danger, just look at their résumé.
Earth Liberation Front Profile
1992: Founded in Brighton, England, by Earth First! members who refused to abandon criminal acts as a tactic when others wished to "mainstream" Earth First!.
February 1994: Earth First! leader Judi Bari recommends that Earth First! mainstream itself in the United States, leaving criminal acts other than unlawful protests to Earth Liberation Front. Published in Earth First! Journal.
September 22, 1993: Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front publish communiqué declaring their solidarity of action.
Here are some of the many terrorist actions that the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility.
Oct. 28, 1996
Detroit, OR
A U.S. Forest Service pickup is torched on the parking lot of the Detroit Ranger District headquarters. The saboteurs tag the building with "Earth Liberation Front" and other graffiti. A plastic jug rigged as an incendiary device is later found on the roof. It did not go off. Damages: $15,000. Joint ALF/ELF claim.
October 30, 1996
Near Eugene, OR
Arson destroyed U.S. Forest Service Oakridge Ranger Station south of Eugene. Cost estimate, $5.3 million. Law enforcement officers assert that a joint ALF/ELF claim was received but not published.
March 14, 1997
Near Eugene, OR
Tree spiking at Robinson-Scott timber harvest site in the Mackenzie River watershed, Willamette National Forest. Joint ALF/ELF claim.
July 21, 1997
Redmond, OR
Arson of Cavel West meat packing plant in Redmond. Estimated cost over $1 million. Joint ALF/ELF claim.
Nov. 29, 1997
Hines, OR
Arsonists destroy a U.S. Bureau of Land Management horse barn, chutes, pens and equipment. Four hundred horses are released, but they are later recaptured. The Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front take joint responsibility. Damages: $474,000.
July 3, 1998
Middleton, WI
Break-in and release of 171 mink and ferrets from United Vaccines laboratory. Joint ALF/ELF claim.
June 28, 1998
Boston, MA
Sprayed red paint on the Mexican Consulate in Boston to protest the treatment of peasants in Chiapas, Mexico.
June 2, 1998
Olympia, WA
Two U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife stations, miles apart, go up in flames on the same morning. The Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front take joint responsibility for both of the attacks. Damages: $1.9 million.
Oct. 10, 1998
Rock Springs, WY
Would-be saboteurs cut the locks off horse pens at a BLM corral, freeing about 40 wild horses. Failed incendiaries are found next to a pickup truck and a building. The Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front take joint responsibility. Damages: negligible.
Oct. 19, 1998
Vail, CO
Fires ravage a portion of the Vail ski resort, seven structures destroyed: 4 ski lifts, a restaurant, a picnic facility, and a utility building. The Earth Liberation Front later claims it torched the resort because of proposed expansion into the declining habitat of lynx. Damages: $12 million.
October 26, 1998
Powers, MI
Release of 5,000 mink at Tom Pipkorn's Mink Farm near Hermansville in the upper peninsula. An estimated 500 are run over on roads, starve, drown in a swimming pool or disappear. Damages: $100,000. ELF claim of responsibility faxed to Associated Press offices by North American Animal Liberation Front.
December 26, 1998
Medford, OR
Arson of U.S. Forest Industries' corporate headquarters in Medford, Oregon. The three alarm blaze resulted in over $500,000 in damages. ELF claimed responsibility in a communiqué.
Dec. 27, 1998
Medford, OR
Fire ravages the headquarters of U.S. Forest Industries. An Earth Liberation Front communiqué issued weeks later by the Liberation Collective in Portland, Oregon says the strike was payback to a company it accused of razing forests and killing wild animals for profit. Damages: $700,000.
Aug. 7, 1999
Escanaba, MI
A fishing boat is set ablaze in the driveway of a veterinarian who once worked as a mink rancher. A garage door is tagged with graffiti 18 inches high: "FUR IS MURDER. E.L.F." The Earth Liberation Front later claims in an Internet posting it targeted the veterinarian after finding a "Fur is Enough" sign outside his home. Damages: $15,000.
Dec. 25, 1999
Monmouth, OR
Fire burns down a Boise Cascade timber management office. "Let this be a lesson to all greedy multinational corporations who don't respect their ecosystems," the Earth Liberation Front writes in a claim of responsibility to The Oregonian. "The elves are watching." Damages: $1 million.
Dec. 31, 1999
Lansing, MI
Arson breaks out in the offices of Catherine Ives, Room 324, Michigan State University's Agriculture Hall, a campus landmark. The Earth Liberation Front later issues a communiqué saying it doused an office with gasoline and set it ablaze because the university financed development of genetically modified crops to force developing nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa to switch from natural crop plants to genetically engineered sweet potatoes, corn, bananas and pineapples. Monsanto and USAID are major funders of the research and promotional work being done through Michigan State University. According to local newspapers, the fire caused some $400,000 in damage. "Cremate Monsanto, Long live the E.L.F. On to the next GE target!"
Jan. 23, 2000
Bloomington, IN
Fire destroys a luxury home under construction at the Sterling Woods Development. Investigators find a cryptic message spray-painted in black on a sign near the house: "No Sprawl - ELF." Damages $200,000. An ELF statement obtained by the Environment News Service says, "The house was targeted because the sprawling development it is located in is in the Lake Monroe Watershed. This is the drinking water supply for the town of Bloomington, Indiana and the surrounding area. It is already being jeopardized by existing development and roads."
April 30, 2000
Bloomington, IN
At least six pieces of logging and heavy construction equipment are sabotaged and a trailer full of wood chips is set ablaze at a road construction site just outside the city. A communiqué from the Earth Liberation Front states its plan was to punish those developing wooded areas around Bloomington, which "have turned what was once forested land into parking lots, luxury houses for rich scum and expanded roads." Damages: $75,000.
July 20, 2000
Rhinelander, WI
Vandals hack down thousands of experimental trees, mostly poplars, and spray-paint vehicles at a U.S. Forest Service research station. The Earth Liberation Front claims the attack was against bioengineering, although researchers say the trees were bred naturally to grow faster and resist diseases. Damages: $1 million.
Sept. 9, 2000
Bloomington, IN
Fire erupts at the headquarters of the Monroe County Republican Party Committee headquarters. Investigators say a flammable liquid was poured on the building and ignited. The arson was a reminder, according to the Earth Liberation Front communiqué, that it would not sit quietly as politicians pushed for plans to extend an interstate highway. Damages: $1,500.
Oct. 18, 2000
Shoals, IN
Vandals find four pieces of heavy logging equipment in the Martin State Forest and cut hoses, slash seats, destroy gauges and pour sand in the engines, fuel tanks and radiators. They leave spray-painted graffiti including, "Earth Raper", "Go Cut in Hell", and "ELF". Damages: $55,000.
Nov. 27, 2000
Niwot, CO
Arson hits one of the first luxury homes going up in a new subdivision. The Earth Liberation Front later sends a note, made of letters clipped from magazines, to the Boulder Weekly newspaper: "Viva la revolution! The Boulder ELF burned the Legend Ridge mansion on Nov. 27th." The underground group explains in a follow-up communiqué that the arson was driven by defeat of a statewide ballot measure to control growth. Damages: $500,000.
Dec. 9, 2000
Middle Island, NY
Fire erupts in a condominium under construction. The Earth Liberation Front claims responsibility, saying the homes were "future dens of the wealthy elite". The group, announcing "an unbounded war on urban sprawl", claims it checked for occupants - human and animal - in 16 condos before setting incendiaries in them. Damages: $200,000.
Dec. 19, 2000
Miller Place, NY
A house under construction goes up in flames. "Building homes for the wealthy should not even be a priority"" the Earth Liberation Front writes in its communiqué. "Forests, farms and wetlands are being replaced with a sea of houses, green chemical lawns, blacktop and roadkill." Damages: $50,000.
Dec. 30, 2000
Mount Sinai, NY
Three luxury homes under construction are set ablaze, and a fourth is spray-painted with graffiti: "If you build it we will burn it." The ELF issues a communiqué saying, "This hopefully provided a firm message that we will not tolerate the destruction of our island." Damages: $160,000.
Jan. 2, 2000
Glendale, OR
Fire ravages the offices of Superior Lumber Co., the town of 770's leading employer. The arson is the third holiday conflagration of an Oregon timber firm in as many years. It summons investigators from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Damages: $400,000.
Feb. 15, 2000
Suffolk County, NY
Charged with arson and arson conspiracy in connection with the Long Island, New York arsons, were Connor Cash, 19. Cash entered a not guilty plea. Charged with arson conspiracy were Jared McIntyre, 17, Matthew Rammelkamp, 16, and George Mashkow Jr., 17. Cash, of Sound Beach, was charged with conspiring with the others to burn the Mount Sinai homes Dec. 30. Prosecutors said he procured the gasoline for the incendiary devices and instructed the others to carry out the torching because as an adult, he feared he would face greater penalties if caught. McIntyre, of Coram, and the other two were accused of carrying out the Dec. 9 arson of four new homes in Middle Island and plotting to torch a Center Moriches duck farm and a McDonald's in Miller Place. Mashkow, of Coram, and McIntyre were charged in the Dec. 19 torching of a home under construction in Miller Place. Rammelkamp, of Miller Place, and McIntyre were charged with carrying out the torching of the Mount Sinai homes. As part of plea bargains with federal prosecutors, George Mashkow and Matthew Rammelkamp pleaded guilty as adults and agreed to cooperate with investigations into ELF and a related group, the Animal Liberation Front. Jared McIntyre also pleaded guilty to arson conspiracy.
Feb. 20, 2001
Visalia, CA
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for setting fire to a cotton gin, owned by Delta & Pine Land Company, the largest seller and developer of transgenic cotton in the United States. The attack took place when unknown perpetrators cut through a padlocked door, placed five gallon buckets of gasoline inside and set the cotton gin alight.
Apr. 3, 2001
Albertville, MN
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for attempting to set a Nike shoe outlet on fire in Albertville, Minnesota. Authorities discovered several milk jugs filled with gasoline on the roof of the building and evacuated the premises.
Apr. 15,2001
Portland, OR
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for setting fire to three cement trucks that belonged to the Ross Island Sand & Gravel Company, in Portland, Oregon. The attack was perpetrated, according to the group, to protest the company's mining of a 40-acre site in the Columbia River Gorge. The fire was started when four containers of gasoline were lit with a timing device. The damages totaled over $210,000. In their written communiqué, the group states, "Let this be a warning to all the greedy corporations who exploit our Earth's natural resources." In October of 2002, two men, Jacob Sherman and Michael Scarpitti, were arrested in connection with this arson attack and another that took place in June 2001, which targeted a logging company is Estacada.
Jan. 1, 2003
Girard, PA
Jugs of gasoline were set under three vehicles at Bob Ferrando Ford Lincoln Mercury and set ablaze. Two pickup trucks, one Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and a car were destroyed. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr. 8, 2003
Santa Cruz, CA
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for damaging over sixty SUV's. The vandalized SUV's included about twenty private vehicles as well forty at the North Bay Ford and Lincoln Mercury car dealership. Messages were spray-painted on the vehicles denouncing the war in Iraq.
Aug. 1, 2003
San Diego, CA
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for an arson fire that destroyed the nearly completed La Jolla Crossroads complex of 1,800 apartments and condominiums in University City near San Diego. The loss was estimated at $50 million. To this date, this has been the costliest act of environmental terrorism in U.S. history.
Sept. 22, 2003
Charlottesville, VA
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for planting plastic bottles containing flammable liquid at the Ice Mountain Spring Water Company in Martiny, Michigan. The devices were intended to start a fire at the premises but were discovered by maintenance workers before they were set ablaze.
Feb. 7, 2004
Charlottesville, VA
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for causing over $30,000 in damages to a construction site in Charlottesville, Virginia. The group set fire to a bulldozer and caused damage to other equipment that was parked off of Route 29. This site is to be developed into a retail, commercial and residential community. On their website, the ELF writes that the site was "targeted as part of the ELF's ongoing actions against large-scale developments going up at the expense of what little green space is left in North America."
Apr. 20, 2004
Snohomish, WA
The Earth Liberation Front is suspected of setting fire to three luxury homes in Snohomish, Washington, that caused about $1 million in damages. The perpetrators targeted new homes located in a golf course subdivision. A spokesman for the ELF said that they believe that one of their members perpetrated the attack but were not completely certain.
June 14, 2004
West Jordan, UT
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for starting a fire that caused about $1.5 million in damages to a lumber warehouse.
Jan. 18, 2005
Auburn, CA
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for placing firebombs at two California construction sites. Last week a construction crew found five incendiary devices in an Auburn office building which did not detonate because of defective materials. Similar devices were discovered at three homes under construction in Lincoln in December. The letter from the ELF warned "We are setting a new precedent, where there will be at least one or more actions every few weeks".
If you want to see more of this activity, take a look at the following links.
How many more examples are needed to prove that these people are a real threat? People are in danger. Families have been threatened. Children have been targeted for attacks! These people are Terrorists by every definition of the word no different than HAMAS, the PLO, and the Ku Klux Klan. These people pose a clear and present danger to anyone that does not agree with their narrow-minded view of the world.
From the eco-terrorist point of view, it is quite apparent that the human population is the reason for most of the suffering on this planet. For those in the Earth Liberation Front and others that subscribe to this philosophy, you should definitely check out the following website. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement will probably solve all of your problems and therefore all of the earth's problems.
