Free Republic

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...

In May 2001, members of a Northwest group used arson to advance its agenda. They set fire to the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington because they believed one of the researchers was genetically engineering poplar trees. He wasn't. The arsonists destroyed plants and the research of several people other than the man whose work they targeted. None of their goals was served by the violence. "Misguided" is the word, I believe. I'd even call them ecoterrorists. The crime is back in the news because a woman accused of acting as a lookout for the Earth Liberation...