Article Remembering Gypsy

"Meanwhile, logging by Pacific Lumber in the Northern California forest where Chain was killed began again this week, with 11 trees felled. Three Earth First! activists were arrested as they shadowed loggers and tried to block attempts to cut down the trees."

The folks that were arrested were at the gate and nowhere near an active logging operation.
In addition,David was not chained to the tree. He was sitting out were the tree was intended to fall. The faller didn't know he was there.
Flat out poor reporting.

While you are correct that the arrested activists were down at the gate of the road leading up to Gypsy Mountain, you are full of it on the rest of your info...
First, Gypsy was standing, not sitting, and the logger knew very well that we were there...the video tape proves it. I was there, so I know, for a fact.
You, biggist, are a liar.
Again, on September 18, 2003, Maxxam/PL loggers failed to stop logging with people in the area.
This time, they almost killed two of their own workers and a group of forest defenders.
When there are people in the area, the chainsaws are supposed to stop.
The egos of Maxxam/PL and some loggers are preventing them from being safe...they want to show us that they're going to log, no matter what.
Well, it almost cost you the life of one of your buddies, "Sparklepole," and was nearly the worst PR nightmare that you could have possibly imagined.
And this was done the day after the five-year anniversary of Gypsy's death.
Maxxam/PL, you killed one five years ago, and you almost killed about 10 people just last week.
When is enough enough?
As was the case in 1998, the loggers on Gypsy Mountain KNEW that there were people in the woods, yet continued to fall trees ANYWAY. The only difference was that the faller most likely wasn't TRYING to hit people last week, as A.E. Ammons WAS DOING in September of 1998.
Biggist, your lies only give me the opportunity to reiterate the truth. When are you going to learn?
Your credibility is sinking fast...soon you'll be finished, with absolutely no respect or credibility from anyone, even yourself...hang your head in shame, again...
Maxxam/PL is in the business of recklessly endangering the lives of the people, the forest, the critters, and themselves. When will they learn?
Save Gypsy Mountain!

First off I want to express my sympathy and solidarity with the family and comerades of David Chain, who was certainly a martyr killed, likely deliberately, defending the last ancient redwoods.  His life and struggle are an inspiration to me and countless others.
 
I just wanted to draw some attention to an issue that is usually ignored, but should be taken seriously by anyone concerned about respect for other cultures and the struggle against racism/ethnocentrism.  I bring this up in the belief that those who loved and worked with David Chain are decent people, opposed to racism, and are willing to listen: The word "Gypsy" is an inaccurate slur used to describe the Romani culture.  (Romani is the adjective form, the people are Rom or Roma.)  Consider:
 
'"Gypsy" conjures up all kinds of stereotypical images of Roma in the minds of viewers and readers. It should be replaced by Roma. Gypsy has been applied to the Roma by outsiders and it is offensive to many Roma just like Indian is offensive to Canada’s Native People.'  ---from:  http://www.romani.org/toronto/FS5jour.html
 
Also:
'The term "Gypsy" as used in scholarly writings supports misconceptions that all Roma are migratory, roam the countryside, and are engaged in questionable or illegal activities, as exemplified by slang terms like "to gyp," meaning to swindle. For many people, just the word "Gypsy" conjures up the picture of dirty women in long skirts, apparently sickly babies in their arms, begging for money or asking to read palms. For others, they are petty swindlers who rent storefronts and deceive a gullible public. It is only natural that many Roma, therefore, view the word "Gypsy" as offensive.'  
---from: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/myths.htm
 
This concerns the use of the word in any context.  Furthermore, I would like people to consider what it means for an individual (or a dance troupe, or restaurant-- both exist in San Francisco,) to take as a monkier the name of an ethnic group.  How would we feel if, for example, someone/group were to call themself "Jew" or "Negro"?
 
Naturally, this would be somewhat mitigated if the person in question actually is of that group.  Though I have never read anywhere anything to suggest that David Chain's family is of Romani origin, I don't mean to be making assumptions.
 
But even then, the use of such a name is highly problematic, and even offensive if the term itself is a slur, as is "Gypsy".
 
I bring this up not to disparage the deceased and his fellow environmentalists, whose work defending the forest has been exemplary, but to raise awareness about a form of ethnocentric domination that is all the more dangerous for being so often invisible.
 
Thank you.  In liberation,
Jeff G
SF, CA
 
PS: If anyone wished to speak with me about this, please indicate so in a following comment.  I apologize for being wary about posting my email address on this site, but I imagine that you can understand my reluctance.

1) we were dicussing being chained to the tree, not sitting or standing.
2) Sitting or standing, the tree took more than 5 minutes to fall. He had a reason not to move. I've told you why I don't think he moved.
3) Don't call the guy Sparklepole. It's Sparpole. It's a logging word. He's not going to live it down as it is. (Is that a sparklepole in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?)
4) Four last words; Google: Arcata Eye, Shunka

what is the "REAL" name for Gypsy Mountain"

what is the "REAL" name for Gypsy Mountain"

First, he wasn't chained to a tree, and you know it.
We were all on the ground, just as people were on Thursday, September 18th, 2003, non-violently protesting illegal logging(2 violations cited by CDF 2 days later, 2 days too late), and just as we walked out into the clearing, we heard the silence, gave out ANOTHER VERY LOUD YELL, heard the logger pounding the wedge(I didn't know what that sound meant at the time, that being my FIRST ACTION in the woods with PL), and then the tree came screaming our direction. It all happened in a matter of seconds, and the logger had the choice ALL ALONG to stop logging, knowing that there were "f*%king hippies all over the place" (direct quote). So he knew, just as the logger on Gypsy Mountain, on September 18th, 2003, when a whole group of people were NEARLY KILLED by yet another logger who refused to stop logging while there are people in or near the fall zone.
Very irresponsible.
Well, now Sparpole and I have something in common...we both came within feet of having our lives extinguished on Gypsy Mountain, five years and one day apart. Maybe that will help him to enforce the protocol established as a result of the out-of-court settlement from the wrongful death civil suit, won by Gypsy's family, and filed as a result of Maxxam/PL killing their family member, David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain, on September 17th, 1998, when an enraged Maxxam/PL logger knowingly and maliciously fell trees directly towards non-violent Earth First! activists, who were protesting illegal logging on those steep and unstable slopes above the Grizzly Creek/Van Duzen River watershed, home to some of the best and last marbled murrelet habitat on Earth, and much of which is still unprotected, despite Federal Endangered Species and Clean Water Acts, which would protect these areas, had they not been eroded by a neo-liberal and highly corrupted government.
When people are in and/or near a "fall zone"(the place where the fallers are trying to fall the tree into...margin for human error, yet can be very accurate, depending on experience of the logger, weather conditions, etc.), all chainsaws have to stop. Period.
Then, workers have to get on their radios(they should all be required to have them), call their supervisors, who will then call security, who will then call the police, who will then come out and arrest those who wish to be arrested(and those who don't, sometimes).
That's how things have to operate in a civil society, at least with the structure that we have now.
Abolish the police state, and then we'll talk about how to handle the situation without them...until then, that's the protocol, and all PL workers have to follow it, or else face MASSIVE LAWSUITS. And, more importantly, all timber workers, everywhere, need to practice this protocol, to avoid more injuries and deaths.
Satisfying your ego isn't worth another tragedy.
As long as Maxxam/PL is logging irresponsibly, there are going to be protests, with our without me...no one is in control here, we're all just doing our part to save the last of these ancient and pristine groves.
Please have some respect for the dead.
That's a bare minimum request.
Disrespecting the honorable dead is one of the lowest things a human being can do...is that the goal, to sink to one's lowest, to try to get power over people and the Earth? Is that the corporate strategy? Seems to be....
We are rising!!!!
With Love, Light, and Re-evolution,
Shunka Wakan

Nevermind these right-wing tabloids...corporate media slander is nothing new...thanks for all who continue to support the non-violent, non-property destructive efforts of North Coast Earth First!
The movement is growing, worldwide, and soon we will all be free:)
Take care, and stay in touch!
With Love, Light, and Re-evolution,
Shunka Wakan

Oh yeah, if you want to see what some people have to say about the Arcata F.B.Eye, edited by none other than (J. Edgar)Kevin Hoover, who has a highly suspicious vendetta against me and Earth First!, check out this website:)

http://www.arcatalie.com/