Gypsy Memorial site in upheaval...

Earth First!

For immediate release, Tuesday, March 26th, 2002
Contact:Noami Wagner @ (707)629-3546

Maxxam/PL gives away state property-threatens arrest at Gypsy Memorial Grove


In a shocking, yet not all together surprising turn of events, Humboldt County Earth First! activists learned recently that a redwood grove that they had been promised would be set aside as a memorial to slain activist David "Gypsy" Chain, is not, in fact, the company's property to give away. Yet, at the same time, the sheriffs came to the area on Sunday night, who threatened to arrest activists for trespassing at the memorial site.

The half-acre area, which lies between the old and new bridges about eighteen miles east on state highway 36, is at the foot of what is now known as Gypsy Mountain, where the young man was killed in September 1998, as a result of a tree being felled on him by an irate Maxxam logger. The redwood grove was set aside pursuant to a settlement agreement of the wrongful death suit brought against Maxxam by Gypsy's mother, Mrs. Cindy Allsbrooks.

While not formally spelled out in the agreement, the company publicly announced its' intention to designate a memorial in a press release at the time of the settlement last fall, and made arrangements to place a locally-crafted commemorative plaque at the site in question. Although Maxxam/PL claims it owns the area, Cal-Trans official Don Campbell insists it belongs to the state of California. He said the old roadbed bridge and right-of-way were never "vacated" when the state acquired the land for the new highway from Louisiana Pacific in 1984.

"This company doesn't really know where its' boundaries are, they just have people arrested at will for trespassing on public land," said Earth First!er Naomi Wagner, who was falsely arrested by Pacific Lumber on public property last summer.

The controversy came to light when preparations were being made for a March 2nd memorial for Gypsy and Judi Bari, another Earth First! activist well known for her work in organizing the Redwood Summer protests of the 90's, and the decade-long campaign to save Headwaters Forest. Judi Bari died in 1997 of cancer, however her lawsuit against the F.B.I. for their role in the 1990 pipe-bomb assassination attempt on herself and Darryl Cherney, goes to trial on April 8th, this year.

Many activists and friends of both Bari and Chain feel the set-aside of an actual Old Growth tree on Gypsy Mountain, which has since been largely clear-cut, would be the most appropriate way to honor the fallen activists. At the March 2nd gathering, a large banner was hung from a roadside redwood, with the message: "Justice for Gypsy and Judi Bari-Let Gypsy Mountain Live!"