Posted on 07/02/2010 12:44:19 PM PDT by SmithL
SANTA CRUZ - An arsonist firebombed the Santa Cruz city attorney's office early Friday, but a security guard heard a smoke alarm sounding and called for fire crews before the Molotov cocktail burned down the building, authorities reported.
The attack came just days after vandals spray painted a swastika, an anarchist symbol and a tirade about the city's long-disputed camping ordinance on the front office walkway last month, according to City Attorney John Barisone, whose firm, Atchison, Barisone, Condotti & Kovacevich, contracts with the city to provide legal assistance.
The firebombing at the private office, at 333 Church St., happened around 4:15 a.m. Friday
Fire crews were on scene within minutes. The office is just across the street from City Hall and around the corner from the fire department.
The fire damaged the entry area, a breezeway and a window near the receptionist desk. It also destroyed the front door, but no legal files were damaged, Barisone said.
"Fortunately, the fire department got here," Barisone said.
A fire investigator traced the source of the blaze to a bottle found at the scene. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but police are investigating, according to Santa Cruz police Capt. Steve Clark. There is a video camera above the door of the law office.
"We're working to develop leads," Clark said.
Barisone said it's difficult to say which case spurred the attack because his office regularly handles controversial topics, such as a Nazi salute freedom of speech case, which is being appealed and may head to the Supreme Court, and the trial of a homeless couple repeatedly cited for violating city ordinance, especially camping laws, downtown. The trial could result in a permanent injunction preventing the couple - and eventually others - from sleeping in the downtown corridor.
"There's a hundred different things we deal with that are the subject of a lot of publicity, so it would just be speculation on my part," said Barisone, who was at work Friday with his staff.
Barisone's law firm has been the target of vandalism several times.
"It's happened over the years periodically," he said. "It doesn't have any effect on how we do businesses."
Last year, someone hurled a rock through the front window. A few years ago, vandals threw bags of cement and nails into the office's breezeway, then wetted them down. Before that, people shoved garden hoses into the building and turned on the water. The damage topped $30,000.
The cost to repair Friday's damage has not been tallied.
Typical of the young in Santa Cruz. They should just close down the city for six months.
You got that right.
I’m always embarrassed to tell anyone I’m from Santa Cruz County.
Anarchists seek to ‘demystify’ their belief in public forum
By J.M. BROWN
06/25/2010
SANTA CRUZ — Feeling misunderstood after police blamed anarchists for the May 1 riot downtown, a group of anti-establishment thinkers hosted a free forum Thursday to “demystify” what defines its beliefs.
The speakers said doing away with government, police, military, capitalism and other institutions of power would help to eliminate class structures, reduce racism and foster collective ways of addressing poverty. They acknowledged their views as radical and diverse, saying anarchy has room for a range of ideas about how to foster individual liberty.
“For me, anarchy means living free and working cooperatively,” said John Malkin, a preschool teacher who hosts a weekly program on Radio Free Santa Cruz called “Non-violence, Spiritual Growth, and Anarchism.” “Collectively, we have power to design how our lives look.”
A crowd of more than 100 at the Louden Nelson Community Center listened to anarchists identify their core principles as personal responsibility, respect for others and autonomy. To reduce distractions, the group asked that no one record or photograph the event.
Police also are investigating anarchist links to the May 1 riot, which was billed as a May Day dance party in support of workers’ rights. Several people threw rocks and other objects through store windows and spray-painted anarchist symbols on buildings, causing damage to 18 businesses.
Police said a man charged in connection with the riot identified himself as a worker at SubRosa Cafe, an anarchist coffee shop and reading room.
Leaders of the organization have denied any role in the riot or affiliation with the man.
Anarchists barely mentioned the riot Thursday, but one speaker said she was proud to be open about her identity amid heightened scrutiny of anarchists after the demonstration.
“One response would be to retreat and hide and go underground,” said Dani, a former UC Santa Cruz tree-sit participant who uses only one name. “It’s a sign of vitality to come more fully present into the light and stand behind who we are and what we believe.”
Audience member Nancy Abbey, 76, of Live Oak, said she doesn’t believe anarchists were responsible for the riot and came to the event to learn more about anarchist theory. She was raised a communist but is also the sister of author Edward Abbey.
“Everyone has a different idea of what the principles are,” she said. “I do appreciate the idea that there is good in people. Anarchists believe there is good in people, and that appeals to me.”
Said the anarchist, “...what we believe”?????
Believe? Who knew those things were able of higher cognitive activities such as believing?
I always thought they merely “felt”.
I wish they could go to a place where they could live out their fantasies...
...until it destroyed them.
So witch are easier to deal with nazi nut jobs or leftly moonbeamers?
what's the difference? I thought they were one and the same?
nazi's where nationalist the moonbeamers are globalist.
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