The Green Scare continues... Information from The Civil Liberties Defense Center

Executive Director
Lauren C. Regan, Attorney at Law
lregan [at] cldc.org

Misha Dunlap, Attorney at Law
misha [at] cldc.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO DONATE TO THE CLDC, PLEASE
CONTACT US AT info [at] cldc.org or donate [at] cldc.org

259 East 5th Avenue, Suite 300 A
Eugene, Oregon 97401
541.687.9180 phone
541.686.2137 fax
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IF ANYONE IS CONTACTED BY THE FEDS/LAW ENFORCEMENT,
PLEASE ASK THEM TO CALL LAUREN AT 541-687-9180 OR
DANIEL'S ATTORNEYS, JEFF ROBINSON, AMANDA LEE OR SONG
RICHARDSON AT 1-800-809-2234. ATTORNEY REFERRALS ARE
AVAILABLE FOR THOSE IN NEED.

From The Desk Of
The Executive Director

April 27, 2006
The Green Scare continues...
On March 21, Camillo Stephenson was subpoenaed to
a Denver, Colorado, grand jury and questioned in
regards to the 1998 Vail ski resort fire. It appears
that Jake Ferguson made some statements to the FBI
that he claimed Camillo would corroborate. No such
luck for Jake, as once again the information he has
provided to the federal government proves to be
untrue. No indictments have been issued yet in the
Vail case, but based on the Oregon indictment, Bill
Rodgers, Jake Ferguson, Kevin Tubbs, Chelsea Gerlach,
Stan Meyerhoff, Rebecca Rubin and Josephine Overraker
are alleged to be participants (who knows if any of
those individuals will actually get indicted for the
Vail arson).

On March 30, Briana Waters was taken into custody
in Seattle, Washington, and is the first to be
indicted in Washington. The feds had showed up at
Waters’ door earlier that month and basically told her
she could either “cooperate,” or she would become a
defendant in the UW case. She told the feds they would
have to make her a defendant, because she would not
allow the FBI to coerce her into cooperation. She
voluntarily surrendered herself, and, based on the
totality of her stable life and lack of criminal
background, she was released to her husband and young
child. Based upon the Oregon indictments, we are aware
that Stan Meyerhoff, Bill Rodgers, and Chelsea Gerlach
were also allegedly involved in this incident.
However, it is likely that due to their cooperation,
certain defendants may not be indicted in the other
states’ cases. In addition, it is known at this point
that Jennifer Kolar and Lacey Philabaum have admitted
to participating in this arson but have not been
indicted (yet?) due to their cooperation as well.

Just to make sure everyone is clear, the Oregon
indictment contained two conspiracy counts. Within
those counts, the government alleged several “overt
acts” that occurred in Oregon, Washington, California,
Wyoming, and Colorado (basically, they alleged
separate arsons occurring in separate states). We have
expected each one of those states to file federal
arson charges in their respective states. Washington
was the second state to file federal criminal charges.
The UW case will be heard in Seattle and will have a
separate trial, separate judge, the whole nine yards.
Presumably, the same goes for Vail and other incidents
not in Oregon; each will have their separate trials in
the different states.

On April 6, California issued its indictment in
connection with the 2001 horse corral fire near
Susanville, California. Justin Solondz was charged by
the federal court in Sacramento, but has not been
apprehended at this time. Also indicted for the corral
fire were Darren Thurston, Joseph Dibbee and Rebecca
Rubin. Joseph and Rebecca have not been apprehended.
Darren will not snitch, and as a result, has been
indicted in California on top of his existing charges
in Oregon. The California case may have an earlier
trial date then the Oregon case. This could mean that
Darren will face two separate cases, two separate
trials, the potential of two separate sentences and
the possibility of life in prison. Other people that
have been alleged to have been involved in this BLM
horse corral arson but have not (and may not) be
indicted are Stan Meyerhoff, Kevin Tubbs, Chelsea
Gerlach, Bill Rodgers and Jennifer Kolar (that makes
three alleged arsons for Kolar). It appears at this
time that the defendants that are going to be called
to testify against their co-defendants by the
government, and who have provided information to the
government which has led to new people being indicted,
are not being charged in other states in exchange for
their “cooperation” in the Oregon case. This is only a
personal theory at this point, but so far we know that
Meyerhoff, Tubbs and Gerlach were clearly involved in
the Washington and California cases, but were not
indicted in those arsons.

The wheeling and dealing continues as the
incarcerated defendants desperately attempt to save
their lives against the fascist regime that seeks to
imprison them for the rest of their lives as a result
of alleged crimes to property. Let’s not forget the
real evil in these cases arises from the trumped up
charges and punishment the government seeks to foist
on these individuals in order to justify the regime’s
attack on dissent and those who seek to challenge the
corporate political machine that is destroying our
planet at an extremely rapid rate. The government’s
protection of it’s own cronie$ in the oil, energy and
natural resource markets are the true crimes against
this country as a whole. You’d think the current
regime would stop throwing stones at glass houses. But
I digress.

On the grand jury front, Jeff Hogg has been
resubpoenaed to a grand jury in Eugene on May 18. Last
month his subpoena was withdrawn right before he was
scheduled to appear and testify. Jeff is a full-time
nursing student and works with developmentally
disabled adults in Eugene. It appears that the feds
are attempting to abuse the powers of the grand jury
by unlawfully subpoenaing Jeff in order to prepare
their case for trial—which is not a lawful use of a
grand jury (grand juries are to be used to indict
people, not to convict them).

Speaking of grand juries, a few folks have
expressed confusion about the grand jury system
generally as it applies to activists. Generally
speaking, every felony that is ever prosecuted in both
state or federal courts must be heard by a grand
jury—whether it’s a drug case, murder, or politically
motivated property damage. The prosecutor presents his
side of the case to approximately 23 citizens and if
12 of those 23 can be convinced by the one-sided
presentation made by the government, an indictment is
issued and a criminal case begins. The grand juries
that are indicting people in the Green Scare may be
indicting a tax evader, marijuana grower, or murderer
the next week.

We’ve been getting reports that the FBI continues
to harass communities in Olympia, Tucson, and San
Francisco to name a few that we’ve heard from
recently. Some believe the feds are looking for
information on the missing defendants.

Don’t forget to continue to write to those who
continue to sit in jail. We are hopeful that Joyanna
and Nathan will have successful detention hearings
soon, though no date has been announced yet.

As always, if anyone has information they are
willing to share on any of the cooperating witnesses,
background, history, etc., to help in the defense of
the non-cooperating defendants, please contact me at
lregan [at] cldc.org. Your opinion or anecdote could save a
brave person’s life. Knowledge is power. Take care.
Lauren

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Daniel McGowan is an environmental and social justice activist, unjustly arrested and charged in federal court on multiple counts of arson, property destruction, and conspiracy, relating to two incidents that occurred in Oregon in 2001. Daniel has asserted his innocence by pleading not guilty to all charges. He is facing a minimum of life in prison if convicted.

General questions can be directed to friendsofdanielmcg [at] yahoo.com.
Interested in outreach or fundraising? Email outreachfordaniel [at] yahoo.com.

Support Daniel McGowan: http://www.supportdaniel.org
Daniel on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/danielmcgowan

Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan
PO Box 106, NY, NY 10156
friendsofdanielmcg [at] yahoo.com
http://www.supportdaniel.org
Donations:checks or money orders can be made out to "Lisa McGowan" and sent to the above PO Box or online at http://tinyurl.com/8blde
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