arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

For immediate release, Friday, October 12th, 2001
Contact: Shunka @ (707)269-9731(numerical pager)

On September 17th, 1998, a young man by the name of David "Gypsy" Chain was killed, when an enraged Maxxam Corporation/Pacific Lumber logger fell trees at non-violent forest activists. Despite the live, videotaped evidence of the Maxxam faller threatening the activists, no charges were ever filed. In fact, the activists were threatened with "involuntary manslaughter" charges, as the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department tried to turn the tables on the whole situation. This is very similar to what the FBI and the Oakland Police Department attempted to do to Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney, which was also ultimately unsuccessful. The local District Attorney, Terry Farmer, made the erroneous ruling that Gypsy's death was an "accident." I was there, and I know that the faller knew we were there, and was intentionally falling trees at us; I was nearly killed on that day, too. The tree that was fallen on Gypsy missed me by approximately ten feet; I was pelted by debris, blinded and surrounded by a huge cloud of duff and dust, and I know that the man was falling trees at us, intentionally. Even with all of our first-hand and videotaped evidence, state and federal law enforcement also failed to investigate Gypsy's death. Therefore, a civil suit had to be filed, which was filed by Gypsy's family.

For three long years, the Gypsy case progressed, through depositions, forever getting closer to the trial date. During the first six months, we had the Gypsy Mountain Free State, a forest occupation set up to keep Maxxam from disturbing the area that Earth First! believed to be a crime scene. The area was held for three weeks, with a scrap material wall at the highway, a junked car (The Gypsymobile), the largest hand-raised bipod in North American history (70 ft!), a tripod, a tipi, and people ready to lock down to the heavy machinery on top of the ridge. After three weeks, the Free State was raided, and people came back and locked down across the road the very next day. During that time, the area around the tree that had been fallen on Gypsy was designated as evidence, first for the local investigators, and then for the civil suit. Next, tree-sits were put up, which continued from October 1998 to March 1999. During the summer of 1999, logging resumed on Gypsy Mountain, and a tipi was raised to commemorate the fallen ones of this land. Right around the time of the depositions, in September of 2000, Maxxam Corp. cut down some of the trees which had housed tree-sits during the Free State, trees very close to the area in question and very close to our hearts.

Today, an out-of-court settlement was reached. Just a few days before going to trial, which would have been on Monday, Oct. 15th, 2001, in federal court, Oakland, CA, Maxxam Corp. finally started talking about settling out of court. By doing this, Maxxam admits their guilt in wrongfully taking the life of David "Gypsy" Chain. The settlement says that the tree that was fallen on Gypsy will not be moved, and will have a 100-foot protection buffer around it, and that a memorial grove will be created somewhere on PL land. The settlement also included a "roundtable discussion," which will include Gypsy's mother, Cindy, Maxxam/Pacific Lumber workers, law enforcement, and environmentalists; the purpose of this discussion is to find solutions to the problems that plague Humboldt County, such as violence in the forest and corporate control of local businesses. There was also a monetary settlement, of an undisclosed amount.

Hopefully, this will set a precedent, and will help to prevent further tragedies. You cannot solve life's problems by dropping trees on people, nor bombs…Peace!!!!