Yesterday we provided links for listeners so they can take us up on the challenge to act. But there was one that was overlooked and it’s an important one. Want to keep Las Vegas out of the Gorge? Here’s who to call: write, actually:
Secretary Ken Salazar, US Dept. of the Interior
1849 C St. NW
Washington DC 20240
FAX: 202-208-6956
Assistant Secretary Echohawk
Bureau of Indian Affairs
1849 C St. NW Mail stop 4141
Rm. 4160
Washington DC 20240 FAX: 202-208-5320
Scott Aiken, Division of Natural Resources
Bureau of Indian Affairs
911 Northeast 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232
FAX 503-231-6791
Refer to # 11109 and be sure to check out the Friends of the Columbia Gorge to get your talking points lined up. And thanks for caring about Cascadia’s heritage.
And now for something completely different…
David Ryan, owner of Hood River Juice Company and winner of the first Air Cascadia ‘Dirty Bird’ award last Earth Day, pleaded guilty late Wednesday to Supplying False Information to an Agency and Water Pollution in the Second Degree. Hood River County District Attorney John Sewell and Attorney General John Kroger today announced guilty pleas that successfully resolved the criminal pollution case. It’s a big victory for the AG’s Environmental Crime Enforcement Unit. States can pass all the laws they want in the name of environmental stewardship but unless those laws are actually enforced, legislation – no matter how well intentioned – is useless.
A plea agreement requires Ryan to serve three years probation and serve 48 hours in jail or perform 80 hours of community service. Hood River Juice must hire a certified operator approved by the Department of Environmental Quality to monitor operations and conduct weekly inspections of the company’s wastewater disposal system. Both defendants must pay a total of $12,500 to the Western States Project, a multi-agency organization that provides training on enforcement techniques, strategies and methodologies to enforcement agencies in the western United States. Best of all, Ryan has to move his whole operation far from the scene of the crime.
FBI agents and law enforcement from multiple agencies have raided a well-known activist group house in Salt Lake City, Utah, last March. The excuse was a tenuous connection with an investigation of Animal Liberation Front crimes in Iowa.
Some background: In Minnesota, a graduate student named Scott DeMuth has been indicted on conspiracy charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. The charges are related to a 2004 raid by the Animal Liberation Front at the University of Iowa.
Another Minnesota activist, Carrie Feldman, has been jailed for refusing to testify about her political beliefs and political associations before a grand jury. Feldman was a teenager at the time of the ALF crime, and says the grand jury is clearly an attempt to harass and intimidate the activist community.
So how did the FBI end up in Utah? One of the housemates, Peter Young, is repeatedly mentioned by name in the warrant. Young was one of the first people prosecuted for “animal enterprise terrorism” in connection to fur farm raids in the late 90s.- KBOO