Local Activists and Big Timber Clash in the Courtroom

Eureka, California – Local environmentalists will face off with corporate timber in a series of court hearings on Monday, December 6. Humboldt County Superior Court will be buzzing with the voices of those struggling to protect diminishing old-growth forests from the Houston-based Maxxam Corporation, which controls the Pacific Lumber Company (PL). Standing against the Texas attack on redwood country, Northern California activists and attorneys will argue before county judges throughout the day.

Treesits, road blockades, legal injunctions against timber cutting, and violence against activists are before the Superior Court on Monday, as challenges against Maxxam/PL – and their detractors - course through the courthouse. There will be multiple hearings ranging from a lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) against six Pacific Lumber logging plans, to lawsuits filed by treetop activists who were forcibly brought to the ground in the spring of 2003.

In two morning trials, seven non-violent activists face criminal charges for blockading Maxxam/PL subcontractor, Steve Wills Trucking and Logging. Steve Wills Trucking, a daily perpetrator of forest decimation, devastates forested areas in many Humboldt County watersheds already severely impacted by over-cutting. Last month, seven protesters chained their necks and arms to a log truck, a gate, and a cement-filled barrel on the road leading to Steve Will’s truck yard. A banner in the roadblock read, "Extinction is Forever. Trespass is Temporary."

In the tree-sitter case, five activists filed counter-suits for damages stemming from controversial treesit extractions in the spring of 2003. The separately filed cross-actions name Maxxam; Pacific Lumber; Schatz Tree Service, Inc; Eric Schatz; Michael Oxman; and others for assault, battery, negligence, civil rights violations, and other heinous acts inflicted on treesitters who were forcibly removed from ancient redwoods slated to be cut under PL’s “fatally flawed” Sustained Yield Plan. PL extractors (Schatz, Oxman and others) forcibly bind and remove activists from the tops of ancient trees and aerial road blockades to facilitate logging that the Humboldt County District Attorney calls fraud in a lawsuit pending against PL. Although a Santa Cruz County Judge forbade the forced extractions of treesitters in 2000 due to inherent danger, no such order has been made in Humboldt County. And while Eric Schatz and his "team" have consistently used violence and threats in performing extractions, the county has not challenged the legality of forced removals or the behavior of PL-hired extractors. On the 6th, however, the court will decide whether or not PL and the extractors will be held to answer the activists' cross-complaint lawsuits.

Court Schedule for December 6

8:30am Courtroom 2 Judge Miles
Bench Trial: criminal trespass infraction charges levied against Mack Allison, Brian Frideley, James McGuinn, Sarah Petru, Matthew Rogers, Cesili Stewart (Steve Wills Protest)

8:45am Courtroom 4 Judge Brown
EPIC vs CDF [Pacific Lumber-real party] Hearing on Requested Civil Injunction Against Six Pacific Lumber Logging Plans

8:30am Courtroom 7 Judge Cissna
Jury Trial: criminal trespass and resisting misdemeanor charges levied against Kimberly Starr (Steve Wills Protest)

3:00pm Courtroom 1 Judge Watson
Treesitter Hearing: Pacific Lumber et al vs. Remedy et al. Case No. DR020602 Hearing on Old Growth Activists' Complaints of Assault, Battery, Negligence, Civil Rights Violations, etc. by PL treesit extractors. ###