Lock down on Maxxam/PL road in Carlotta

Tuesday at 5 am non-violent forest defense activists converged on the gate in front of Maxxam/Pacific Lumber “property”, the timber corporation that contracts Steve Wills Trucking and Logging to stop local deforestation. One activist locked down to a gate, three to a logging truck which remained running for over an hour, and another three to the revolutionary bundle of joy. The bundle of joy consisted of a 55-gallon barrel filled with cement and rebar.

One deputy showed up quickly but the activists were still able to shut down the road for about hour and a half. When more sheriffs showed up the logging trucks were able to slowly pass by while the protesters remained in the road. An activist from underneath the logging truck was the first to be arrested. Sheriff Bolton put her full weight on his backwards bent legs. As sheriffs were detaining him they could also be seen grabbing his hair and supporting his whole upper body by his scalp. They also slammed this non-violent activist onto the ground and used other pain compliance techniques during which he was heard screaming painfully. According to the sheriffs this activist swung at them, which he did not. This was all documented on video camera The next to be cut out was the activist locked down to the gait. Then, to prevent it from being caught on videotape, the sheriffs drove vehicles in between our video camera and the truck with activists locked down to it as they extracted the two beneath the truck. One of these activists was simultaneously handcuffed to the truck while she was locked down in a painful stretched-out position. Screams were heard from her and an activist standing on the road observed her with her arms bent backwards and her torso folded over by a sheriff deputy. In addition, she dragged on the ground face down to the jail van.

Next, the other activist under the truck got extracted without much incidence. Then attention focused onto the activists locked down to the revolutionary bundle of joy. The sheriffs cut the ropes, small wires and rebar from around the u-locks closely locked down to the activists necks. The distance between the u-locks and the necks was no more than three centimeters. The cops then took foil and folded it over three times and placed it in between one of the protesters neck and the lock. They then attempted to cut the lock with large bolt cutters dangerously closely to her neck. This attempt failed after much force was applied to the bolt cutters by Humboldt Sheriffs. Later in the action, the potential for physical harm was observed when a worker broke a pair of bolt cutters attempting to break rebar in the concrete matrix of the rbj while an activist was locked down to it. The sheriffs then considered using a grinder to cut the activists out. However, because the locks were so close to their necks, an activist pointed out that the sparks from the blade would catch their hair on fire. Aside from that, an active blade so close to there necks would have been extremely dangerous. The sheriffs then regrouped, packed up their stuff and left.



After the sheriffs left the activists regrouped around the rbj trying to figure out what to do and how to better block the road. Then the activists formed a mini road block with slash logs and railroad ties. After physically blocking a giant clawed pincer machine, activists talked with workers about Maxxam/PL's destructive logging and potential for locally owned loggers' coops for approximately an hour until sheriffs came rushing back at high speeds. At this point nobody was locked down to the rbj, but people ran back to position and one activist was able to lock down. The two activists who were unable to lock down in time 4 the Sheriffs’ swarm were forcibly dragged away by Sheriffs, despite one activist having a foot injury.

Sheriffs then entered the parking lot that was on public property and started rummaging through the contents of the trunk without consent. The sheriff was told three times by another activist who said “we do not consent to search”. The sheriff replied by saying, “I’m not giving you a choice, I’m gonna do what I want.” Afterwards, activists repeated twice more, “we do not consent to search. At this point, a sister activist who had been originally been locked down to the rbj, who was standing in the parking lot on public property, was chased down and slammed to the ground by Humboldt County Sheriffs. The sheriffs would not let her or any other fellow activist transfer car keys to one another. At this point sheriffs began to chase a different activist who had caught the keys, who fell on a flat surfaced road for unknown reasons. Around this time, the deputy produced an electric prod without warning, holding it in a menacing position above the downed activist. Sheriffs continued to chase and yell at remaining activists before returning to the rbj.

The solo activist with the u-lock was then covered by a tarp and the rbj was attacked by the Sheriffs’ jackerhammer drill. This caused vibrations that effected the u-lock in close proximity to the neck. Sometimes the entire rbj was wobbling, the weight causing tremendous stress on the activist’s vertebrate. This went on for almost three hours with no breaks for water hydration or relief from vibrations on the vertebrae. During this time, as previously mentioned, the boltcutters broke on the rebar in the concrete matrix. As night began, the activist was cut lose and dragged to the Humboldt Sheriff’s car.


Our protest flyer w/ info on Steve Wills trucking;


PERSISTENT RESISTANCE FOR THE FOREST

Exposing and targeting Steve Wills Trucking and Logging as a major perpetrator of local deforestation

STEVE WILLS CLEAR CUTS ANCIENT FORESTS EVERYDAY.

Along with Columbia Helicopters, Steve Wills is the largest subcontractor for Maxxam/Pacific Lumber. In fact, Steve Wills bought the entire fleet of trucks from PL-a two hundred year old, previously family-owned timber company---that no longer directly employs anyone who cuts trees. Maxxam is a cut-and-run corporation that does not want to be held responsible for the deforestation of Humboldt or countless other areas it is devastating. You will never see ancient trees, nor any trees again, for that matter, hauled on trucks that say “PALCO” or “Pacific Lumber” or “Maxxam.” This is an intentional phenomenon: PL is now only a local front for out-of state, Maxxam, a Texas holding corporation, actively dismantling the PL Company and working through Steve Wills and Columbia Helicopters to finish off the slaughter of the last old growth forests and accompanying salmon runs.

Indeed, every day you see many trucks with the name Steve Wills hauling away ancient Redwoods, Doug Firs, and Oaks:

Steve Wills Trucking is clear-cutting ancient Redwoods in Freshwater,

Steve Wills is stripping steep hillsides of old growth Doug Fir, Madrone, and Tan Oak in
the Mattole River watershed, the most seismically active area in the continental U.S.; and
Steve Wills is further hastening the extinction of ancient trees and numerous other species by demolishing the Van Duzen, Elk and Eel River watersheds.

Maxxam’s subcontracting to Steve Wills Trucking minimizes accountability to workers and fragments the perception of who is culpable for the continued, ruinous, and illegal logging practices.

Steve Wills’ logging practices, dictated by Maxxam’s liquidation logging policy, adversely affect our water quality with siltation and poisonous herbicides

Steve Wills is not only violent and careless with the Earth, but also falls trees around tree-sitters high in the canopy who are attempting to protect old growth and halt unethical and illegal logging. In one case, Steve Wills’ supervisor allowed fallers to cut trees that hit a tree with treesitters in it. In many instances, Steve Wills’ loggers have continued to fall trees knowing that protesters were on the ground in the fall zone.

Forest defenders maintain a code of non-violence, while risking their lives for the ancient forests. Steve Wills is a central factor in the deforestation of Humboldt County. As part of our persistent resistance against global and local deforestation, we must expose and target this major component of the timber industry machine that does Maxxam and Hurwitz’s bidding -- killing the last ancient forest ecosystems.