Even before it began, the final major demonstration of Redwood Summer, which was billed as the “Redwood Summer Jamboree” or “Redwoodstock, the Ultimate Log Jam”, seemed doomed from the start. The plan to have the campaign’s last major action target Pacific Lumber during labor day weekend had been set from the get-go, but little beyond that had been worked out.[1] Originally, the plan was for an action to take place on US Highway 101 in downtown Eureka, where the highway encompasses that city’s main north-south thoroughfare (to this day, Eureka does not have a freeway bypass), however this plan was quickly jettisoned, because Redwood Summer organizers feared that this would only alienate potential supporters whose lives would have been disrupted by traffic detours. A concert was always envisioned as part of the event, as music had been an integral part of Redwood Summer (as well as most Earth First! and IWW actions) all along. Concerts had taken place in both Samoa and Fort Bragg.[2] Those two events had been planned primarily by activists who lived and worked in or close to the cities in which they occurred, and for that reason at least, both had been deemed highly successful.[3] This was not the case, however, with Redwoodstock, where local activists had little influence.[4] The event was planned, or at least the beginnings of it were planned, largely by Berkeley Seeds of Peace organizers Dave Kemnitzer and Jim Squatter.[5] According to Mendocino County Earth First! organizer Sequoia Greenfield, this was done primarily because the majority of the performers slated to appear at the concert would be coming from the Bay Area.[6] While this made sense logistically, politically it foreshadowed a number of problems that would ultimately doom the demonstration.
The earliest press release announcing the event didn’t even have an issuing date, though in all likelihood it was issued sometime in mid-August. The general outline of the event was spelled out: Redwoodstock would take place Saturday, September 1, 1990 through Tuesday, September 4. The concert was to take place from 11 AM to 9 PM each of the first two days. Monday, Labor Day, was slated for nonviolence trainings in preparation for the last major direct action, which was to occur on the next day. No details were given for the action. The statement indicated that camping would be available and that subsistence food as well as concessions would be provided. The initial performers listed included Moby Grape, Blue Cheer, Jello Biafra, Betsy Rose, Max Ventura, Clan Dykken, and “many others”. A deliberate mix of acoustic folk, rock, and reggae bands were planned for both days of the concert, and speakers would be interspersed among the performers. Participants were admonished to agree with the nonviolence code.[7] The Grateful Dead had offered to perform, but only if the event was moved up one weekend in advance. The organizers declined the offer. At some point, during the planning process, the plan for a fourth day, Tuesday, was dropped in favor of holding the direct action on Labor Day Monday, because the sense was that the number would be too few, but since nobody would be working, this limited the range of options for potential direct actions.[8] Although accounts vary on Redwood Summer organizers’ ultimate assessment of Redwoodstock, some, such as Naomi Wagner, maintain that some organizers declined to participate in the planning because Kemnitzer, Squatter, and Greenfield were still incensed that civil disobedience had been called off in Fort Bragg and were insistent that it take place at the conclusion of Redwoodstock.[9] The scope of the event was the least of the controversy however.
Merely finding a place to hold Redwoodstock proved to be a Herculean effort. For months, organizers had searched, largely in vain, to find one close enough to their intended target. Many possible candidates could have easily accommodated the concert, including a site in Sonoma County in particular, but none were close enough to Pacific Lumber’s base of operations. Public land was desired, because it spared any hypothetical sympathetic land owner from facing the wrath of the likely vigilante mob response for allowing access to Redwood Summer “hippies”.[10] This was not wild paranoia by any means. Just the barest hint that Redwoodstock might take place in or near a hostile timber dependent community drew an angry backlash.
For example, Rio Dell, which was located just north of Scotia, and was for all intents and purposes a Pacific Lumber company town, all but lynched the event’s organizers, when residents learned of potential plans by organizers to locate the concert and encampment on an Eel River bar near there. Jim Squatter had hand delivered a letter to the city stating that participants in the event would need access to the river between August 30 and September 5. How residents learned of the letter is unknown. On Tuesday, August 7, 1990, fifty angry residents packed the tiny City Council chambers to express their opposition to Redwoodstock. Squatter did not attend. Several members of Team and Mother’s Watch did; the latter were easily identifiable by their yellow shirts. Resident Mike Mann worried that the encampment, “could create a volatile situation. There’s not enough effective law enforcement to protect them or us.” Another Rio Dell citizen, Ralph Lee, who was also a member of TEAM, submitted a piece of paper to the council with the letters “NIMBY”, which practically everyone knows is an acronym for “not in my back yard.” Lee announced his intention to circulate petitions to oppose the encampment. Fellow resident, Alberta Randall declared, “I don’t want any bombings or killings. Please consider this. If there’s damage, who’s going to pay for it? We have families. We have children.”[11]
Evidently, Randall was yet another individual unaware that Earth First!, the IWW, and Seeds of Peace had never been responsible for any bombings or killings, ever, and Redwood Summer’s nonviolence code, which prohibited property destruction, had been adhered to all throughout the campaign. [12] However given the fact that Maxxam constantly had its eyes and ears monitoring its workers and residents in communities enthralled by its job blackmail, one can easily understand how practically everyone believed the corporations’ propaganda, which comprised, in fact, the real big lies. TEAM’s and Mothers’ Watch’s role as an industry front group should have been obvious to everyone, though many credited them as well as WeCARE and the Yellow Ribbon Coalition as being their representatives[13], and it is extremely likely that they had a hand in stirring up the opposition to Redwoodstock in the first place.[14] Rio Dell City Attorney Jeremiah Scott, at least offered the pretense of opposing the event on practical grounds, including the tricky matters of disposing of trash and human waste, the shorthandedness of the city’s six-member police force, and the fact that the land on either side of the bar was private property. Although Squatter was absent, he was quoted in the Eureka Times-Standard the following day as stating the following:
“We realize that Rio Dell is sensitive on the issue of Redwood Summer. We don’t want to provoke violence. In fact, we’ve shown all summer that we do not oppose the people who work in the timber industry. We oppose the timber corporations. We certainly need to talk to certain parties involved. We are willing to negotiate with (Rio Dell). We can work together on these types of issues.”
The town of Rio Dell, however, seemed most unwilling to engage in civil dialog. The Council, which met biweekly, postponed action on the matter to a special meeting the following Tuesday.[15]
On August 14, at the special meeting at the tiny Rio Dell City Hall, Jim Squatter and another organizer, an unidentified woman, stood quite literally alone before an even larger, hostile crowd of 70 residents. The City Council meeting’s actual stated purpose was to introduce two hastily drafted ordinances that were specifically drawn up to prevent the encampment. The first would have required permits for any parade or gathering of more than 25 people on public property. The second would prohibit camping on public and private property between 10 PM and 6 AM unless done with the permission of the property owner or tenant. The latter also would have limited special-event permits for overnight camping to nonprofit community service organizations. Both ordinances gave wide sweeping discretion to the Rio Dell Police to deny the permit if any potential event was deemed a public safety hazard or a disruption of public peace, or “the rights of residents to the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of their property”. Jeremiah Scott recommended that the ordinances be voted on at the regularly schedule monthly meeting the following Tuesday thus allowing the ordinances to take effect immediately rather than thirty days after their passage, leaving no doubt that they had been drawn up to thwart Redwoodstock. “We will not have the event in Rio Dell,” Squatter tried to assure the crowd, but the latter were unappeased. Ralph Lee presented a petition signed by just over 1000 Rio Dell residents opposing the proposed encampment. Lee, himself, denounced it as “an invasion of Rio Dell for radical purposes,” to which the rest of the assembled residents vociferously applauded.[16] Maxxam’s foot soldiers were effectively manipulating the frightened masses into an angry mob.
The location of the concert was ultimately slated for river bottom land near Fernbridge, two miles north of Fortuna, ten miles north of Scotia, and eleven miles south of Eureka at the intersection of California Highway 211 and US 101.[17] Singley Bar on the Eel River was chosen because it was large enough to accommodate the estimated crowds of 2,000 supporters; it was less than five miles from an accessible Pacific Lumber mill[18]; and because being river bottom land, by law according to the California Constitution, the public had access to it.[19] That didn’t stop the powers that be, namely corporate timber and its government enablers, from throwing every roadblock into Redwood Summer’s way, however.[20]
The Rio Dell crowd was not especially thrilled with the nearby Fernbridge site either. “Let’s be there and welcome them by walking them out of the river bar”, suggested Jeana Robledo of Mother’s Watch.[21] Were there any doubts that this was nothing less than a veiled threat, Robledo had told Squatter and his companion as they had left the City Hall, “You’ve poked the sleeping dog for too long; it’s ready to bite.” As the latter continued their retreat, three other people yelled obscenities at the two organizers. The three would be assailants were rowdy enough to require Rio Dell Police Chief Vic Theen and another officer to intervene, especially after they continued to pursue Squatter and his companion.[22] The Fernbridge site had been chosen after Middle Ground had suggested that Redwood Summer organizers not whack at a hornets’ nest by locating their encampment in clearly hostile Rio Dell, according to Arcata City Councilwoman Lynne Canning.[23] As a gesture of good faith, Redwood Summer had cancelled a demonstration in Scotia scheduled for August 15, which was supposed to convey the message that Redwood Summer supported the concerns of timber workers, because meetings with somewhat receptive Pacific Lumber workers through middle ground had established the understanding that most workers would consider such an event hostile and unhelpful. Even with gestures such as this, some would simply not be appeased. Rio Dell logger Jody Swartz summed up these sentiments by declaring, “I’m a logger and I’m damn proud of it. They would not listen to us. They want my job, but I’m not willing to give it up. Why should we let them come in and take our jobs away?”[24] While this was certainly not what anyone significant involved Redwood Summer intended to do, it was clear that corporate timber and its foot soldiers had convinced many loggers that this was the case, and it no doubt helps explain the feelings of most of the hostile Rio Dell residents.
According to its police chief, Wayne Sedam, residents of the small hamlet of Fernbridge hadn’t yet expressed any formal opposition, but he expected that at some point, they would. Sedam had received a letter from Redwood Summer organizers expressing interest in locating their camp there. Sedam noted that the site was technically outside of his jurisdiction, and doubted that it would have any significant effect on his town, but he would also prepare his department for any eventualities anyway, declaring “We will respond to any mutual aid call and will assist the Sheriff’s Department if they need it.” Humboldt County Sheriff David Renner was equally nonchalant about the affair, though he noted several questions regarding potential permits remained unanswered. To begin with, much of the land along the river was privately owned, and there were logistics regarding trash and waste disposal still to be hammered out.[25]
The choice to locate the encampment at Singley Bar, near Fernbridge made it pretty obvious that Fortuna was the intended target of the direct action.[26] That city, like Rio Dell, was for all intents and purposes, a Pacific Lumber company town and was no less hostile to Redwood Summer. Fortuna’s mayor Dean Lewis had, as early as March 20, demanded an end to protests in his town.[27] On August 20, 1990, the Fortuna City Council passed an emergency ordinance amending a city law that had hitherto required fourteen days to secure a parade permit extending the permit approval waiting period to twenty days. City Manager Robert Brown claimed that the new law was not aimed specifically at Redwood Summer, but the urgency and timing of the measure suggested otherwise. Since Redwoodstock was to be held entirely within that new time period, the amendment effectively banned Redwood Summer from marching through the town. Brown admitted, “We are obviously concerned not only about the health and safety of the public, but also the demonstrators.” The maximum penalty for breaking the law was a $500 fine. The law also extended the scope of the existing law to require a permit for any public gathering. Even two City Council members, John Provost and Phil Nyberg found that provision troubling. Provost expressed concern that the new law could make it harder to stage regularly scheduled traditional community events, such as the Fortuna Rodeo parade. Councilman Nyberg questioned if the city would cancel a high school homecoming day event if a school applied for it too late. As was the case in Rio Dell, the power to approve or deny the permit was given to the town’s police department. “We’ve been very careful that a certain latitude be given to the police chief. If the event poses no concern for health and safety, then (the police chief) doesn’t have to use all the restrictions,” responded Brown.[28] The measure passed unanimously.[29]
Daniel Close of the group Humboldt Rain, which was participating in the Redwood Summer coalition, hinted that whether Fortuna passed the law or not, there would be a march, stating, “Just because it’s illegal to do it doesn’t mean that we won’t”.[30] While his words were provocative, they’re understandable given that the amended law was clearly unconstitutional. There was no doubt in the minds of civil libertarians that the law would have been used to deny any event which so much as questioned the status quo, perhaps even a labor demonstration. The ACLU contacted the City of Fortuna by phone on August 24, 1990 and informed them that this was indeed the case. Redwood Summer organizers issued a press release two days later announcing that the city council reconsidered their decision and indicated verbally that they would accept an application for a permit for the march from the organizers[31], but this turned out to be false.[32]
Humboldt County was no more hospitable to Redwood Summer than either Rio Dell or Fortuna. The same day that Fortuna passed its emergency ordinance, Humboldt County’s Building and Planning Department suddenly declared the location of the planned event a “development”, demanded that the demonstrators obtain an applicable permit.[33] The permit required a $288 fee, written permission from property owners whose land would be used during the rally, and information about how the organizers planned to meet health, safety, and security codes and provide parking.[34] These requirements and concerns had a very familiar ring to them and had one investigated thoroughly, it would not have been an unlikely story that the memo originated from John Campbell’s or Charles Hurwitz’s desk.
Such permits, which usually required several months to acquire, were usually reserved for buildings, and the river bottom land was not, by law, under county jurisdiction. Said organizer Jim Squatter, “This is public land, we have the right to use it, and we are going to use it.”[35] Planning Director Tom Conlon disputed Squatter’s contention declaring that permits were a routine sfaegaurd of the environment and public health adding, “They have to go through the process. The (rally) just seems not very well put together to me.” In response to Building and Planning’s “denial” of the permit, Redwood Summer activists filed a lawsuit for an injunction in the US District Court in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 21, 1990.[36] “This is clearly an attempt to use development and zoning regulations to prevent activists from using their First Amendment rights, and as such is unconstitutional,” argued Malcolm Smith, a Berkeley attorney representing Redwood Summer. A hearing was scheduled for Monday, August 27, 1990 at the US District Court in San Francisco (at the site of the Women’s Rally against the FBI just under two weeks previously). Redwood Summer organizers schedule a rally at the site to coincide with the hearing as well as a simultaneously planned rally in Eureka at the Humboldt County Courthouse.[37] The California Coastal Commission issued a statement countering the Humboldt County Building and Planning Department’s claim that the site represented a “development”.[38]
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker deferred the matter to state court, but he also suggested that he found the Redwood Summer organizers’ arguments that requiring a permit violated their First Amendment rights of speech and assembly lacked merit.[39] The organizers had allegedly received a verbal agreement from the Humboldt County legal counsel, James Lough, that nobody would be arrested for being on public trust land, and that a temporary sound stage and sound system would be allowed.[40] However Lough denied saying this and said a permit would be required unless the event were limited to the river bed. This created an impossible legal situation for the organizers, because the California State Lands Commission had declared that any structures placed on public trust land, including temporary structures, such as a sound stage and portable toilets, would require a permit. This left the organizers with three choices: have no portable toilets or stage at all, which was an impossibility; locate the structures on adjacent land, which would require a permit from the County, which was unlikely given its hostility to Redwood Summer; or locate the structures on the bar, which would require a permit from the State. This last possibility was unlikely because with only a week to go, securing such a permit was impossible, according to State Lands Commission assistant executive officer James Trout. David Kemnitzer pledged that Redwood Summer organizers would still attempt to negotiate with State and County officials, but their chances were not promising.[41]
Even the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans added to the uncertainty of the event. A Press Release, issued by Redwood Summer organizers announced that they had received permits to march on US 101 from Fernbridge to Fortuna, but on Tuesday, August 28, 1990, CHP Captain Don Spencer and Caltrans deputy district director Marin Van Zandt both stated at a public press conference, that neither agency required permits for such activity on that section of US 101. The marchers would, however, be restricted to the highway’s shoulder and would not be allowed onm the right-of-way. Spencer stated, “The point is, don’t march down the middle of the highway. The shoulder of the road is not restricted. We want to find the safest way to do it without them getting run over. It’s not a very safe area.” Van Zandt added that the marchers were only required to follow the state Vehicle Code which mandated that they walk on the side of the road against oncoming traffic, which would be the northbound side, since the march was starting in Fernbridge and moving south towards Fortuna. Of course, the City of Fortuna was still insisting that the marchers obtain a permit. Redwoodstock organizers had declared that their route would take them to the 12th Street exit in Fortuna, but Fortuna Police Chief Bill Evanson argued that the exit in question was at a stretch of the highway where there was no shoulder, which meant that the marchers would probably have to exit the highway sooner.[42] Despite the ongoing uncertainty and constantly changing legal status of Redwoodstock, base camp was established at Singley Bar on the Eel River near Fernbridge that day.[43] While the Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, in its ongoing effort to dismiss, denigrate, and denounce Earth First!, the IWW, EPIC, Forests Forever, and everything not to the right of Ronald Reagan politically often ignored—or at least substantially downplayed—most coverage of Redwood Summer, it reported that particular factoid, no doubt due to the legal controversy surrounding it.[44] In an attempt to smooth potential conflicts further, organizers set up a meeting with Spencer and Evanson for 6 PM that evening.[45] The latter was still unconvinced and refused to approve a march permit, declaring, “I need to know what to expect; I need to know how many people there are going to be. I need to know if people from the other side of the fence are going to show up,” all of which were questions that Redwoodstock’s organizers simply could not predict given all of the confusion.[46]
A number of Redwood Summer organizers and supporters from Mendocino County became disillusioned with the process, and strongly believed that Kemnitzer and Squatter were in over their proverbial heads at this point. Fearing that Redwoodstock would almost certainly result in fiasco, they announced that they would not participate. With nerves already frayed, Redwoodstock organizers, including Sequoia Greenfield, herself a Mendocino County resident dismissed such fears as “chickenshit” and later demanded that if they had been so opposed to the direction in which the event was heading, they could have participated more actively in its planning.[47] Bruce Anderson vehemently disagreed and suggested that many chose not to participate because,
“(1) They knew a three-day hippie fair was politically stupid and; (2) The events were not advertised in a way that made clear what people could expect which is what happens when a purportedly serious political run at the corporations lacks intelligent planning and leadership.”[48]
No doubt some of those who announced their intent not to attend the rally feared for their lives. Marching into an obviously hostile community was to no small extent, suicidal. A clear indication of just how hostile Humboldt County was to Redwood Summer was the experience of anti-Redwood Summer activist Cindy Bennett who, upon seeing a protest of fifteen Redwood Summer protesters in solidarity with the Murrelet Grove arrestees at the Humboldt County Jail on August 22, quickly made a yellow, “pro worker” sign and stood at the site as the lone counter demonstrator. Bennett an HSU economics student, whose father was drove a logging truck had crafted a sign which read, “Timber Workers Grow Trees Not Marijuana.” Bennett was, by her own admission and Charles Winkler’s reporting in the Eureka Times-Standard, greeted nothing but respect by her Green adversaries. Redwood Summer organizer Gary Graham Hughes welcomed Bennett—though he disagreed with her stance and declared, “It’s important that people take this first step to communicating. That’s what’s so exciting about this summer.” Dirvers passing by the protest honked in support of hughes, and some even stopped and donated money to her counter protest. Redwood Summer demonstrators, however, were greeted with insults and pelted with eggs.[49] Already Redwood Summer activists and participants had been subjected to death threats and a string of incidents of violence (not to mention the bombing of Bari and Cherney) on behalf of pro-corporate timber apologists. The most recent incident was the painting of a Nazi-style swastika on the doors of an environmental center office in Fort Bragg. That was eclipsed by the circulation of an anonymous handbill originating in Oregon, bearing the name “Logger’s Pride Counterterrorist Vigil”, dated August 28, 1990, which vowed, “(We will) cut down five old-growth Douglas fir which will be left to rot (within five days of any) tree-spiking or other environmental terrorist act. We will not spare old-growth timber in populated spotted owl sanctuaries…We don’t care if it means destroying thousands of trees.”[50]
The circulation of the handbills was very likely inspired by a joint press conference convened by Anna Sparks, Candace Boak of Mothers’ Watch, WeCare, and corporate timber officials declaring that incidents of monkeywrenching had been on the rise in Humboldt County. Said Pacific Lumber spokespersons:
“We said at the onset of the summer we would turn the other cheek, and that is what we have done. It has not been easy, in fact it has been extremely difficult. The same people have been interfering in our livelihood on a regular basis and we’re tired of being told how to care for a forest environment by individuals and groups who have no training nor understanding of modern forestry.”[51]
They accused Redwood Summer demonstrators of tree spiking, equipment damage, and tossing nails in local roads. Redwood summer activists denied the last accusation in particular pointing out that just as many nails had been found on the roads leading to their base camps.[52] There was no substantive proof offered by the pro corporate timber spokespeople, however, that their accusations were so, and it contradicted the consistent nonviolence and lack of any monkeywrenching that took place during Redwood Summer, whose organizers had thus far been true to their word.[53] Earth First!er Kelpie Wilson steadfastly rebutted the corporate timber accusations declaring:
“Certain elements of the timber community have been doing their best to drive us out of here. There are more than twenty documented incidents of violence against us in August, so I wouldn’t call that turning the other cheek. (Pacific Lumber is) clearly attempting to incite violent attitudes and to build a fence of hostility.”[54]
Wilson’s statements were echoed by those of onetime Peace and Freedom Party congressional Candidate and Redwood Summer supporter Eric Freid who wrote, in a letter to the editor to the Humboldt State University student newsletter, The Lumberjack, in response to similar accusations of violence by Earth First!ers:
“All this handwringing and wailing about ‘violence’ in the redwoods this summer due to Earth First! pro-tests is absurd.
“For decades, the giant timber corporations have been promoting violence—strip-mining the trees, injuring and killing workers through unsafe practices, holding whole communities economically hostage-without one peep out of the pro-corporate newspapers, bought-off politicians (Bosco-Hauser-Keene) and so-called labor leaders (like Don Nelson of the Woodworkers ‘dis-Union’).
“Now, as visionary environmentalists launch a national fight to save the last of the oldgrowth forests (and the jobs that go with them), all the corporate flunkies are (squealing) like stuck pigs, blaming Earth First! for the violence they themselves are inciting!
“As for the ‘Nervous Nellies’ of environmentalism who condemn Redwood Summer, you are fools. Voting alone never solved anything. If it weren’t for the growing wave of direction, saving the redwoods would not be the state and national issue it is today. Without more militant people behind you willing to lay it on the line, your suit-and-tie lobbyists would be laughed out of offices everywhere. Martin Luther King would have been an utter failure without Malcolm X standing behind him. Redwood Summer is how we will win Forests Forever.”[55]
Nevertheless, as far as many of the locals were concerned, Earth First! and anyone associated with them were guilty. Any accusation, no matter how outrageous, was considered to be true. In the words of Fortuna resident Ed Paul:
“Earth First! talks of their empathy with timber workers and espouse non-violence when in truth they have sabotaged cattle ranches, poured cement and/or sugar in the gas tanks of logging equipment, downed power lines and have caused serious injury by tree and road spiking.
“Darryl Cherney seems to agree with the above tactics when he stated, “The sabotage of equipment is no different than the French sabotage of the equipment of Hitler.
“Where does the timber industry reach common ground with the Earth First! preservationist? The answer is simple: there is none.
“Negotiating with Earth First! and their sympathizers would be analogous to jump rope with Saddam Hussein in quicksand.”[56]
Paul evidently never pondered the notion that Cherney might have been specifically referring to sabotage of equipment, by the workers themselves. According to Earth First!er Michelle Dulas, there was no way to be certain whether or not any actual monkeywrenching might have in fact been sabotage by timber workers—as such acts are common among individually disgruntled employees, even those utterly lacking in class consciousness.[57] Alternatively, it was not uncommon for employers to further damage faulty equipment to make it appear to be sabotage, or to simply damage it in order to collect on the insurance. Redwood Summer spokespeople believed that the timing of the accusations against environmentalists was deliberately timed to coincide with Redwoodstock in order to further marginalize it.[58] This is hardly unprecedented, considering the fact that L-P had waited a full week after the near fatal injury to Cloverdale mill worker George Alexander—due to his bandsaw hitting a spike in a cut log—in May 1987, to deliberately time the (manufactured) negative reaction to Earth First!, who definitely did not spike the log in question, during the latter’s “Week of Outrage” against Maxxam.[59] Sensing this, on August 29, Redwood Summer organizers angrily called a press conference of their own to denounce the dubious claims made by corporate timber and stated,
“We call upon Mother’s Watch, We Care, and all the timber companies to condemn unprovoked violence against environmental activists. Until the voices of John Campbell, Candy Boak, and Joe Wheeler and other community leaders call for peace in (Humboldt) County, innocent people will continue to be brutalized by the misdirected anger of timber industry supporters. We suggest that automation, exports, overlogging, and corporate greed be targeted for extinction rather than the spotted owl.”[60]
Their timing could not have been more apt, because that same day, 33-year-old Timothy Haynes, a representative of the extreme right wing, anti-environmental terrorist organization, the Sahara Club, was arrested after delivering what appeared to be a bomb to the Arcata Action Center.[61] Police chased the suspect through the streets of Arcata before finally capturing and detaining him at about 8 PM.[62] It turned out that the “bomb” was actually a package of the Sahara Club’s newsletter bundled together to look like a bomb, but given the organization’s record of violence, it is not implausible that the resemblance was deliberate. Haynes, not surprisingly was working closely with Mother’s Watch and the Stompers to undermine Redwood Summer, and the newsletter was full of incendiary slurs against environmentalists, such as “eco whores”, and “forest faggots”. Candace Boak, not surprisingly defended Haynes actions.[63] Pacific Lumber’s claims that they intended to “turn the other cheek” were equally empty, as they exploited and exaggerated every negative sounding report they could find on Earth First!, even going so far as to issue a press release, after Dave Foreman’s “resignation”, declaring that the erstwhile “leader” found the politics of his northern California “followers” to be “too radical”, when in reality he considered their views not radical enough.[64]
Meanwhile, reactionary Humboldt County Supervisor Anna Sparks poured gasoline on a raging fire by claiming that Redwood Summer protests had cost the county’s taxpayers upwards of $400,000 in law enforcement expenses.[65] Sparks, who never once considered the possibility that Maxxam’s rapacious logging practices, or L-Ps and Simpson’s ongoing pollution of the local water and air would ultimately cost Humboldt County far more than this, demanded that Redwoodstock be called off[66], a position that was supported by the Eureka Times-Standard, in the form of another in a series of sneering editorials against Redwood Summer.[67] The supervisor argued that the Labor Day concert and protest could potentially cost the county an additional $300,000 “depending upon how many people are arrested,” never once suggesting that costs for such activity could be minimized by arresting protesters only as a last resort and then citing and releasing them. Said Sparks,
“We cannot afford these demonstrations. They eat into our tax base that pays for our children’s schools, our libraries, our sheriff’s deputies, our everything. They are continuing to break the law and the citizens are not going to condone it. We condemn expenditures of taxpayers’ money to pay for their folly.”[68]
Sparks had done nothing, however, to oppose the folly of Maxxam, so in the actual balance of things, her words were typical right wing posturing.[69] Naturally, Pacific Lumber chief spokesman, David Galitz echoed the supervisor’s sentiments when he pointed out that since the mill in Fortuna only milled young growth timber, a march by protesters to that facility didn’t “make any sense, but nothing they’ve done this summer has made any sense.”[70] This was absurd. Even though the organizers of Redwoodstock, Kemnitzer and Squatter, may have been severely lacking in tactical sense, they knew enough to have figured out that any economic impact to Maxxam would have an effect, and that was part of the overall strategy of Redwood Summer. Sadly, however, such words by corporate talking heads had a significant degree of effectiveness at shaping public opinion among anxious residents in timber dependent communities steeped in the ongoing job blackmail engineered by corporate timber.[71]
This in part explains the opinions of people like Mother’s Watch supporter Jennifer Goodner whose letter to various publications, no doubt in response to the constant battling by Redwood Summer organizers to exercise their supposedly Constitutionally guaranteed rights, included such asinine statements as:
“This letter is for all the people involved in or supporting the “Redwood Summer” protests, Aren’t you glad that you live in America? Here, you have the right to do just about anything you want as long as it is legal. You have the right to be a hard working individual or to sit back, take it easy and deal with things as they come.
“For those of you who choose to live life entirely unencumbered, that is great. If you don’t want to hold down a full-time, high-paying position in some company, that is fine too. So you don’t want a television, or a three bedroom home in a nice neighbor-hood. You want to live free, in a commune or what have you…
“I would never think of forcing you to buy a television, or nicer clothes, or to live in a house nicer than you live in now. That would be violating your rights.
“However, you are trying to force me to lower my standard of living. You say that I don’t need what I have worked so hard to obtain, and therefore I shouldn’t have them. Well, I feel that you are at-tempting to violate my rights.”[72]
While it might have been worthwhile to discuss the possibility that the “rights” to which Goodner felt she was entitled came at the expense of those of others, or—in the case of the environment—everybody, more to the point, the rights she claimed to be celebrating were being denied by those with whom she had aligned herself. And, at the risk of beating a dead horse to a bloody pulp, her characterization of the demands being made by Earth First! are merely caricatures of their (varied) positions. When the government engaged in countless attempts to prevent dissidents from demonstrating this was seen as “protecting the rights” of the “timber workers” (though in reality it was really the capitalists whose privilege to plunder that was the bone of contention) by the reactionary mob. Of course, the instant Earth First! engaged in “paper monkeywrenching”, such as collectively organized mass appeals of THPs, which was itself legal and constitutionally protected activity, these same reactionaries denounced it as “Obstructionism”.[73] Again, whether it was one or the other depended upon one’s class interests.
Likewise, the Community Solidarity Coalition continued its work serving as a front group for corporate timber by making a point of showing up en masse to the annual “Paul Bunyan Days” events, sporting their array of yellow ribbons, yellow t-shirts, and yellow car antenna balls. In the traditional parade to the folk hero (which had, in fact, originally been an advertising campaign), Tom Loop wearing nothing but a barrel with suspenders road on a float embossed with the slogan, “Is this the future of logging in the ‘90s?” On that same float were figures tied up in “red tape”, a tent labeled “affordable housing”, and a logger sitting in a bathtub holding a sign which read, “if loggers lose, we’ll all take a bath.” No specifics were given on what “losing” meant, though presumably the propagandizing was against the Forests Forever initiative.[74] No such slogans or displays had ever been organized by these same folks in response to Maxxam’s takeover, L-P’s union busting and offshoring, or G-P’s outsourcing, all of which had far more significant an impact on these workers’ livelihoods, but such points were not generally made by the enablers of corporate timber.
While injunctions and accusations were flying back and forth in Humboldt (and Mendocino) County(s), Redwood Summer activists in Marin County organized an early morning rally and protest at the Pacific Lumber sales headquarters in Mill Valley, on Thursday, August 30, 1990. At 7 AM, seventy demonstrators congregated at the rally site, near Richardson Bay, where most of them held signs visible to commuters on US Highway 101, while at least eighteen sat down in front of the locked front entrance, chanting “Earth First!, profits last!”[75] The previous day, on Richardson Bay, a flotilla of boats, organized jointly by Peace navy, the Marin Greens, and the West Marin Action Group had foreshadowed the protest.[76],[77] Those sitting in were eventually arrested by Marin County sheriff’s deputies and “gently escorted” to police vans which had been stationed nearby. The eighteen arrestees—fourteen of whom were cited and released, while the remainder elected to remain in jail awaiting arraignment—were charged with trespassing. The rally was endorsed by Earth First!, the IWW, Seeds of Peace, Earth Action Network, the Peace and Freedom Party, and Pledge for Peace in Central America. Peace and Freedom Party congressional candidate and rally co-organizer Darlene Cormingore declared, “We are making the point that there is a worldwide exploitation of resources and peoples by corporate greed.” The protest lasted two hours, and even though demonstrators blocked the front entrance, an unidentified Pacific Lumber employee informed reporters that business went on as usual, because employees let themselves in through a side entrance.[78]
August 29, 1990, was a frustrating day for Redwood Summer organizers and supporters indeed. Even after the establishment of the base camp at Singley Bar, the Redwoodstock organizers faced legal challenges. Three Local dairy farmers, jumping on the anti Earth First! bandwagon had sued the Stand Lands Commission and Humboldt County for allowing the demonstrators to use the Eel River bar site, and were demanding an immediate temporary restraining order against the latter.[79] The plaintiff’s attorney, William Carson declared, “The commission took the position that there was not potential for harm to the environment by the rally as planned. We though the court should say, ‘Look Lands Commission there is a potential for environmental impact and an environmental impact should be required.’”[80] Attorney Jay Moller filed a legal brief on behalf of Redwood Summer countering the suit.[81] Ultimately, the Redwood Summer organizers prevailed when, on Thursday, August 30, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge William Ferrogiarro denied a motion for a TRO. Jubilant Redwood Summer activists celebrated the ruling as a victory.[82] Organizer David Kemnitzer declared, “this lawsuit was frivolous, badly drafted, and without merit from the beginning. It was obviously just intended to harass us.”[83]
These sentiments were echoed by fellow Seeds of Peace spokesperson Jim Squatter, who opined, “
We have been having business-like negotiations with all pertinent officials, and we expect that all practical problems associated with Redwoodstock will be dealt with amicably and efficiently. We are expecting no further problems.”[84]
Sadly, however, most of the problems that had already arisen had severely undermined Redwoodstock’s organizers ability to effectively mobilize the number of people they sought. Due to the endless legal hassles and constantly changing circumstances, posters announcing the event were circulated and posted up very late in the process throughout Mendocino and Humboldt Counties. While they were posted earlier in Santa Cruz and the Bay Area, the vast majority of potential attendees were expected to be locals (despite the constant barrage of Yellow propaganda claiming that most protesters were “outside agitators”). The corporate press constantly reported on happenings as if the event would not take place, thus further confusing things. Among the thirty-two plus performers who had tentatively agreed to participate, as well as the sound and lighting technicians hired to work the show, many were holding out until they could be given assurances that they would not be taking part in an illegal event. To their credit, Kemnitzer and Squatter did everything they could to secure the event’s legal status (including dialoguing with the courts and the police) and they did their best to keep everyone updated. Organizers met daily to try and stay on top of the situation, and they attempted to mediate potential conflicts with those who opposed the event through daily meetings with “Middle Ground.” [85] These facts were conveniently ignored by the Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, in particular in its usual hostile reporting, which did all it could to stir up vigilante mob mentality.[86] Situations kept changing daily, and under those circumstances it is a wonder that the event happened at all.[87]
The matter of the “parade permit” being demanded of the demonstrators by the City of Fortuna remained up in the air until the very last minute.[88] On Monday, August 27, ACLU attorney Matthew Coles argued that Fortuna’s new law was unconstitutional:
“You can’t deny a permit (by extending the time required to obtain a permit so that it stretches beyond the current date). Whether the city likes it or not, people have a right to march. The city has every right to ensure that a march is orderly and well-organized, but it can’t use the permit process to make sure that it doesn’t happen.”[89]
Coles also argued that a permit could not be denied based on the fear that confrontations might occur between an event’s organizers and its opponents. Coles elaborated, “If legitimate fear for public safety was grounds for denying a permit do you think we would have ever had black march in the south? That fear is always there.”[90] Ironically, corporate timber apologists were more likely to compare a march by Redwood Summer to one by the Nazi Party or Ku Klux Klan. Arcata resident Robert Dean expressed just such an opinion and added,
“Under the guise of freedom of expression, (Earth First! is) only looking for a physical confrontation so they can blame it on the lumber workers and the timber industry. Earth First!, can’t you see that you’re not accepted here? Go back to Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Ann Arbor, or wherever you came from.”[91]
The Fortuna City Council met in closed session on both Tuesday, August 28 and Wednesday, August 29 to discuss the possibility of an ACLU lawsuit. Redwoodstock organizer David Kemnitzer tried to reassure everyone that the event’s organizers had been willing to try and soothe potential fears declaring, “We’re working things out to guarantee everybody’s safety and everybody’s rights. We’ve gone through the process, identifying step-by-step any potential dangers and figuring out how to deal with that.”[92]
Finally, in San Francisco on August 31, 1990, U.S. District Judge Stanely Weigel cleared the last legal hurdle against the event by issuing an order that allowed the march through Fortuna effectively rendering the town’s attempt at a required 20 day advance null and void. The ruling came while activists were still holding meetings with Chief Evanson. Mayor Lewis, who was unquestionably biased against Redwood Summer, was incensed, bitterly opining:
“It’s obvious the city is taking every step to keep this movement from escalating tensions between timber workers and the environmental freaks…There’s no question that those people are not welcome in Fortuna. Redwood Summer and Earth First! have failed in their objective of unifying the timber workers in the Eel River Valley. Having failed that, they fully intend to rub Fortuna residents’ noses in the theatrics of their repulsive antics.”[93]
Such sentiments did as much to keep timber workers and environmentalists divided as much as anything done by Earth First!, but it was evident that this is what Mayor Lewis wanted.
In fairness, the Redwoodstock organizers did everything they could to make their event as inclusive as possible.[94] The event would be political, with workshops, speeches, and booths and tables, as well as include music, food, and crafts.[95] However any nonprofit organization, no matter what their political perspective was welcome to participate. Attendees were asked to make a $5-$10 donation, but this was to be voluntary. There was to be an “open mike” stage where anyone could have an opportunity to speak. All participants were to be strongly and persistently urged to attend nonviolence trainings which were now to be interspersed throughout the first two days of the event. The intent was for Redwoodstock to be a neutral ground where all points of view were welcome (at least on the first two days), and the theme was to be “bridging the gap through music,” and at this point, thirty two performers and speaker were scheduled to join in the festivities. On Monday, there was to be a “March for the Labor of the Earth and her People” from Fernbridge, along US 101, to the P-L mill at the 12th Street exit in Fortuna. The purpose of the march was to “pay tribute to the Earth on which we depend for survival and to the working people whose labor provides our food, clothing and shelter,” according to Karen Wood.[96]
The Greens’ openness naturally didn’t resonate with the Yellows, whose economic and political interests lay with corporate timber. Regurgitating the usual and hackneyed claim that most demonstrators were outside agitators, Supervisor Sparks opined, on Friday, August 31, 1990, “We just would like them to leave the community. They’ve made their point. Go home.”[97] Humboldt County law enforcement agencies were no more accepting, and they called in extra police from nearby Del Norte, Mendocino, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties to assist in their efforts. Fifty Officers would be stationed at the Singley Bar camp to monitor events there while another fifty would remain on call, according to undersheriff Tom Heilman. They would be joined by an unnumbered amount of CHP officers along the highway. Fortuna Police Chief Evanson had threatened to arrest any marchers attempting to march through his town without a permit—at least until the courts had ruled against the constitutionality of the new city ordinance, but Heilman had pointed out that even with the additional police, if the marchers numbered 1,000 or more as Redwood Summer organizer David Kemnitzer had predicted, they would need at least three times the number of police officers as they had planned to call in. As was the case before the Redwood Summer rally and Community Solidarity counterdemonstration in Fort Bragg in July, the press predicted, and many demonstrators feared a violent confrontation. However P-L spokesman David Galitz announced that the P-L Mill in Fortuna at the Newberg gate would be cloased for Labor Day and he encouraged the workers to picnic instead of engaging confrontation. Even Mothers’ Watch issued a statement telling its supporters to stay away from Singley Bar and the Fortuna march. Kemnitzer reassured everyone that no civil disobedience was planned at the P-L mill, “We are not planning any (such) activity. We’re trying to create an event that continues the peaceful and cooperative spirit of action we’ve had all summer.”[98]
The first two days of Redwoodstock began peacefully, and about 1,000 people attended, most of them camping on the river bar.[99] This was a major disappointment, as David Kemnitzer had been quoted as saying that twice that figured would attend and at least half of them, if not 1,500 woulc march on Labor Day to Fortuna.[100] The Eureka Times Standard made it a point to report that many of the license plates on the cars were from other states, which they knew full well would incite the passions of locals. Of course, no actual figures were cited. Even with 1,000 attendees, the river bar seemed sparsely populated, though Michelle Dulas tried to attribute that to the sheer size of the location which was not small.[101] The event would likely have been better attended, but on the first day, police engaged in heavy handed scrutiny of potential participants by ticketing many drivers for having bald tires or intermittent tail lights on their vehicles. By Saturday night, however, evidently satisfied that the event was peaceful and nonviolent, the law enforcement officers eased up on their check points. During his performance, Jello Biafra whacked at the proverbial hornets’ nest by giving his signature “Burn Baby, Burn!” monologue about the American Flag—which admonished citizens to worship the freedom the flag is supposed to represent rather than the symbol itself—but the police appeared to shrug it off, and—according to Sequoia—“were our best T-shirt customers.”[102]
Indeed, the event took on the air of a county fair more than that of a protest.[103] As promised, the event was inclusive, and though most of the booths and speakers were connected to Redwood Summer, there were exceptions, including a Christian anti-abortion booth, complete with religiously themed, canned piano music. The crowd did have a sizable percentage of “hippies”, but—as was the case at Samoa and Fort Bragg—there were just as many non-hippies.[104] There was still a good deal of confusion and last minute scrambling as many of the acts that had agreed to show, didn’t due to the uncertainty generated by the torrents of legal challenges, according to Michelle Dulas.[105] At the end of the first night, Saturday, September 1, after sixteen hours of speeches and music, a very exhausted soundman kept the system working while loggers who wanted to speak their minds were made welcome. A Pacific Lumber truck driver told activists about how he felt their slash blockades placed on logging roads in protest potentially endangered his life. Rather than shout him down, activists met with him afterwards, listened to him and his fellow workers talk some more, and learned that they, too, opposed Maxxam’s “occupation” of the old Pacific Lumber company, but felt powerless to oppose it. Redwood Summer organizers offered their suggestions, and though nothing concrete was resolved, at least the attempt was made and the potential judged hopeful. Sunday’s events were equally positive and upbeat.[106]
The next day, an equally positive and upbeat action took place near Sacramento, far to the southeast of Fortuna, in conjunction with Redwoodstock, organized by supporters of Redwood Summer there. A man calling himself simply “Batwing” dangled from a climbing rope and harness strung over four lanes of Interstate Highway 80 with a large banner, 15 feet high by 35 feet wide which read, “Work for a Living Planet.” The “BAT” in “Batwing” stood for “Biodiversity Action Team,” which was a group loosely associated with Earth First! who made it their mission o protect the integrity of life on Earth. “Batwing” issued the following statement in conjunction with the action:
“We believe it is time for everybody to take planetary responsibility, and any economic system that makes this difficult should be abandoned. This action is in conjunction with and in support of Redwood Summer because the diversity of life in the ancient forests is threatened by the greed of the large timber corporations.
“At present cutting levels, exceeding 300 percent of the growth rate, timber workers will be on welfare son due to lack of trees, not to mention the current lack of timber jobs due to increased automation and the export of logs.
“Above and beyond our concern for jobs is our concern for a healthy Earth. A healthy Earth consists of healthy ecosystems. All beings who live in these ecosystems, both human and non-human, should have the opportunity to fulfill their own evolutionary destinies.”[107]
The demonstration, which was accompanied by a press conference, remained peaceful and received some local coverage.[108]
As feared, however, Monday’s march in Fortuna did not go so well. With all of the controversy surrounding it, and the fact that the targeted location of Fortuna, which Judi Bari referred to as that “legendary stomper town”, was essentially ground zero for the anti Earth First! hostility, it was inevitable that this would be so.[109] The crowd of about 1,000 had dwindled to about half that size, the exact number of which accounts vary. Sequoia placed the numbers at 400[110], Bruce Anderson at 500[111], the Santa Rosa Press Democrat at 370[112], and the San Francisco Chronicle at “about 600.”[113] Whatever the actual number, the organizers knew they could not defy the police order to march through Fortuna, instead of on US 101, without risking mass arrest before reaching the intended destination, and there was no time to seek consensus on that, so the decision was made to adhere to the police demands. The demonstrators would have to run the gauntlet or risk jail. The marchers, by consensus, dressed in somber clothes and sang peaceful songs, such as This Land is Your Land, by Woodie Guthrie[114] and Give Peace a Chance, by John Lenon[115], eschewing bright tie-dye garb and drums, which they sensed might be interpreted as unnecessarily polarizing and confrontational. They also agreed, in advance, to not reciprocate any hostile shouting by counterdemonstrators and remain respectful at all times.[116] They departed the campsite at 10 AM and headed towards Fortuna, where they were to rally at 1 PM.[117]
City officials, including Police Chief Evanson who had done everything they could to thwart the march in the first place, ostensibly admonished residents to stay home as well, but sent mixed messages in doing so.[118] Said City Manager Brown, “This is a media event, designed for the 6 o’clock news. We believe it’s real important that the Redwood Summer activists understand that they’re not welcome in this community. We don’t want them here. We’d ask them to stay away.” Such words were ambiguous, and counterdemonstrators took this as a clarion call to organize a vigilante mob, which they did. By 10:30 AM, when police established their blockades to predetermine the course of the march irrespective of the organizers’ wishes, many of the anti Earth First! locals were already drinking wine coolers and beer.[119]
As soon as they reached the highway, the marchers were greeted by angry taunts and obscene gestures by yellow shirted locals standing in small groups or driving by. One man shouted, “as you walk, the trees are hitting the ground!’ as he laughed cruelly and clapped his hands. [120] CHP officers shepherded demonstrators onto the shoulder while vehicle traffic was kept moving along the road. The hostility only grew worse as the activists reached the streets of Fortuna. At two locations along the march route, counterdemonstrators, separated from the demonstrators by 200 police in riot gear, taunted Redwood Summer marchers with more obscene gestures and angry shouts and pelted them with eggs, tomatoes, or rocks.[121] At least one tossed a water balloon filled with yellow paint at the moving crowd.[122] Sequoia recalled:
“We marched. We were respectful, and we got eggs, paint balloons, and insults thrown at us, but we stayed together and peaceful. Many people on the sidewalks of Fortuna gave us the high sign and sang along with us. Most of the people on the two miles of Highway 101 we walked on were on our side and supportive. There were also angry people telling us we stunk and should wipe our asses with a spotted owl.” [123]
At one point, the marchers passed by the home of 17 year-old John Sammon. “Come walk with us,” implored one marcher.
“I’d rather saw a log,” was Sammon’s hostile retort.[124]
As was the case in the Fort Bragg march, there were some among the 400 or so angry, yellow shirted counterdemonstrators who were not actual timber workers, but this time many of them were or at least were family members of those that were, and most them were openly hostile.[125] Sequoia recalled that march organizers had called upon the services of erstwhile ESOP organizer Patrick Shannon, who had claimed he had the support of some P-L workers, to be the keynote speaker at the rally site and to bring out the latter who supported Redwood Summer.[126] Had Sequoia and the others had listened to Judi Bari or Darryl Cherney[127] more carefully, they would have realized that this was delusional posturing on the part of Shannon who had essentially proven himself a charlatan as far as the workers were concerned.[128] Not surprisingly, Shannon’s presence was met with hostility by the angry mob.[129]
There were a handful of timber workers and timber dependent workers who did join the Redwood Summer march, including Fortuna resident and retired P-L logger Gene Kennedy, who expressed his dismay at the counterdemonstrators, declaring, “Don’t there people realize that before too long, the jobs are going to be gone, and they’ll be jobless and pensionless sooner or later? It’s only a question of when.” [130] Humboldt County employee Jim Vandergriff, also a Fortuna Resident who joined the march describing his experience facing the vigilantes recalled, “I was terrified. One of my neighbors was really yelling.” Carol Martin, a resident of nearby Arcata, who had come to the protest more out of a sense of curiosity than anything else opined, “It’s too bad this kind of thing brings out so much anger and hate.” [131]
At about 12:30 PM, as scheduled, the marchers reached the locked gates of the mill, where they were greeted by 200 angry counterdemonstrators, many of them actual P-L employees, separated from the demonstrators by at least 100 helmeted policemen who stood shoulder to shoulder separating the two crowds.[132] Sequoia recalled what happened next:
“When we got to the mill site we met with the major part of the angry loggers. They had been there a while hurling insults at the police, calling them fascists, and telling them to ‘go home’ pushing their way through them, and generally treating them in a way that would have had any of us arrested in a second. As we approached, a few loggers at the mill punched the police and tried to drive through them to get at us.”[133]
The angry mob, standing on the nearby sidewalks, surrounded the marchers on three sides and hurled insults at the demonstrators like, “Earth First! go home!”, “Jobs first!”, “The 60s are over!”, “Get a job!”, and “Take a shower, you stink!” as well as countless obscenities. It was quite clear that the Redwood Summer crowd was not welcome in Fortuna. “How do we reach these people?” said one, unidentified male, demonstrator to another, a woman. “They yell at us; they don’t want to hear what we have to say,” he finished. Putting an emphasis on the counterdemonstrators’ unreceptiveness, Fortuna resident Ron Micthell reacted scornfully to a demonstrator’s sign which read “Sustained Life, where are kids are going to work” by responding, “They’re on welfare supported by my tax dollars.” One woman from the mob had enough sense to suggest that the demonstrators should have organized their march in Houston at Hurwitz headquarters, which was a fair point.[134] After a few minutes, the counterdemonstrators began to push the marchers towards each other. Fortuna resident Ed Barnhart, whose father and brother worked for P-L pondered, “Violence is one way to show power. What if we were to rush into them? It’s almost worth going to jail for.” The protesters formed a circle and were fully surrounded by counterdemonstrators, who continued shouting “Jobs first!” in response to various banners carried by the marchers that read “Earth First!”. The demonstrators, insistent that the oft-repeated corporate talking point that environmentalists are anti-worker started chanting back, “Jobs First!”, as if to remind their adversaries that the two were not mutually exclusive. “It got really tense there, said Fortuna Police spokesman Steve Frank, “people were really pressing in”.[135] Sequoia further recounted:
“We marched in and the police were not in control and too scattered. The loggers crowded in upon us to intermingle and cause a riot. We all just sat down! It was a moment I will never forget. I sat there directly in front of the loggers with their legs and boots inches from my face wondering if I was going to be stomped to death, and not regretting one minute that I was there. We sang We Shall Overcome and many of us answered their angry shouting with “Let’s talk.” Patrick tried to speak but only those close to him could hear as the loggers shouted him down. We were trapped between the closed gate of Pacific Lumber and the loggers of the region and it was very apt.
“It wasn’t going to happen that day, but I wonder if some of those loggers weren’t thinking that perhaps these so-called terrorists who sit down in front of them instead of hurling insults back can’t, perhaps, be a bridge between them and those locked gates. Maybe even before the forests are gone and those gates are locked forever. I Guess I was swept up by the power of the moment. We aren’t going to be that bridge, but someone, something has to be, and the look on some of those faces as we sat down instead of attacking back means some brain cells clicked on.”[136]
Ultimately, nobody was seriously injured, and police made only one arrest that day on a charge of public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.[137] The arrestee turned out to be a counter-demonstrating logger.[138] Demonstrators then held a brief ceremony symbolically recognizing the death of the old growth forest before returning to their starting point at Singley Bar.[139] The Eureka Times-Standard reported that the marchers were trailed out of town by some counterdemonstrators still hurling insults at them, with only the police keeping the two groups separate. “Don’t stand downwind of ‘em,” yelled at least one counterdemonstrator. A handful of the marches responded to the ubiquitous insinuations of marijuana usage simply by shouting back, “hemp, hemp, hooray!” San Luis Obispo resident Eva Uran, who was somewhat more articulate and no doubt much more representative of the crowd predicted that one day the counterdemonstrators would, “look back and see that we were right when the forests are gone, but I hope that doesn’t happen.” However, there were some locals, such as Jeanette Dominick, whose husband was a P-L employee, who saw no difference between the corporation and the employees. She declared that the marchers had no right to come into her town. “They got to walk in the middle of the street and we walked in the gutters. They walked in the middle of the streets protected by police officers that we will pay for by the redwoods we cut down.”[140] Evidently Dominick either did not know or did not care that most of the money was servicing Hurwitz debt, which only added credence to the statement made by the mayor that Redwood Summer had “failed” to unite timber workers and environmentalists. Sequoia described the march back to the camp as “anticlimactic, but triumphant.”[141] Many were those—including fellow Redwood Summer organizers—that disagreed.
The Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance was predictably disdainful of the whole affair.[142] Editor Glenn Simmons wrote a particularly nasty editorial accusing the organizers of the event, and Earth First! in general by extension, of deliberately provoking a violent reaction on the part of the timber workers, an account that simply doesn’t match actual accounts of what took place.[143] Surprisingly, Anderson Valley Advertiser editor Bruce Anderson, although certainly a controversial and inconsistent spokesman for north coast dissidents, but a staunch supporter and participant in Redwood Summer shared similar sentiments despite being almost diametrically opposed to Simmons politically on most issues. He called the event a “fiasco”.[144] Anderson further opined:
“The weekend events were widely criticized by many enviro-activists as poorly planned and overly burdened by counterculture types. Unlike the Samoa and Fort Bragg events, this final demo seemed almost deliberately calculated to alienate public opinion. Squatter and Kemnitzer should stick to feeding people…”[145]
Anderson did not specify which activists criticized the event, but in all likelihood it included the sizable majority of Redwood Summer organizers who neither participated in the planning of the event or the event itself. These criticisms did not sit well with the rally organizers and they responded angrily to Anderson’s criticisms, but the editor was unmoved, declaring one week later:
“Hippie! The beast that won’t die! Several callers, including Jim Squatter, David Kemnitzer, and Sequoia, complained about the AVA’s assessment of Redwoodstock, the idiotic summer-ending demonstration in Northern Humboldt County. Squatter, of Seeds of Peace, and Sequoia of Greenfield, said the three-day event was a great success. Bullshit. For a bunch of hippies without roots in the community to go into a place like Fortuna with a counterculture road show isn’t politics, it’s sabotage. I thought we’d gotten past the ‘let’s outrage the squares’ childishness of the sixties, the kind of exhibitionism that repulses ordinary people…
“It is grossly insensitive and arrogant for unconventional persons, freed from the obligations that burden most people, to show up in a strange place for fun and games. There are literally hundreds of committed Humboldt County enviros who stayed away, not because they feared the bellowing bullies and assholes who always show up to hippie hassle, but because they were discouraged in many ways from participating. The Fort Bragg demonstration, by way of contrast, was planned by women who live and work in Fort Bragg which translated as a large turnout of people from Fort Bragg and the surrounding communities. Dave Foreman’s analysis of the exhibitionist influence in Earth First! is not all the way wrong. We beat the corporations at Samoa and we beat them at Fort Bragg. They won easily at Fortuna.”[146]
This criticism was somewhat unfair and exaggerated, as Sequoia rightly pointed out in a rambling, but thorough response to Anderson, which the editor charitably published on the front page of the same edition in which he leveled the above criticism (which was printed in its usual place on the inner pages of the coincidentally named Boonville periodical).[147] Anderson’s sentiments and bitterness were share somewhat, however, by Judi Bari—who neither participated in the rally or its day-to-day organizing[148], and Naomi Wagner.[149]
Bruce Anderson had a point, however. The very same criticisms that northern California and southern Oregon Earth First!ers had never openly spoken, but had subtly and justifiably hinted at stubborn staunch supporters of the tactic of tree spiking, namely that the attachment was purely an emotional connection to something that had given Earth First!, could be made of some of their own constituency in regards to civil disobedience. There is no doubt that the situation in Redwood Country called for militant direct action, but all too often among radicals there is a severe confusion over strategy and tactics, and often the latter is mistaken for the former. Sequoia admitted, in her response to Anderson, that the Redwoodstock organizers were determined to include some sort of direct action, but it is highly debatable that, in this particular instance, it could ever have proven effective. No logging was taking place on labor day, and demonstrators would have had at least as much success raising awareness about the issue conducting a mass leafleting to motorists passing through Eureka, perhaps after grabbing their attention with a banner hung across highway 101 in the center of town near state Senator Barry Keene’s or Congressman Doug Bosco’s local office. Alternatively, as was done in later years, a car caravan to an actual logging site, perhaps the Fisher Road Gate near Carlotta, located not very far from the then threatened Headwaters Forest where several successful civil disobedience actions, including a mass arrest of 1033 (including Judi Bari) on September 16, 1996, accompanied by an action there could have incorporated the sort of action desired. The choice of Patrick Shannon as a liaison to the workers was utter folly, and the choice of Fortuna as a target was suicidal.
Reaction among Humboldt County residents was almost equally negative. Jim McManamon excoriated the pro-(corporate)-timber supporters for their violent behavior and drunkeness in response to Redwoodstock, but was one of the few exceptions to the chorus of voices speaking out against the events. Annie Ray naïvely argued that the energy spent on protest would be better spent on “planting trees” or “joining the California Conservation Corp” ignorantly unknowledgable of the fact that many Redwood Summer demonstrators had already been doing just those things before the campaign was even conceived. Carol Del Biaggio joins the chorus of letter writers arguing that the demonstrators should pay for the law enforcement and permits—in blatant violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution—that should not have been shoved down the Redwood Summer demonstrator's throats in the first place.[150] This sentiment was parroted by Donnie Johnson four days later.[151] Still, given all of the circumstances, the outcome of the march was probably the best that the organizers could have realistically envisioned. Credit is due, at least to the Redwoodstock organizers for maintaining nonviolence in the face of equal, if not superior forces against them, and keeping the situation from degenerating into a bloodbath. Of course, some could not even be convinced of that. Peggy Nolan of Mother’s Watch credited the Fortuna Police with maintaining order[152], even though from most accounts, they had not done a particularly effective job of doing even that.[153] Even among the Yellow vigilante mob’s amen corner, there was enough sense not to credit the counterdemonstrators with keeping the peace, because clearly suggesting that would have twisted credibility into a pretzel.
To be certain, the corporate media (as usual) exaggerated the degree to which Redwoodstock resembled a countercultural circus. The participants in Redwoodstock, tried to be respectful to their neighbors, at least to an extent, and kept the base camp at Singley Bar clean. One of the demonstrators, a carpenter and tree farmer, Jay W. Mead explained:
“I just returned from a week’s stay at the Sandy Bar base camp of Redwood Summer. I want to express gratitude and thanks to the people of Willow Creek for tolerating and allowing hundreds of outside people to camp in a place that is very special to the town. At the same time I apologize for the in-sensitivity of some of those within the camp who ignored the town’s code of decency regarding nudity…
“I also want to thank the folks in Honeydew and Branscomb for being similarly tolerant to the existence of Redwood Summer base camp in their communities…
“There is so much that needs to be addressed concerning the timber industry of the North Coast. After touring the PALCO mill in Scotia and seeing the fear and anger in the faces of loggers and mill workers in the Eureka area, I sympathized with their position. Yet the blame for the loss of their jobs cannot be pinned on the environmentalists.
“The real culprits are the corporations who have taken over local companies and are financing their junk bond investments by liquidating their timber assets.”[154]
At least core organizers of Redwood Summer maintained their sense of humor, and in a moment of somewhat tongue-in-cheek candor, Darryl Cherney wrote the following song, Redwood Summer Blues to the tune of Summertime Blues:
Well, I’m gonna raise a fuss and I’m gonna raise a holler,
If the Direct Action Fund don’t send me a thousand dollars,
Well the base camp is broke and I think it’s gonna move,
No there ain’t no cure for the Redwood Summer Blues.
Well I hope the next demo has a good turnout,
All the organizers are suffering from burnout,
Well the press release is lost and the recon team is too,
You know there ain’t no cure for the Redwood Summer Blues.
Well the media is turning out in record numbers,
They photograph the freaks and they publish all our blunders,
Then its fifteen whopping seconds on the evening news,
You know there ain’t no cure for the Redwood Summer Blues.
So we chained our necks to a logging gate with padlocks,
They hauled us off the jail and they shaved off our dreadlocks,
Then Karissa got arrested cause her sign said “We Love You”,
You know there ain’t no cure for the Redwood Summer Blues.
Well I wish that Tracy would get off of the computer,
If she don’t let me at the Mac I think I’m gonna shoot her,
Well she’s guarding her fax and her Macintosh II,
You know there ain’t no cure for the Redwood Summer Blues.
Well Pacific Lumber’s President was feeling kind of mean-a,
He drove through our picket line made off with Bob Serina,
Well the people didn’t know if they should cheer or they should boo,
You know there ain’t no cure for the Redwood Summer Blues.[155]
Halfway across the country, Earth First! – IWW Local #2 and RACE were continuing their Hardwood Summer struggles in the Shawnee National Forest and still timing their major actions in coordination with those of Earth First! – IWW Local #1 and Redwood Summer. On September 4, six Earth First!ers were arrested attempting to block logging machinery from entering the contested logging site. One of these was John Wallace who was celebrating his 31st birthday on that day, and was wanted in Federal Court for allegedly entering into a closed area the previous week. Wallace was arrested still wearing the kryptonite bicycle lock around his neck attached to the handrail of a logging skidder which the USFS “Freddies” had cut with an acetylene torch. The officials had refused to call an ambulance (in case of an accident with the torch), despite the repeated pleas from Wallace’s affinity group, and simply handcuffed him while placing a fire shelter blanket around his head. The activist kept up his spirits defiantly singing God Bless America during the whole ordeal. The following day, the Seventh United States Court of Appeals in Chicago issued an injunction and ordered a halt to the logging until the judicial review of a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, but logging continued the following day in spite of the ruling. Even though the court had attempted to contact the United States attorney in East St. Louis, armed USFS personnel from Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio allowed logging crews onto the site, but denied access to the media. Earth First!ers managed to sale area and videotape the cutting. The two days of action culminated after Harwood Summer had maintained blockades all summer long.[156] At one point in August, they had even buried a junked automobile in the middle of a logging road, and this action made news in Ukiah of all places, no doubt due to its indirect connection to Redwood Summer.[157]
Closer to the Redwoods, on September 4, 1990, the charges against the Lorax 10 were dropped[158], though Terry Farmer hinted that Humboldt County might force the defendants to recoup the court costs. Two days later, Attorney Mark Harris and the ACLU filed suit against Humboldt County for shaving the heads of the four activists arrested the previous month at Murrelet Grove.[159] He ultimately helped the four win a $100,000 cash settlement the following July.[160] If Anna Sparks were so worried about the costs incurred by her county, she may have wanted to more closely investigate the heavy handedness of its law enforcement agencies. The Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance of all publications suggested that a more laissez-faire approach, i.e. ignoring most nonviolent protests, such as that usually used by Contra Costa County in response to demonstrations at the Concord Naval Weapons station[161], might have been far more effective and cheaper in the long run.[162] Not content with this, however, editor Glenn Simmons still felt it necessary to spew his monthly invectives against environmentalists[163] and publish Fortuna Police Chief Les Evanson’s letter defending his heavy handed attempts to quash Constitutionally protected peaceful assemblies in his town.[164] In the end, Redwood Summer had involved over 3,500 activists from all over the nation, participating in over 75 actions in Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties as well as the greater San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz, involving at least 220 voluntary arrests.[165] Hardwood Summer had involved a smaller, but equally dedicated number of activists. Even though many of the organizers were declaring both victorious, the fight was far from over.
Notes:
[1] Letter to the IWW, by Utah Phillips, unpublished, courtesy of Allan Anger’s personal archives, June 6, 1990.
[2] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[3] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 12, 1990.
[4] “1990: A Year in the Life of Earth First!”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, January 2, 1991.
[5] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 12, 1990.
[6] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[7] “Redwood Summer 1990 Press Release”, by David Kemnitzer, mid-August 1990.
[8] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[9] Author’s interview with Naomi Wagner, October 2009.
[10] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[11] “‘Summer’ Camp Plans Under Fire in Rio Dell”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 8, 1990.
[12] “Redwood Summer: Victory!”, by Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, September 1, 1990.
[13] “Stand Up and Fight”, letter to the editor by Judy Ingraham, Eureka Times-Standard, August 11, 1990.
[14] “Editorial: Get Real”, by Bob Martel, Country Activist, September 1990.
[15] “‘Summer’ Camp Plans Under Fire in Rio Dell”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 8, 1990.
[16] “Activists Back Off, Regroup; Outrage in Rio Dell Kills ‘Summer’ Rally, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 15, 1990.
[17] “Redwood Summer 1990 Press Release”, by David Kemnitzer, mid-August 1990.
[18] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[19] “Redwood Summer Press Release”, by David Kemnitzer, August 23, 1990.
[20] “Scores of Protests, Hundreds of Arrests, Thousands of Demonstrators, Millions Made Aware of Timber Abuse”, by Sid Dominitz, EcoNews, September 1990.
[21] “Activists Seek Permit to Relocate ‘Logjam’ to Site at Fernbridge”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 16, 1990.
[22] “Activists Back Off, Regroup; Outrage in Rio Dell Kills ‘Summer’ Rally, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 15, 1990.
[23] “Activists Seek Permit to Relocate ‘Logjam’ to Site at Fernbridge”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 16, 1990.
[24] “Activists Back Off, Regroup; Outrage in Rio Dell Kills ‘Summer’ Rally, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 15, 1990.
[25] “Activists Back Off, Regroup; Outrage in Rio Dell Kills ‘Summer’ Rally, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 15, 1990.
[26] “Controversial Cloud Looms; Protesters May Target Fortuna”, by Jerry Sena, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, August 9, 1990.
[27] “Fortuna Wants End to Protests; City Fearful Anti-Logging Actions Could Spur Violence”, by Ed Lion, Eureka Times-Standard, March 20, 1990. [RECHECK SOURCE]
[28] “Fortuna Blocks Protest; Summer Parade Target of New Law”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 21, 1990.
[29] “Bitter End to North Coast Summer of Discontent”, By Jane Kay, San Francisco Examiner, September 2, 1990.
[30] “Fortuna Blocks Protest; Summer Parade Target of New Law”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 21, 1990.
[31] “Redwoodstock Set for Fernbridge: Labor Day march to Pacific Lumber in Scotia”, press release, by Jennifer Beigel, Karen Wood, and Jim Squatter, August 26, 1990. Also recheck this source: “Fortuna, Activists Bicker Over March”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 28, 1990.
[32] “‘Summer’ March Approval Disputed”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 29, 1990.
[33] “Permit Process May Stymie Protesters”, by Jerry Sena, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, August 23, 1990.
[34] “Judge Mulls fate of ‘Summer’ Labor Day Rally”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 24, 1990; and “Timber Activists File Suit to Hold labor Day Rally”, McClatchey News Service, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 25, 1990. [RECHECK SOURCE]
[35] “Redwood Summer Press Release”, by David Kemnitzer, August 23, 1990.
[36] “Judge Mulls fate of ‘Summer’ Labor Day Rally”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 24, 1990; and “Timber Activists File Suit to Hold labor Day Rally”, McClatchey News Service, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 25, 1990. [RECHECK SOURCE]
[37] “Redwood Summer Press Release”, by David Kemnitzer, August 23, 1990.
[38] ““Summer’ Fest Clears Major Hurdle; County OK Not Needed Counsel Says”, UPI Wire, Eureka Times-Standard, August 28, 1990 [RECHECK SOURCE].
[39] “March Still No Certainty: ‘Redwoodstock’ Faces New Hurdles”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 29, 1990.
[40] “Redwoodstock: Bridging the Gap Through Music”, press release by Karen Wood, Mickey Dulas, Jennifer Biegel, Tracey Katelman, and Sara Seeds, August 28, 1990.
[41] “March Still No Certainty: ‘Redwoodstock’ Faces New Hurdles”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 29, 1990.
[42] “‘Summer’ March Approval Disputed”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 29, 1990.
[43] “Redwood Summer Timeline”, by Karen Pickett, Earth First! Journal, Samhain / November 1, 1990; and Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, various issues from June 1, 1990 – October 1. 1990.
[44] “Activists Camp on Eel River Bar”, by Jerry Sena, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, September 6, 1990.
[45] “Redwoodstock: Bridging the Gap Through Music”, press release by Karen Wood, Mickey Dulas, Jennifer Biegel, Tracey Katelman, and Sara Seeds, August 28, 1990.
[46] “March Still No Certainty: ‘Redwoodstock’ Faces New Hurdles”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 29, 1990.
[47] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[48] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 12, 1990.
[49] “Equal Time: HSU Student Makes Impromptu Pro-Timber Stand”, by Charles Winkler, Eureka Times-Standard, August 23, 1990.
[50] “Scores of Protests, Hundreds of Arrests, Thousands of Demonstrators, Millions Made Aware of Timber Abuse”, by Sid Dominitz, EcoNews, September 1990.
[51] “Bitter End to North Coast Summer of Discontent”, By Jane Kay, San Francisco Examiner, September 2, 1990.
[52] “Bitter End to North Coast Summer of Discontent”, By Jane Kay, San Francisco Examiner, September 2, 1990.
[53] “Press Statement”, by Karen Pickett, Tracy Katelman, Jennifer Biegel, and Karen Wood, August 29, 1990.
[54] “Bitter End to North Coast Summer of Discontent”, By Jane Kay, San Francisco Examiner, September 2, 1990.
[55] “Letter to the Editor: Laying the Blame”, by Eric Fried, The Lumberjack, August 29, 1990.
[56] “Feigned Innocence While Break Law”, letter to editor by Ed Paul, Eureka Times-Standard, August 27, 1990.
[57] “ ‘Redwood Summer’ Protesters Urged to End Demonstrations Against Loggers”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 30, 1990.
[58] “Press Statement”, by Karen Pickett, Tracy Katelman, Jennifer Biegel, and Karen Wood, August 29, 1990.
[59] Detailed in Chapter 7.
[60] “Press Statement”, by Karen Pickett, Tracy Katelman, Jennifer Biegel, and Karen Wood, August 29, 1990.
[61] “Scores of Protests, Hundreds of Arrests, Thousands of Demonstrators, Millions Made Aware of Timber Abuse”, by Sid Dominitz, EcoNews, September 1990.
[62] “Redwood Summer Timeline”, by Karen Pickett, Earth First! Journal, Samhain / November 1, 1990; and Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, various issues from June 1, 1990 – October 1. 1990.
[63] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 8, 1990.
[64] “Dave Foreman Comes to Ecotopia”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, March 13, 1991.
[65] “Protesters Put Big Dent in Budget: ‘Summer’ Costs Near $400,000”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, Septmeber 5, 1990
[66] “18 Protesters Arrested at Pacific Lumber Sit-in”, by Phil Garlington and Bleys Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 30, 1990.
[67] “Editorial: Call of Redwoodstock”, Eureka Times-Standard, August 29, 1990.
[68] “18 Protesters Arrested at Pacific Lumber Sit-in”, by Phil Garlington and Bleys Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 30, 1990.
[69] “Editorial: Get Real”, by Bob Martel, Country Activist, September 1990.
[70] “18 Protesters Arrested at Pacific Lumber Sit-in”, by Phil Garlington and Bleys Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 30, 1990.
[71] “Fear at Work”, by Dan Faulk, Country Activist, July 1990.
[72] “Have Rights Too”, letter to the editor by Jennifer Goodner, various publications, including, Eureka Times-Standard, August 6, 1990; Willits News, August 29, 1990; and Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 12, 1990.
[73] “Obstructionism”, letter to the editor by Kathryn Mixon, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 28, 1990.
[74] “Final Strains of Redwood Summer to be Played Out Through Media”, by Judy Nichols, North Coast News, September 6, 1990.
[75] “18 Protesters Arrested at Pacific Lumber Sit-in”, by Phil Garlington and Bleys Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 30, 1990.
[76] “Redwood Summer Timeline”, by Karen Pickett, Earth First! Journal, Samhain / November 1, 1990; and Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, various issues from June 1, 1990 – October 1. 1990.
[77] “Logging Protesters Take Their Message to the Water”, photo essay by Timothy Baker, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 29, 1990. A Redwood Summer supporter, holding a sign which reads, “No Trees, No Jobs” is misidentified as a “timber supporter”, a mistake that letter writer Virgina M. Norris attempts to correct in “Caption in Error”, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 7, 1990. [RECHECK SOURCE].
[78] “18 Protesters Arrested at Pacific Lumber Sit-in”, by Phil Garlington and Bleys Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 30, 1990.
[79] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[80] “Bid to Block Rally is Rejected: Court Won’t Order Fortuna to Issue Permit for March”, by Mark Rathken, Eureka Times-Standard, Friday August 31, 1990.
[81] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[82] “Courts Deny Restraining Order, Redwoodstock Legality Upheld: The Show Will Go On”, press release, by Jim Squatter, Tracy Katelman, and Jennifer Beigel.
[83] “Bid to Block Rally is Rejected: Court Won’t Order Fortuna to Issue Permit for March”, by Mark Rathken, Eureka Times-Standard, Friday August 31, 1990.
[84] “Courts Deny Restraining Order, Redwoodstock Legality Upheld: The Show Will Go On”, press release, by Jim Squatter, Tracy Katelman, and Jennifer Beigel.
[85] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[86] “Protest Opponents No Closer”, by Jerry Sena, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, August 30, 1990.
[87] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[88] “Redwood Summer Ruling Today on Fortuna March”, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 31, 1990.
[89] “ACLU Threatens Suit Over March”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 30, 1990.
[90] “ACLU Threatens Suit Over March”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 30, 1990.
[91] “Go Home Earth First!”, letter to the editor by Robert Dean, Eureka Times-Standard, August 27, 1990.
[92] “ACLU Threatens Suit Over March”, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 30, 1990.
[93] “‘Summer’ Activists Allowed to March”, by Mark Rathjen and Lisa Shaw, Eureka Times-Standard, September 1, 1990.
[94] “Redwoodstock: Bridging the Gap Through Music”, press release by Karen Wood, Mickey Dulas, Jennifer Biegel, Tracey Katelman, and Sara Seeds, August 28, 1990.
[95] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[96] “Redwoodstock: Bridging the Gap Through Music”, press release by Karen Wood, Mickey Dulas, Jennifer Biegel, Tracey Katelman, and Sara Seeds, August 28, 1990.
[97] “Bitter End to North Coast Summer of Discontent”, By Jane Kay, San Francisco Examiner, September 2, 1990.
[98] “Extra Police Called for Rally; 5 Counties Asked to Help Patrol ‘Redwoodstock’, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 30, 1990.
[99] “‘Redwoodstock’ Tunes up for Last Stand: Activists Set up Camp at Eel River”, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 1, 1990; “Bitter End to North Coast Summer of Discontent”, By Jane Kay, San Francisco Examiner, September 2, 1990; “Redwood Summer Fades into Finale”, by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 2, 1990; “Small ‘Redwoodstock’ Crowd Mellow”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 2, 1990;
[100] “Extra Police Called for Rally; 5 Counties Asked to Help Patrol ‘Redwoodstock’, by Richard Walker, Eureka Times-Standard, August 30, 1990.
[101] “‘Redwoodstock’ Off to Slow, but Spirited Start”, by David Forster, Eureka Times-Standard, September 2, 1990.
[102] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[103] “‘Redwoodstock’ Off to Slow, but Spirited Start”, by David Forster, Eureka Times-Standard, September 2, 1990.
[104] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[105] “‘Redwoodstock’ Off to Slow, but Spirited Start”, by David Forster, Eureka Times-Standard, September 2, 1990.
[106] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[107] “Where’s Robin? Batman and Earth First!”, AVA News Service, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 15, 1990.
[108] “Redwood Summer Ends With Peaceful Protest”, AP Wire, Sacramento Bee, September 4, 1990.
[109] “1990: A Year in the Life of Earth First!”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, January 2, 1991.
[110] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[111] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 12, 1990.
[112] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[113] “Tense Logging Protest Caps Redwood Summer: 600 march to gates of mill in Fortuna”, by Bill Israel, San Francisco Chronicle, September 4, 1990.
[114] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[115] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[116] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[117] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[118] “March Still No Certainty: ‘Redwoodstock’ Faces New Hurdles”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 29, 1990.
[119] “Tense Logging Protest Caps Redwood Summer: 600 march to gates of mill in Fortuna”, by Bill Israel, San Francisco Chronicle, September 4, 1990.
[120] “‘Summer’ Ends in a Standoff; Showdown in Fortuna is Peaceful”, by Rhonda Parker, Eureka Times-Standard, September 4, 1990.
[121] “Tense Logging Protest Caps Redwood Summer: 600 march to gates of mill in Fortuna”, by Bill Israel, San Francisco Chronicle, September 4, 1990.
[122] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[123] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[124] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[125] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[126] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[127] Interview with Darryl Cherney, October 9, 2009.
[128] “Earth First! in Northern California: An Interview with Judi Bari” by Douglas Bevington, reprinted in The Struggle for Ecological Democracy; Environmental Justice Movements in the United States, edited by Daniel Faber, 1998,Guilford Press, New York, NY and London. , 257-58. (Bari had a particularly negative opinion of Patrick Shannon and referred to him as “a charlatan” Darryl Cherney echoed these sentiments in an interview dated September 2, 2009).
[129] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[130] “Tense Logging Protest Caps Redwood Summer: 600 march to gates of mill in Fortuna”, by Bill Israel, San Francisco Chronicle, September 4, 1990.
[131] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[132] “‘Summer’ Ends in a Standoff; Showdown in Fortuna is Peaceful”, by Rhonda Parker, Eureka Times-Standard, September 4, 1990.
[133] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[134] “‘Summer’ Ends in a Standoff; Showdown in Fortuna is Peaceful”, by Rhonda Parker, Eureka Times-Standard, September 4, 1990.
[135] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[136] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990; emphasis in the original.
[137] “One Arrest in Fortuna March”, by Marie Gravelle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 4, 1990.
[138] “Tense Logging Protest Caps Redwood Summer: 600 march to gates of mill in Fortuna”, by Bill Israel, San Francisco Chronicle, September 4, 1990.
[139] “Redwood Summer Timeline”, by Karen Pickett, Earth First! Journal, Samhain / November 1, 1990; and Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, various issues from June 1, 1990 – October 1. 1990.
[140] “‘Summer’ Ends in a Standoff; Showdown in Fortuna is Peaceful”, by Rhonda Parker, Eureka Times-Standard, September 4, 1990.
[141] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[142] “March Ends Redwood Summer”, by Jerry Sena, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, September 6, 1990.
[143] “Redwood Summer Nothing More than a Charade”, by Glenn Simmons, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, September 6, 1990.
[144] “Media Watch”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[145] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 5, 1990.
[146] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 12, 1990; Emphasis in the original.
[147] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[148] “1990: A Year in the Life of Earth First!”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, January 2, 1991.
[149] Author’s interview with Naomi Wagner, October 2009.
[150] “More Thoughts on Summer”, letters to the editor by Jim McManamon, Annie Ray, and Carol Del Biaggio respectively, Eureka Times-Standard, September 18, 1990.
[151] “Protesters Should Pay for Protection”, letter to the editor by Donnie Johnson, Eureka Times-Standard, September 22, 1990.
[152] “Police Chief’s Officials’ Efforts Appreciated”, letter to the editor, by Peggy Nolan of Mother’s Watch, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, Sept. 20, 1990.
[153] “Redwoodstock and the March to Pacific Lumber”, by Sequoia Greenfield, Anderson Valley Advertiser, September 19, 1990.
[154] “Excuse Us, Blame the Corporations”, by Jay W. Mead, EcoNews, September 1990.
[155] Redwood Summer Blues; Tune: Summertime Blues; new lyrics by Darryl Cherney, 1990, used by permission.
[156] “EF! – IWW Local #2 Blockades Shawnee”, by Orin Langelle, Industrial Worker, October 1990.
[157] “Environmentalists Bury Car to Thwart Timber Harvest”, AP Wire, Ukiah Daily Journal, August 23, 1990.
[158] “Redwood Summer Timeline”, by Karen Pickett, Earth First! Journal, Samhain / November 1, 1990; and Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, various issues from June 1, 1990 – October 1. 1990.
[159] “4 Shaved Heads Lead to Suit in Humboldt”, by Tobias Young, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, September 2, 1990. RECHECK SOURCES
[160] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, June 12, 1991.
[161] “Contra Costa Offers ‘Creative’ Alternative to Costly Efforts”, by Jerry Sena, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, Sept 6, 1990.
[162] “County’s ‘Hard Line’ May Have Driven Redwood Summer Spending Higher”, by Jerry Sena, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, Sept 6, 1990.
[163] “Environmentalists a Relative Description”, editorial by Glenn Simmons, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, Sept 6, 1990.
[164] “Police Chief Thanks Residents, Police Agencies”, letter to the editor by Lee Evanson, Humboldt Beacon and Fortuna Advance, Sept 6, 1990.
[165] “Redwood Summer: Victory!”, by Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, September 1, 1990.