Explanatory commentary by Judi Bari, copied from 1990: A Year in the Life of Earth First! published in the Anderson Valley Advertiser, January 2, 1991, reprinted in Reprinted in Timber Wars, © 1994 Common Courage Press (recopied according to "Fair Use" guidelines)
After the Redwood Summer hordes went home, L-P moved in for the kill in Osprey Grove. Without even notifying Save the Redwoods League, which was still trying to buy it, they brutally slaughtered the old growth while a few EF! demonstrators who heard about it in time desperately tried to stop them. Loggers felled trees feet away from Anna Marie and Zack, and hurled insults at them as they did it. A court order was finally obtained to stop the cutting, but by that time only 12 trees were left.
There was so much public outrage over this that L-P made the unprecedented move of apologizing for its “perceived arrogance.” Anna Marie called the apology, ”as empty as Osprey Grove.” A few days later, EF! held a protest rally in Ukiah calling for ”L-P Out of Mendo County.” We also announced the beginning of our next campaign—Corporate Fall. The plan was to bring the demos to the homes and offices of the corporate execs, to show who is really responsible for the destruction of the Earth. Darryl Cherney traveled to Houston for the first Corporate Fall demo, and led 125 new EF!ers to Maxxam’s lair. Charles Hurwitz personally tried to intervene to stop the demo.
Meanwhile the Press Democrat struck the final blow in its increasingly hostile and scanty coverage by removing award-winning journalist Mike Geniella from the timber beat. Mike’s crime was to give an interview to the Anderson Valley Advertiser in which he admitted that we were non-violent and effective in Redwood Summer. Mike is still gathering dust in his Ukiah office, where he’s not allowed to write about anything much that happens here, and we are all still suffering from the press censorship that results.
- Labor and Ecology - By Chris Clarke, Ecology Center Newsletter [Terrain], September 1990
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