Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney had not been charged by the FBI, but as far as the Oakland Police and FBI were concerned, they remained the only suspects in the bombing that nearly killed one of them and seriously threatened the other, in spite of all of the evidence proving that the two were innocent.[1] It was quite clear that the FBI and Oakland Police were involved in a cover-up that all the telltale signs of a COINTELPRO operation intended to discredit Earth First!, the IWW, Redwood Summer, Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. While it hadn’t stopped Redwood Summer—if anything the bombing and its fallout may have brought it more attention and more volunteers—it still changed the focus and reframed the debate, particularly in the eyes of the corporate media. According to Judi Bari, “In spite of (the charges being dropped), the FBI was successful in damaging my reputation and discrediting the nonviolent movement I was helping to organize.”[2] While Redwood Summer had, thus far, succeeded in raising awareness about corporate liquidation logging, the threats to old growth forests and biodiversity, and the seemly underbelly of the corporate timber stranglehold on timber dependent communities, the bombing had halted much the progress IWW Local #1 had made at building bridges between timber workers and Earth First!. This was due partly to Bari being incapacitated, but it was no doubt also due to the fear that the bombing instilled in many workers.[3]
Despite the lack of evidence against Bari and Cherney, neither the FBI nor the Oakland Police bothered to investigate the possibility of other suspects.[4] They didn’t even offer a theory, which leads further credence to the belief that the bombing was a COINTELPRO operation from the get-go.[5] Whether it was or wasn’t, the actual bomber was still at large and could make another assassination attempt. Outraged activists believed that the FBI and OPD should expand the scope of their investigation to find the real bomber, and so they conducted a letter writing campaign to the two agencies and congress demanding as much.[6] Congress did agree to investigate the matter. Richard Johnson recalls:
“A key house subcommittee says it will make the FBI account for its failure to adequately investigate the May 24 bombing of two Redwood Summer activists in Oakland. In a letter dated Tuesday, July 24, US congressman Don Edwards, chair of the powerful house subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights says he has contacted the FBI asking that ‘subcommittee staff be briefed on the scope and status of the investigation.’
“‘We are following this case with concern.’ said Edwards.
Congressman Edwards was responding to Earth Island Institute, Alameda County congressman Ron Dellums, and a coalition of more than 50 environ-mental, labor, women’s and peace groups that had called on congress and the state attorney general’s office a week earlier to find out why the Oakland Police and the FBI had mishandled their investigation of the car bombing of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney…
“The subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights is the arm of the house judiciary committee charged with Federal Bureau of Investigations over-sight. Edwards made it clear that his subcommittee would not investigate the bombing itself, but would call upon the bureau to account for its behavior in the Redwood Summer bombing. He also invited concerned individuals and organizations to submit questions they wished the FBI to answer.
“‘As a general rule, we do not involve ourselves in cases in which the FBI has a pending investigation. While we will not investigate the bombing itself, your letter raises issues with respect to the adequacy of the response by the FBI. You cite reports that the bureau did not conduct a full and proper investigation in this case.
“‘I am contacting the FBI to request that sub-committee staff be briefed on the scope and status of this investigation. We are following this case with concern,’ wrote Edwards.
“A source close to congressman Edwards said that in addition to questions about the FBI’s handling of the case, the committee would accept information from anyone who may have information that would lead to identification and apprehension of the real bombers.”[7]
The effort by supporters of Bari and Cherney had been enormous, and the law enforcement agencies did respond, with great fanfare[8], by expanding their suspect pool to include 800 or so north coast environmentalists, including all known Earth First! activists in the region.[9] Bari and Cherney were skeptical of the FBI’s so-called “investigation” from the start. “Until the FBI questions (loggers) who have made overt threats of violence, I’m, not going to have any faith that they really want to find the bomber”, declared Cherney.[10]
Judi Bari stated, “I think their investigation is a sham. I hope they prove me wrong. After all this time, they still think I’m a suspect.”[11]
The idea that the suspect might have had some connection to anti-environmental forces, particularly corporate timber or the government itself was evidently not on the FBI’s or OPD’s radar, and the agencies refused to follow any such leads. Indeed, the FBI used the information they gathered to increase their surveillance of dissidents in the area.[12] In early August, the FBI dispatched two agents, Stuart Daley, who bore an uncanny resemblance to “a short, plumpish version of Clark Kent”, and Stockton Buck, “a slim silver-haired man in his early fifties” to lead the effort.[13] Captain James Hahn of the Oakland Police Department indicated that they, too, were involved in the investigation, but would provide no additional details.[14]
The FBI initiated their “investigation” by sending a letter to the local newspapers—both corporate and independent—in the region, which read, in part, “As part of the [bombing] investigation, the FBI is attempting to identify the Lord’s Avenger letter. In that regard we are asking for your cooperation in making available for review letters you have received regarding the redwood timber and abortion issues.”[15] This meant that the FBI wanted to comb through unpublished letters to the editor, which vastly outnumbered the published ones that anyone could access given the time and diligence.[16] Such a search was likely fruitless, because it would be very time consuming. As Betty Ball described it, “Instead of not having any leads, there are zillions of leads. Any avenue would take you quite a ways before you’d realize you were or were not close, that you had come up with nothing. It’s a baffling thing.”[17]
For example, Del Norte County law enforcement agencies delved into the case of a Crescent City teenager whom local police had arrested in May of 1990 after he sold a homemade bomb to an undercover agent. Crescent City Police quickly dismissed any possibility of this being related to the Bari and Cherney bombing. Their reasoning was that the teenager was planting bombs to protest laws that restricted the purchases of assault rifles. “It’s not connected in any way (to the Bari and Cherney case)”, declared Crescent City detective Virginia Anthony, “I definitely would jump on it if there was any connection.”[18] Anthony’s assessment was probably on the mark, but her reasoning was suspect. The teenager in question probably would have felt at home among the members of WeCARE, TEAM, Mother’s Watch, or the Sahara Club, but then again, there were hundreds of such individuals in northwestern California.[19] No doubt part of the confusion may have been due to incompetence. “People have the idea the FBI is a suave organization, but in reality they’re bumbling around in the dark,” declared Pam Davis.[20]
Worse still, the FBI’s method was invasive, and violated basic civil liberties. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, in a moment of rare courage told the FBI to take a hike, arguing that surrendering the unpublished letters would have a chilling effect on free speech.[21] Richard Johnson, publisher of the Mendocino Country Environmentalist, also refused. He recalled:
“When Daley and Buck’s San Francisco bureau Chief Richard Held—formerly of COINTELPRO fame—sent me a letter early last month demanding that I turn over the originals of all letters to the editor of this paper concerning abortion rights or redwood timber issues, I ignored him without further consequence. I have had no further contact with them…
“No one is obliged to speak to the FBI about anything substantial. When you tell them that you would be happy to speak to them in the presence of your attorney, they go away and don’t come back. If you tell them anything other than how to contact your attorney, they can open a file and put anything they want into it.”[22]
However, at least ten local editors, perhaps flattered by all of the sudden attention, consented to the FBI rifling through their files and picking out original copies of both published and unpublished letters.[23] Even Bruce Anderson agreed to the search, opining, “It seems to me to be a fairly serious investigation…I think (the FBI agents are) up here all the time, that they’re moving in, but a lot of my friends tell me I’m too optimistic.”[24] Anderson’s friends were correct. Virtually every letter they confiscated was written by an environmentalist, and what little connection any of the letters, their subject, or their author had to the bombing was tenuous at best.[25] A typical example included, “On Healing the Earth”, by Forest Featherwalker, who was a supporter of Redwood Summer, and attended several demonstrations, but beyond that had no involvement in the planning or organizing of any of the events. Another, very curious example, was a poem, sent to the Redwood Record, titled, “Has anyone ever known their spirits?” signed “First impressions in Pokhara Valley”. According to Bari, who found much of this out through various discovery efforts in the lawsuit against the FBI in subsequent years, this letter was sent to all sorts of forensics and behavioral science labs by the FBI to determine whether or not the author had the personality type of someone who would plant a bomb in Bari’s vehicle or write the Lords Avenger letter. Never mind that there were plenty of violent, right wing lunatics who did have such a personality. None of the letters from members of the Yellow Ribbon coalition, Mothers’ Watch, TEAM, or other so-called “Wise Use” advocates were collected, much less investigated.[26]
The FBI did, of course, consult with the representatives of these organizations who were not at all hesitant to offer their own twisted theories on who the suspects might be, and naturally the list excluded any of their own ranks. Judi Bari recalls:
“Candy Boak of Mother’s Watch, who is well known in our region as one of the worst pro-timber hate mongers, told the FBI that of all EF!ers she knows, Larry Evans and Bill Duvall are the ones she fears the most. Larry is a nonviolent activist with an academic background in and exceptional knowledge of forest biology. Bill Duvall is a Humboldt State University professor and coauthor of Deep Ecology. The very same week that Candy talked to the FBI, she organized a “Dirty Tricks Workshop” with the anti-environmental hate group Sahara Club, to teach local timber goons new ways to terrorize us. This, of course, is not mentioned in the interview.”[27]
Boak’s cohort, Paula Langager of the corporate timber front group WeCare actually admitted to the FBI that there was a core group of their ilk who liked “to play little jokes on Earth First! members (sic) and have issued false press releases.” She then gave the FBI copies of the bogus press releases, and even named Dave Curzon as the author! Astonishingly, the FBI dropped this lead altogether. The FBI agents also took copies of environmental leaflets collected by various corporate timber apologists as well as timber management, that included headlines such as “Come to the Air Quality Hearing” and “Hemp Awareness Day: Music, Teach-in, and Festival”. P-L president John Campbell provided copies of The Country Activist, a timber industry-produced booklet of Earth First! quotations (no doubt devoid of context), and a copy of Live Wild or Die, a primativist oriented newspaper published very sporadically by a faction within Earth First! that also includes non Earth First! fellow travelers. Campbell also submitted a list of fifty three names and addresses that he claimed were “Earth First! trespassers” despite the fact that many of them had never been formally charged with this crime.[28]
Buck and Dailey’s contact with local law enforcement agencies was no less suspect. Judi Bari elaborates:
“The FBI also interviewed the local police in the timber region. They asked them questions like who do they ‘consider to be prominent environmental activists’ in their town. Without ever questioning why, police gave out names and addresses of various ‘respectable’ environmentalists, as well as Earth First!ers. Humboldt sheriffs were asked for a list of ‘individuals capable of engaging in violent activity.’ The list consisted entirely of nonviolent Earth First! activists, none of whom engaged in any violent activity before, during, or since that time. Names of timber supporters, who had committed many well-documented assaults on environmentalists in our region, were not solicited by the FBI or included on any police lists.
“Humboldt and Mendocino Sheriff’s ‘Intelligence Officers’ also came up with some wild stories about supposed internal jealousies and intrigues within Earth First!. One had Mickey Dulas and me pulling a coup on Darryl Cherney to squeeze him out of the picture. Another had Mickey crying ‘from being upset with Judi Bari, as Judi Bari was dictating how things should be run from her wheelchair.’ In reality, we were all working together, standing up to lethal force with principle, courage, and nonviolence in terrifying situation.
“A (Mendocino) sheriff report claimed that monkeywrenching was being done by the Nomadic Action team. Led by Mike Roselle. The fact that there was no monkeywrenching going on at all didn’t seem to bother him. Another fictitious ‘intelligence’ report of an event that never happened quotes Humboldt sheriffs as saying that ‘members of the Earth First (sic) in the tri-state area, believed to mean Washington, Oregon, and California and possibly Arizona are planning to travel to the north coast and attempt to take over, as they feel the local leadership is not doing enough. These outside Earth First! members, many of whom are former (sic) followers of Dave Foreman, are planning a build-up of activities…and there is something unknown that is being planned.’”[29]
Presumably, these alleged “differences” might have been pretext for a disgruntled Earth First!er planting the bomb in Bari’s car, except that none of these accounts were true, and what acrimony did exist within Earth First! was far less serious or pronounced than this. There was division between Dave Foreman and Mike Roselle over the direction of the Earth First! Journal[30], and there were many outside of northern California who questioned the renunciation on tree spiking[31], but for the most part, Earth First!ers were unified in their support for Bari and Cherney as well as Redwood Summer.
The likelihood is that the leaders of the FBI and OPD investigative team knew exactly who the bomber was, but were concealing this information, and the expansion of the suspect pool in this fashion was nothing more than a distraction. The haze surrounding the bombing was thickened by the charging of Ilse Asplund, Mark Baker, Mark Davis, Dave Foreman, and Peg Millet in the Arizona power line case which had already been revealed as an FBI sting and COITNELPRO operation, a fact that the corporate media routinely ignored.[32] If anything, the entire “investigation” was simply a continuation and expansion of the initial COINTELPRO operation all along, because much of what Buck and Dailey did involved information gathering, surveillance, and even disruption. The FBI even deposed John DeWitt, director of Save the Redwoods League. DeWitt turned over a letter he had received from Greg King, written in 1987, admonishing Save the Redwoods League to stop compromising with corporate timber and selling out the forest. He also submitted a list of Earth First! activists and associates and a list of how much each had donated to his organization. Most of them had donated nothing, and those who had, had contributed paltry sums, such as Darryl Cherney, who had given them $5.[33] The revelation of this information sowed further divisions and mistrust between Earth First! and Save the Redwoods League.
To their credit, the Willits Police, led by their chief, Bob Foster, attempted to conduct a serious and honest independent investigation.[34] Foster was convinced, based on the information in the Lords Avenger Letter that the bomb must have been placed in Bari’s car while it was parked in Willits during the second closed meeting between Redwood Summer activists and gyppo operators, which took place at Dan’s Frontier Room on May 22, 1990. The car had been parked across the street from the police station, near the meeting site on Commercial Street. Richard Johnson elaborates:
“The 12-officer strong locally-responsible Willits police department is different. It took no part in the earlier smear of Bari and Cherney, and Chief Foster took pains to distance his department from it. Our investigation will withstand the scrutiny of anyone for impartiality, objectivity, and professionalism,” promised Foster.
“A former Oakland policeman himself, Foster published protocols for city of Willits officers when he first came aboard the department in 1987. Intended to establish a definitive standard for proper conduct in every aspect of their work, the protocols include standards of police conduct with regard to the ethics and integrity of investigations, Foster told MCE.”[35]
The Willits Police assigned Sergeant John Brown to lead the investigation. Foster made it clear that they were taking their independent effort very seriously:
“If we reach a conclusion, we will arrest the person we may believe responsible regardless of their position in society…Without beating around the bush, I think we have so far lent a certain credibility to our efforts, and we’ve maintained an objectivity in the eyes of certain folks. Our investigation is going to withstand the scrutiny of anyone as far as its impartiality, its objectiveness, and its professionalism.”[36]
Brown contacted Bari requesting permission to interview the activist about what she knew about the case. Ann Moorman, one of Bari’s legal advisors confirmed publically that Bari was considering consenting to the questioning. “Judi wants to cooperate so she can live in a free and open manner, but it’s our job to legally protect her.”[37]
Bari was no fan of the state, but she was not adverse to calling upon the services of law enforcement or the courts if she believed it necessary, as a last resort, to achieve justice, and as if to prove this point, on August 9, 1990, she sued truck driver Donald Blake for ramming her car during National Tree Sit Week the previous August.[38] Bari clarified, “if (the Willits’ Police investigation is) really a neutral, third-party investigation, I’m pleased,” and confirmed that under those circumstances, she might cooperate. Bari had declined to meet with the FBI when the agency refused to guarantee that nothing Bari said during an interview could be used against her. To Bari, this was further proof that the FBi was not interested in an honest investigation, but instead remained intent on charging her and Cherney with transporting the bomb that was used to almost kill them.[39] San Francisco FBI headquarters spokesman Duke Dietrich confirmed the agency’s willingness to maintain their opinion of Bari and Cherney’s guilt when he declared, “We’re still examining the physical evidence; the investigation is ongoing and widespread. We’re still looking at them as either targets or transporters of the device. We haven’t ruled anything out.”[40] Dietrich was also unaware of the Willits Police’s independent investigation, though he speculated that his men in the field were. Chief Foster noted that his department had avoided publicity, because they didn’t want the case tried in the news media, which—while well intentioned—was a bit like trying to fix a hole in the roof after the rains had started.[41] The effort by the Willits Police, while well intentioned, ignored a very crucial detail, however: The bomb had an arming switch, motion sensor, and a twelve-hour timing device, which could not have been armed in Willits, as Bari was already in the San Francisco Bay Area well before twelve hours prior to the bombing, and the motion sensor could not have failed to trigger the bomb. While this information was not known at the time, it did mean that the Willits Police’s efforts would ultimately prove fruitless.[42] In any case, since the car was parked across the street from the Police Station while it was in Willits, it is highly unlikely that the bomber would have been bold or stupid enough to have attempted to place the bomb in the car at that time.[43]
Redwood Summer organizers, social justice activists, and civil libertarians were outraged, and in response planned a demonstration against the FBI at the federal building in San Francisco to take place on August 14, 1990. An Earth First! press release announced:
“Outraged women from all over Northern California will gather at the San Francisco headquarters of the F.B.I. on Tuesday, August 14 to protest the lack of a serious investigation into the May 24 bombing of E.F.! organizers Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney.
“This event which is being held in ‘defense of Mother Earth and Sister Judi’ will begin at 11:00 AM and will feature Dolores Huerta as special guest. Ms. Huerta is a United Farm Worker organizer who was seriously injured by San Francisco police during a demonstration.[44]
The event was sponsored by Earth First!, the Bay Area IWW, Redwood Summer, Sonoma County Rainbow Coalition, and Sonoma County Free Press. Over two hundred women and supportive men showed up to stage a demonstration of women’s power against the “bastion of male power”, including the singing of the women’s power song, Burning Times.[45] Delores Huerta, members of the American Indian Movement, and the Black Panthers spoke out about past (and present) COINTELPRO disruption of their organizing efforts.[46] Other songs sung included Judi Bari, Judi Ba-ri; Bari and Cherney’s controversial pro-choice anthem, Will the Fetus Be Aborted; and a new song Darryl Cherney had written to ask the question that was on everyone’s mind, which was “who bombed Judi Bari?” Taking a cue from Utah Phillips, who had originally told Bari that “the Earth wasn’t dying, it was being killed, and those killing it had names and addresses”[47], Cherney’s song named names and took no prisoners, so-to-speak:
Now Judi Bari is a wobbly/union[48] organizer,
A Mother Jones at the Georgia-Pacific Mill,
She fought for the sawmill workers,
Hit by that PCB spill.;
T. Marshall Hahn’s calling G-P shots from Atlanta,
Don Nelson sold him the union long ago,
They weren’t gonna have no Wobbly,
Running their logging show;
So they spewed out their hatred,
And they laid out their scam,
Jerry Philbrick called for violence,
It was no secret what they planned;
Chorus:
So I ask you now...
Who Bombed Judi Bari?
I know you’re out there still
Have you seen her broken body
Or the spirit you can’t kill?
Now Judi Bari is a feminist organizer,
Ain’t no man gonna keep that woman down,
She defended the abortion clinic,
In fascist Ukiah town;
Calvary Baptist Church called for its masses,
Camo-buddies lined up in the pews,
You can see all of their faces,
In the Ukiah Daily News;
And they spewed out their hatred,
As Reverend Boyles laid out their scam,
Bill Staley called for violence,
It was no secret what they planned;
Chorus
Now Judi Bari is an Earth First! organizer,
The California Redwoods are her home,
She called for Redwood Summer,
Where the owl and the black bear roam;
Charlie Hurwitz he runs MAXXAM out of Houston,
Harry Merlo ran L-P from Portland town,
They’re the men they call King Timber,
They know how to cut you down;
And Don Nolan/Shep Tucker[49] spewed their hatred,
As Candy Boak laid out their scam,
John Campbell called for violence,
It was no secret what they planned;
Chorus
Now Judi Bari is the mother of two children,
A pipe bomb went ripping through her womb,
She cries in pain at night time,
In her Willits cabin room;
FBI is back again with COINTELPRO,
Richard Held is the man they know they trust,
With Lieutenant Sims his henchman,
It’s a world of boom and bust;
But we’ll answer with non-violence,
For seeking justice is our plan,
And we’ll avenge our wounded comrade,
As we defend the ravaged land;
Chorus (x2)[50]
At the rally, activists carried signs, positing alternate names for the initials “FBI” including, “Fascist Bureaucratic Inquisition” and “Fabricate, Brutalize, Intimidate”. Earth First!er and IWW member Tom Cahill, once a victim of COINTELPRO himself, carried a sign which read “The verdict is in—F.B.I. guilty on all counts.” In a show of solidarity, many rally goers sported silver duct tape armbands in reference to the FBI’s determination that Bari and Cherney’s possession of this very common household item which was also used on the bomb proved that the victims were the suspects. As this was Bari’s first public appearance after the bombing, she was still wheelchair bound, and she looked weak and in obvious pain physically, but her spirit—as Cherney had described—looked as strong as ever, and she was accompanied by her daughters Lisa and Jessica.[51] Naturally, Bari was the center of attention,[52] and she announced that she and Cherney would be suing the FBI and Oakland Police for violating their civil rights, for false arrest, for wrongful imprisonment, and for discrimination[53], although it was Cherney who had made the decision, independent of Bari, to initiate the suit.[54] When asked by a reporter, what the FBI could do to restore Bari’s faith in the justice system, she replied, “Catch the bomber and fire him!” Then, as Bari and friends were loading her wheelchair into her car in a nearby ally following the demonstration, an angry FBI agent—whom Bari described as “an older fat guy” angrily ordered the activists out of the ally, because they were blocking it. Bari responded by suggesting that the agent focus his energy on catching the bomber, to which he replied—looking directly at Bari, “We’ve found the bomber.” The quick witted Bari quickly parried back, “Right in the office next to yours?” The agent had no response.[55]
Organizers had billed the event in San Francisco as a “women’s rally”, and this was certainly appropriate, as Judi Bari and other women who were Redwood Summer organizers were not the only ones who saw the bombing as an attempt by powerful men and male dominated institutions, be they corporate logging firms, the government, class collaborationist union officials, or even other environmentalists to silence the voice of an outspoken woman. Susan Swartz, a regular columnist for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, described Bari as a victim of sexual politics.[56] This assessment drew a response from various reactionaries, including Carol Merrit, who responded to Merit by regurgitating the usual litany of falsehoods about Earth First!, including from growing dope, carrying bombs, and not bathing.[57] Merrit’s sentiments were outdone by Roger E. Dinslage who accused Earth First! of planting the bomb, associated Earth First! with the Forests Forever ballot initiative, and urging everyone to “say no to terrorism by voting against Proposition 130”.[58] However at least seven letter writers wrote in expressing support for Bari and in agreement with Swartz, demonstrating that Bari and Cherney had at least some support among her readers.[59] No doubt the FBI investigated them as well.
Activists had also staged rallies at nearby FBI offices in Eureka, California and Portland, Oregon, attended by about fifty demonstrators each, in solidarity coinciding with the demonstration in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Attorney Mark Harris announced that the ACLU would sue Humboldt County over the shaving of the four dreadlocked activists heads in the county jail, the use of excessive force against the same activists by Humboldt County sheriffs, and the releasing of women arrestees by the latter deep in the rural part of the county (so that they might be intimidated by Yellow Ribbon forces) the previous month.[60] The fight against “Mississippi” style “justice” was far from over.
Notes:
[1] “No Charges Against Judi and Darryl”, Industrial Worker, September 1990.
[2] “The COINTELPRO Plot that Failed”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, August 22, 1990.
[3] “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. , 260.
[4] “Bari and Cherney Still Suspects in Car Bombing”, by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 5, 1990.
[5] “The COINTELPRO Plot that Failed”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, August 22, 1990.
[6] “Bombing Probe Disagreement: Earth First! Wants Broader Suspect Base”, by Bleys W. Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, July 19, 1990.
[7] “Congress to Probe FBI”, by Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, August 1, 1990.
[8] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990; “Bomb Probe Renewed by FBI”, by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, July 26, 1990; and “FBI’s Earth First! Bombing Probe Comes to Humboldt County”, by Mark Rathjen, Eureka Times-Standard, August 10, 1990.
[9] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[10] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990. No doubt Darryl Cherney’s actual quotation was far more nuanced, and he probably said “pro-corporate loggers” or “gyppos”, instead of merely “loggers” (hence the parenthesis enclosing the word). However, the corporate press rarely mentions the existence of class struggle, and generally frames the issue as environmentalists versus workers. One need look no further than this particular article’s back page continuance headline read, “FBI probing North Coast extremists (sic) in Earth First! case”, which is misleading and inflammatory. Rarely did the corporate press ever refer to the actually violent elements within the Yellow Ribbon forces as “extremists”.
[11] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990.
[12] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[13] “Willits Police Hunt Real Bombers”, by Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, September 1, 1990.
[14] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990.
[15] “Willits Police Hunt Real Bombers”, by Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, September 1, 1990.
[16] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[17] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990.
[18] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990.
[19] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[20] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990.
[21] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[22] “Willits Police Hunt Real Bombers”, by Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, September 1, 1990.
[23] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[24] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990.
[25] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[26] “Dances With FBI Agents”, speech by Judi Bari, recorded at Briceland School by Bob Seifert for KMUD FM community radio, Briceland, CA., November 1996. Featured on Who Bombed Judi Bari? spoken word album, published by Darryl Cherney, © 1997, Alternative Tentacles.
[27] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[28] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[29] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[30] Detailed in Chapter 38.
[31] Detailed in Chapter 32.
[32] “Feds Accuse Arizona Activists of Plot to Sabotage Nuke Plants”, by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 5, 1990.
[33] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[34] “Willits Police Conducting Own Probe of Earth First! ‘Bombing’” (“Bari Car Bombing Probed in Willits” in some editions), by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 29, 1990.
[35] “Willits Police Hunt Real Bombers”, by Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, September 1, 1990.
[36] “Willits Police Conducting Own Probe of Earth First! ‘Bombing’” (“Bari Car Bombing Probed in Willits” in some editions), by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 29, 1990.
[37] “Willits Police Conducting Own Probe of Earth First! ‘Bombing’” (“Bari Car Bombing Probed in Willits” in some editions), by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 29, 1990.
[38] “Bari Sues Driver in ’89 Ramming”, by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 10, 1990.
[39] “Willits Police Conducting Own Probe of Earth First! ‘Bombing’” (“Bari Car Bombing Probed in Willits” in some editions), by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 29, 1990.
[40] “Earth First! Probe Hits North Coast”, by Paul Grabowics and Carolyn Newburgh, Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1990.
[41] “Willits Police Conducting Own Probe of Earth First! ‘Bombing’” (“Bari Car Bombing Probed in Willits” in some editions), by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 29, 1990.
[42] “The Earth First! Car Bombing”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[43] “Willits Police Conducting Own Probe of Earth First! ‘Bombing’” (“Bari Car Bombing Probed in Willits” in some editions), by Mike Geniella, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 29, 1990.
[44] “Women’s Gathering at F.B.I. Headquarters (Look Out, Mark Ritchey!), Anderson Valley Advertiser, August 8, 1990.
[45] “1990: A Year in the Life of Earth First!”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, January 2, 1991.
[46] “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.
[47] Bosk, op cit.
[48] “wobbly / union” is a variation on the lyric.
[49] In some variations, the name mentioned is “Don Nolan” in others its “Shep Tucker”.
[50] Who Bombed Judi Bari?, lyrics by Darryl Cherney, featured on the album Timber, © by Darryl Cherney, 1991, and also Who Bombed Judi Bari? © by Darryl Cherney 1997, and in the IWW’s Little Red Song Book, 36th edition, published by the IWW Hungarian Literature Fund, 1995 (this last source juxtaposes verses three and four and misspells “Earth First!” as “Earthist” which may have actually been deliberate, as there was some acrimony between members of the HLF and Earth First!. The HLF is independent of the IWW). Also, there is no “Ukiah Daily News”, though it is likely a conflation of Ukiah Dailey Journal and Willits News. A three word rhyme is demanded by the meter of the song.
[51] “Eco-Feminists Demand Investigation of Investigators”, by Tom Cahill, Mendocino Country Environmentalist, September 1, 1990.
[52] “Activist Bari Toast of SF Rally: Earth First! Leader Reiterates Charges”, by Bleys W. Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 15, 1990.
[53] “Judi Bari to File Lawsuit”, by Will Behr, Mendocino Beacon, August 16, 1990.
[54] Who Bombed Judi Bari?, film by Darryl Cherney and Mary Liz Thompson, 2012, Hokey Pokey Productions.
[55] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, August 22, 1990.
[56] “Bari Latest Victim in Sexual Politics”, by Susan Swartz, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 5, 1990 (this column was reprinted in the August 1990 edition of the Country Activist).
[57] “Resents PD”, letter to the editor by Carol Merrit, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 10, 1990.
[58] “No to Terrorism”, letter to the editor by Roger E. Dinslage, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 16, 1990.
[59] “Swarts Fans”, letter to the editor by Sue Sallee and six others, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 21, 1990.
[60] “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.