Posted on 03/04/2008 9:17:01 AM PST by jazusamo
Eco-sabotage - Tre Arrow says he's not guilty; homes burn near Seattle; a jury deliberates in Tacoma
Tre Arrow appeared for the first time in a U.S. courtroom Monday to answer government charges that he firebombed logging and concrete-mixing trucks in the spring of 2001, acts of eco-sabotage that rocked the region.
The 34-year-old former fugitive, appearing beefier than in his days as one of Oregon's most flamboyant environmental activists, pleaded not guilty in Portland's U.S. District Court to an indictment accusing him of arson, conspiracy and use of destructive devices as an Earth Liberation Front saboteur.
Arrow's 14-minute court appearance came as the front led newscasts with a pre-dawn arson in suburban Seattle and the trial of a suspected ELF saboteur in Tacoma. The events, in three cities on a single day, marked a momentary revival for a group that had been relatively quiet in the Northwest for years.
Massive fires gutted three unoccupied luxury homes at a "Street of Dreams" development in Woodinville, Wash., causing an estimated $7 million damage but no injuries. The ELF left one of its trademark calling cards near the ruins: A bedsheet painted with red letters said the "McMansions" weren't "built green" -- meaning eco-friendly.
One of the homes, a four-bedroom $2 million dwelling called Copper Falls, was designed by the Portland company Alan Mascord Design Associates. The home featured low-flow toilets, energy-efficient appliances, and countertops made of recycled content, said Mascord spokeswoman Amy Fullwiler.
"It's a shame what they did," Fullwiler said. "There's so much more being wasted right now -- water to put these fires out, resources to build the house, and all the manhours."
As arson investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked the fire scene, jurors in Tacoma's U.S. District Court deliberated for a second day on the fate of suspected ELF saboteur Briana Waters. The 32-year-old violin teacher from Oakland, Calif., faces a mandatory minimum of 35 years in federal prison for her alleged role in a 2001 arson at the University of Washington, which cost $7 million to rebuild.
The timing of the firebombing in Woodinville struck supporters of Arrow and Waters as misguided.
"Why would you choose to burn down a bunch of houses near Seattle, claiming responsibility as ELF while Briana is on trial?" wrote one anonymous complainant on the activist Web site Portland Independent Media. "Do you even care that you may be responsible for unduly influencing the jury and taking this beautiful woman away from her daughter?"
U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess, presiding over Waters' trial, asked jurors whether they had heard any news over the weekend or Monday morning that would affect their ability to deliberate fairly, said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Western District of Washington. No juror spoke up, she said, so Burgess allowed them to keep deliberating.
Waters is one of 19 people suspected of taking a role in "The Family," a loose collective of Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front saboteurs which broke into groups and set at least 17 fires between 1996 and 2001, many in the Northwest, mostly to punish corporations they accused of despoiling the natural world. She is the only suspect in the case to go before a jury.
Twelve others pleaded guilty in the two states, and most are serving prison terms. One suspect hanged himself in jail; another was a cooperating witness scheduled for sentencing next month. Four others are fugitives.
Waters, a former Evergreen State College student, is accused of acting as a lookout in May 2001, as others torched the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, mistakenly thinking the school was genetically engineering trees. Another group of ELF saboteurs struck a poplar farm in Clatskanie that same night, marking the first time the front had conducted simultaneous arsons in two states.
Those crimes were not connected to the ones for which Arrow stands accused. The one-time candidate for Congress, who legally changed his name from Michael J. Scarpitti seven years ago, was indicted in July 2002 for allegedly taking part in the Easter 2001 firebombing of three concrete-mixing trucks at Ross Island Sand & Gravel, in Portland, and several logging trucks belonging to Ray A. Schoppert Logging, near Estacada.
By the time of his indictment, Arrow was a fugitive. He turned up in British Columbia in March 2004, when a security guard at a home improvement store caught him shoplifting. He spent nearly four years declaring himself a political prisoner but was denied asylum three times before being extradited last week.
About a dozen of Arrow's supporters, including older sister Shawna Scarpitti, gathered before his arraignment in the mist outside the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse. They beat a drum and held banners reading, "Free Tree Arrow" and "Justice for All/Not Just Y'all."
Scarpitti said her brother consulted with his family and lawyers before abandoning his extradition fight. "We didn't persuade Tre at all," Scarpitti said with a smile. "He's an independent thinker."
Arrow shuffled into U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis J. Hubel's courtroom in leg chains and a blue jail-issue jumpsuit. He looked jowly compared with the gaunt activist Portlanders saw on the nightly news back in the summer of 2000, when he climbed 30 feet onto a ledge at the U.S. Forest Service office and stayed there 11 days to protest a contentious timber sale.
But the smile was the same. Arrow pushed his palms together and bowed to supporters before taking a seat next to his attorney, Paul Loney.
Hubel accepted Arrow's not-guilty plea and ordered him to be jailed as a flight risk. Hubel agreed with Loney that Arrow should be allowed to eat a vegan, raw-food diet while awaiting trial, which he set for May 6.
The timing of the ELF arsons and trial of suspected ELF saboteur Waters had little bearing on Arrow, said Scarpitti. She maintains her brother is not guilty and will prove it, even though three of his co-defendants have pleaded guilty, implicated him in the arsons and have already served their prison terms.
"You know, Tre has never been connected to ELF," she said. "That's the reason he's looking forward to his day in court."
Earth Liberation Front cells have in the past dedicated arsons such as Monday's to fellow saboteurs who have been jailed or imprisoned for their crimes. In June 2001, the ELF dedicated a vandalism spree against five banks in New York to Jeffrey Luers, an Oregon saboteur serving a long sentence for arson.
The dedications come by way of formal claims of responsibility, which are channeled by the underground saboteurs to like-minded intermediaries, who pass them to news media.
By late Monday, no such communique had been issued.
Insurance racket?
RICO laws could be used either way.
Very doubtful, each home had a different builder. The arson method has ELF fingerprints all over it.
First thing I thought as well. Local news somewhat implied as much. Pointing out the homes were unsold, no indications banner was authentic, etc.
ELF Ping!
I read yesterday that one was sold, don’t know if it’s true.
The same local news reported an alleged “offer” on one of the homes.
in a more sensible time out west they would catch these ‘horse thieves’ and HANG THEM......
It would be interesting to know who/what group finances their legal defense.
I thought a news report indicated they were “model” homes for showing and to be sold later.
What the hell is wrong with you people?
Did you read the darned article?
Briana Waters has a wacko support group in the Bay Area collecting donations for her.
The rest of “The Family” plea bargained, she’s the only one who plead not guilty.
Jonathan Paul, one of the group of ten sentenced in Eugene, OR last year is a millionaire, don’t know if he helped with their lawyers or not.
We’ll raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singing whiskey for my men, beer for my horses
I should add that it would be interesting to know if Jerry Vlasak’s group in Los Angeles has funneled any money to the defense, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Actually no. I live in the area and it’s all over local news.
That’s my understanding as well.
Apparently neighbors put up quite a battle to keep the development from happening. So there’s plenty of reasons to be suspicious.
ELF uses very sophisticated methods to destroy structures to get maximum burn and they have a solid 13 years of torched buildings and left behind tens of millions in damage. Their calling card cannot be mistaken, or easily copied to fool investigators as some conspiracy believers suggest. ELF have been known to hold training camps not much different than the ones al qaeda had in . A typical device used by ELF to start these fires are known to investigators as Vegan Jello, a mixture of glycerin and diesel in a 5-gal container with an ignition device. Vegan Jello has been used for the better part of 13 years by ELF and ALF, including burning the resort in Colorado, and the large multi-million dollar home on Camano Island WA.
The sign left behind on the bed-sheet is also very much like the one left at the Camano Island fire. Looks to be the same writing style. And ELF and Greenpeace has been fighting this development since its start.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.