It’s Later Than You Think!

by Erik Derr

The National Aeronautical and Space Administration is distancing itself from a controversial study that suggests modern civilization is mere decades from collapse — and, according to media reports, was sponsored by the space agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The report, written by applied mathematician Safa Motesharrei of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center along with a team of natural and social scientists, explains modern civilization is doomed by its entire fundamental structure and social nature.

A news release posted at the Website of the University of Maryland-sponsored research center noted Motesharrei “received minor support from NASA” to develop a model to study earth systems. Then, later on, “some of this funding was spent on the mathematical development” of his Human and Nature Dynamics model, which was used to conclude contemporary society on the fast track to the same fate suffered by the Roman and Mayan civilizations.

Soon after that funding link was discovered, it was widely reported that NASA itself had concluded the end of the modern world is close at hand.

The study, said a brief statement issued by NASA, “was not solicited, directed or reviewed by NASA. It is an independent study by the [University of Maryland] researchers utilizing research tools developed for a separate NASA activity…As is the case with all independent research, the views and conclusions in the paper are those of the authors alone.”

In its analysis of population, climate, water, agriculture and energy, identified as the five “risk factors” of societal collapse, the report asserted contemporary society faces the same kinds of falls suffered by the Roman and Mayan civilizations, due to “the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity” and “the economic stratification of society into Elites [or, rich] and Masses (or, poor].”

The study explains that unless society changes its current trajectory, eventually the Elite population will work to restrict the flow of resources accessible to the Masses, accumulating a surplus for itself which, at the same time, proves a strain on natural resources. The ongoing situation, the findings continue, will result in the destruction of society.

And how can we save ourselves?

The study suggests modern society may not have to fall if it acts to reduce economic inequality in order to ensure fairer distribution of resources and drastically cuts the consumption of natural resources and reduces population growth.

In its statement refuting an association with the study, NASA emphasized it “does not endorse the paper or its conclusions.”

by Eric Tucker (Curt Anderson contributed from Miami)

Washington (3-22-14) — A Florida prosecutor has cleared an FBI agent of any criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a Chechen man as he was being questioned about a Boston Marathon bombing suspect, two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said Friday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity Friday because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the case, said State Attorney Jeff Ashton won’t bring charges against the agent who shot Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter.

The circumstances surrounding Todashev’s death have remained mysterious: Officials initially said the man had lunged at an agent with a knife while FBI agents and Massachusetts state troopers were questioning him about his friendship with suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Later, they said it was no longer clear what happened.

Todashev’s father, Abdul-Baki Todashev, insisted during a May news conference that his son was unarmed and has maintained his son’s innocence. He presented photographs, which The Associated Press could not authenticate, showing his son was shot six times in the torso and once in the back of the head.

The Washington Post first reported the prosecutor’s decision. Ashton’s office said in an emailed statement that he has not made a final decision regarding the investigation into Todashev’s death and denied sharing any such decision with federal officials.

The Justice Department also has been investigating but has not yet released its findings. A third law enforcement official said the Justice Department is expected to reach the same conclusion, based on a recommendation from the FBI.

Federal prosecutors have said in court filings that Todashev named Tsarnaev as a participant in an earlier triple homicide in Massachusetts. The filings were made in the case against Tsarnaev’s brother, surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

According to the filings, Todashev told investigators Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a triple slaying in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011.

In that case, three men were found in an apartment with their necks slit and their bodies reportedly covered with marijuana. One of the victims was a boxer and friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

The filing was prosecutors’ attempt to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from getting certain information from authorities, including investigative documents associated with the Waltham slayings.

Authorities allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens from Russia, planned and carried out the twin bombings near the finish of the marathon on April 15. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and 16 other charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a gunbattle with police as authorities closed in on the brothers several days after the bombings.

Shootings by FBI agents are almost never deemed unjustified, and the internal investigations into those shootings are typically not reviewed by outside agencies, said Samuel Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who specializes in police accountability and use of force. Walker pointed to FBI documents obtained by The New York Times under a Freedom of Information Act request last year showing that no FBI agents were found at fault in about 150 shootings between 1993 and 2011.

Most major police departments have several layers of review of officer shootings to improve tactics, training and policies, Walker said.

“It is my opinion that the FBI is still an insular organization. It’s not part of the municipal police. There has been some real progress there in terms of post-incident review in shootings. That’s what doesn’t happen with the FBI, and that’s what I think needs to happen,” he said. “The FBI is not a part of that world. They think they’re better, they are above that.”

It’s also very rare for any law enforcement officer to be charged with a crime in the shooting of a suspect, Walker added.

“The standard is so high in terms of proving criminal intent,” he said.

The executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida, which has been working with Todashev’s family and conducting its own investigation, said he wants to see the details of Ashton’s report. Hassan Shibly pointed out that Todashev’s live-in girlfriend and others connected to the case have been deported since the shooting.

“The DOJ’s and the State Attorney’s investigations relied on evidence gathered by the FBI, and the only person who can contradict first-hand their narrative is dead,” Shibly said.

City Council Ignores Dioxin, Approves Toxic Waste 

Legacy of Mayor Cronce and Shelton’s City Council

The Greeks had it right when they observed even the gods cannot protect fools from their folly. You can’t fix $tupid! Already the cancer capitol of Washington State, Shelton’s Mayor and City Council signed up residents for another giant helping of what’s already killing them–DIOXIN. It’s about the most dangerous potent toxin known to man…hazardous in parts per quadrillion. If it can be measured, it is dangerous. It’s simultaneously carcinogenic, mutagenic, immuno-suppressive, cognitive-depressive, bio-accumulative and incurs auto-immune chronic disease like diabetes and multiple sclerosis.  It kills–not only the living, but the unborn.

Local Environmentalists Rally to Avoid Impact of Dioxin/Poisonous Waste Dumps

Local Environmental Activists Try to be Heard by the Tin Ears of their City Council

Mayor Cronce along with his minions felt it was a small price to pay for the adulation of real estate special interest groups and the ultimate carrot for a small impoverished rural county like Mason: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! Although Terri Thompson aptly pointed out how their charge was to evaluate environmental considerations and the health impact of the Hall Equities proposal to develop a massive residential site on 604 acres between two huge severely polluted toxic waste dumps (Goose Lake and the ‘C’ Street dump) loaded with Dioxin and a panoply of other toxic killers, the City Council elected to ignore this responsibility in favor of business as usual in the toxic cesspool it has encouraged and promoted over the years. Shelton would remain, as always, the gateway to industrial blight and the cancer capitol of Washington State. Shelton would now have the distinction of being the bedroom community of its very own ‘Love Canal’.

Death Watch

The State’s Environmental Protection Agency has a reasonably well formatted data base mapping the incidence of cancer, but it has yet to accomplish the same in formatting one for the incidence of birth  defects across the State. The stigma associated with birth defects has traditionally made the gathering of such information difficult. Yet, birth defects occur in Mason County with disturbing regularity. The area schools have notoriously poor performance results by students on standardized tests. The relationship between the Dioxin contamination scattered across Mason County and those academic tests results is suspect, but not currently quantified.  Mother’s aren’t exactly advertising the birth defects they discover in their children. The Mayor, City Council, and oily merchants of greed and unmitigated pollution go about their business of despoiling the commons, despite the impact on the health/welfare of the community, with abandon.

Death Giving Solace to Katherine Price

On a side note, Herr Cronce’s much insisted on ‘civility’ devolved into his (along with the City Attorney) ordering the town police to unmask Death during the public hearing surrounding the issue of Hall Equities’ ‘toxic hills’ development proposal and the FEIS (final environmental impact statement), conveniently ruling there were no substantial unmitigated environmental impacts. Death refused to be more than a nameless omnipresence in the heart of a poisonous wasteland promoted by the Mayor. Officer Bellamy can be seen arguing the finer points of 1st Amendment principles with Death during a 5-minute break in the public hearing room. The apparition allowed officer Bellamy to temporarily remove his scepter from sight because, as Bellamy explained, “The commissioners were frightened by his appearance and the scepter could be considered a ‘weapon’.”

Herr Cronce: The Lord High Executioner–Death’s Best Salesman

This was high praise coming from a body who has been Death’s best salesman. The metaphorical scepter could hardly stand comparison with the toxic wastes and Dioxins to which these honorable officials so eagerly repeatedly expose their constituents. Not to be undone by protocol or decency, Mayor Cronce has said: “It would be a mistake to allow those testifying at public hearings to serve as the basis for official policy decisions.” i.e. Devil take the hindmost…the public is a nuisance, interfering as it does with special interest considerations.

Death’s Scepter

Perhaps equally disturbing was how limp even those protesting the foregone decision were in pointedly demonstrating their disapproval. When asked to tape some images of the effects of Dioxin on animals and the unborn to the entrances of City Hall, there were no takers. Not one environmentalist present was even willing to hand the images to the City Council during the public hearing. The activists were cowed and almost as spineless as the 2 City Council members, voting unanimously in favor of developing the 604 acres wedged between the two toxic waste sites (Goose Lake and ‘C’ Street dump) without a plan or schedule for meaningfully mitigating/cleaning up the Dioxins leaching into the aquifer recharge zone within the development site. Shelton does not have enough water resources currently to furnish the needs of such a huge housing tract. The water would come from the wells and Shelton Springs located nearby/on the development tract.

Doing His Master’s Bidding, Officer Bellamy Approaches Death

Tom Davis questioned what kind of families would knowingly/willingly purchase parcels imperiling the health and safety of their children. He questioned how this could be counted as a boon, economic or otherwise, to the community.

Death Refuses to be Unmasked

As reported by KMAS, the City Commission approved Ordinance 1845-2014, a Planned Action Ordinance, which allows the Shelton Hills Project to proceed; earth movement and infrastructure. The Commission’s actions allow the project to move forward, after being stalled for more than 5 years, while the environmental issues are addressed and clean up actions on the Goose Lake Site begin.

Death Instructs Officer Bellamy on 1st Amendment Principles as his Sergeant looks on

Ecology’s team (see below) of investigators gave an overview of the environmental cleanup process and current status of both clean up concerns (Goose Lake and the C Street Dump). Rebecca Lawson, Regional manager of the Department of Ecology stated the investigating process is lengthy, however once the contamination and cleanup process is determined, the actual site cleanup happens much quicker. (Below this article is an email response from Linda Kent, Ecology Southwest and Olympic Region Communications Manager regarding the status on the sites and cleanup information.)

Debating Death

Testimony from the public was divided. Realtors and business owners stated the economic need to allow the build out of the site while continuing with the site clean up as the project is built out. Other citizen public comment centered on mistrust that the two sites adjacent to the project site and the ravine location on the Shelton Hills property will actually get cleaned up. More comments were on the potential liability of future cost to the City. These concerns stemmed from the length of time Ecology and Rayonier have taken to evaluate the Goose Lake site, which has yet to have a documented plan for cleaning up the site. [One staffer, Chris Matthews, Hydrogeolgist Toxic Cleanup, from the State’s Dept. of Environmental Protection stated, while yet incomplete, sampling from the ‘C’ Street dump site revealed Dioxin contamination in the range of parts per billion, i.e. thousands of times, or more concentrated than the maximum allowed under current federal law measured in a few parts per trillion!]

Death Reminds Officer Bellamy Free Speech is for the Living

Site investigations for Goose Lake began in 1997 naming Rayonier as the potentially liable party (PLP) responsible for funding the site cleanup. KMAS received comment, separate of the City meeting, from Russell Schweiss, Rayonier’s Director of Corporate Communications, stating “Rayonier is committed to meeting our environmental obligations at the Goose Lake site and completing the clean-up there in accordance with State law. Rayonier has followed the process laid out by the state to this point and are currently awaiting review and approval of our investigation report that was submitted to the state in July 2012. Upon approval, Rayonier will then be able to begin evaluating remedial alternatives and move forward with the clean up process.”

Tom Davis Qualifies his Support for Hall Equities, Chastises City Commissioners

Brandon Farrell, Project Manager of the Shelton Springs Project and VP of Hall Equities Northwest Region did not make comment.

Connelly Watson, a senior dedicated soft spoken local community activist

Community Development Director Steve Goins identified the three basic steps necessary to designate a Planned Action Project:

1. Prepare an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) designating a planned action project by Ordinance. (done)
2. Review future permit applications to determine the project is consistent with the designated planned action. Considerations of the Planned Action Ordinance the City Commission will consider:
   1. The probable significant adverse environmental impacts of the Shelton Hills project and mitigation measures for these impacts, and adopting the entire FEIS (Future Environmental Impact Statement) and incorporating it by reference in the Ordinance.
   2. Agreeing the EIS, in conjunction with development regulations applicable to the Shelton Hills project, adequately addresses the probable significant environmental impacts.
   3. Ensuring the mitigation measures set forth in the FEIS, together with the applicable development regulations, are adequate to mitigate the significant adverse impacts from development within the Planned Action area. [A fence has been suggested as all that’s needed…seriously.]
3. Ensure the Public has opportunity for comment.

State Ecology Staff:

Rebecca Lawson, P.E., LHG, Regional manger

Connie Goven, Site Manager/ Environmental Engineer (Goose Lake Site)

Chris Matthews Hydrogeolgist Toxic Cleanup (C-street dump site)

Natalie Graves, Public Involvement Coordinator

General information:

The state’s Model Toxics Control Act, or MTCA, defines the process and steps of cleaning up a contaminated site. All of these steps are vital to help Ecology thoroughly understand the site, contamination present, best cleanup options, public concerns, and other factors that come into play for successful site cleanup.

The front-end work can be time-consuming and is not all that visible. The actual cleanup phase is often a shorter part of the whole process.

Here’s the status on the C Street Landfill and Goose Lake sites:

C Street Landfill status

A key step in cleanup is called a Site Hazard Assessment in which current data is collected about a site. The purpose of a site assessment is to evaluate potential risk and assign priority for site cleanup. After a site assessment, the site is ranked with a score of 1 to 5, with 1 representing the highest priority for cleanup under MTCA.

Ecology is evaluating the cost to collect current data. Work is contingent on funding.

Prior steps are site identification and an initial investigation by Ecology, which have been completed at the C Street Landfill site.

Additional information can be found on the cleanup site web page.

Goose Lake status

Site investigation began in 1997, and Rayonier was named a potentially liable person under MTCA.  The site was given a ranking of 2 on the Hazardous Sites List. Rayonier signed an agreed order with Ecology in 2001 to complete a remedial investigation/ feasibility study and an initial draft cleanup action plan. Conducting the remedial investigation and drafting the report can take time, and studies can build upon one another as information is gathered. A remedial investigation often goes through several rounds of review to ensure all aspects of the site have been addressed.

The company conducted multiple investigations to characterize the extent of contamination between 2002 and the present:

• Remedial investigations from 2002-2003, including testing of soil, groundwater, surface water, sediment and fish tissue samples
• There was limited soil and groundwater sampling in 2005
• Goose Lake sediment studies in 2007 and 2008
• Soil sampling in the disposal lagoon area and drainage ravine in 2008
• Evaluation of lake organic matter and geomorphic history in 2009
• Soil and groundwater sampling in 2010.

Rayonier has submitted a final draft remedial investigation report to Ecology, and the agency is working with Rayonier to finalize a public review draft of the report.

Ecology also named Shelton Hills Investors, LLC, a potentially liable person in 2013, as the company purchased property south of Goose Lake, including a small portion of the Goose Lake site in the ravine. There was a pause while Shelton Hills and Rayonier held discussions on what role, if any, the development company would have with the cleanup.

At this time, Ecology is continuing to work with Rayonier to move forward with the work required in the 2001 agreement.

Next Cleanup Steps

Ecology will hold a public comment period for the draft remedial investigation report when additional documents (the draft feasibility study and draft cleanup action plan) are complete.

Additional information is available on the cleanup site webpage.

More info on Remedial Investigation / Feasibility Study:

The RI/FS is important to:

• Determine detailed site characteristics and define the extent and magnitude of contamination at a site;

• Evaluate potential impacts on human health and the environment and establish cleanup criteria; and,

• Evaluate cleanup alternatives.

Next Steps-Future Site Use

Though Goose Lake is still privately owned by Rayonier, the City of Shelton is exploring reuse options for Goose Lake following cleanup including the possibility of public access on the site.

Ecology awarded a $200,000 integrated planning grant to the city, which provides funding to develop plans for the reuse of contaminated sites and conduct public outreach.

>Reuse options for the site will vary depending on the type and scale of cleanup selected, so such information is needed before the city can develop plans.

Background

Goose Lake’s surface water, sediments, and drainage ravine are contaminated from liquid waste disposal from Rayonier’s old pulp mill in the 1930s and 1940s. From 1936 through 1974, a landfill on the east end of the lake received solid waste from the mill and research lab, ash and char from the mill’s incinerator, and demolition debris when the mill closed.

And a final note

There has been a lot of concern about these cleanup sites being near the planned Shelton Hills development. The WADOE states that cleanups can be done effectively at the same time the development is being built. The areas that are being developed are separate from the cleanup sites – that is they do not overlap with areas of contamination. The exposure pathway of concern would be having someone come into contact with contamination on the cleanup sites. Measures such as fencing can be used to minimize any potential exposure. [They’re serious!…no mention of aquifer contamination or how a fence prevents the migration of that water born contamination in an aquifer recharge zone.]

But, Terri Thompson, who had invested years of research and almost single handed done the heavy lifting among citizen environmental activists says:

PLEASE!

Come to the public meeting 3-17-14
Where: Civic Center in downtown Shelton
When: 6 in the evening!

What’s happening? * It’s the biggest meeting in Shelton’s history.

Several concerned citizens have spent the last several years working researching important issues effecting our community. Their research is related to the community’s health and safety which is mainly about water. The […] most important substance in your life; essential for life and health. Water is being impacted in Mason County by land use decisions that have, and are, being made without your understanding/consent. Information can give you power to make decisions influencing you and the community’s health. Please pass on this information.

SHARE now on Facebook…
Call others…
And email community members.

PLEASE GO VIRAL WITH THIS!!!!!

The Shelton Hills Project

by Terri Thompson

It is lengthy…the issues complex…but it has potentially life or death implications.

Also see the City of Shelton’s website… click on ‘Shelton City Commission Agendas, Minutes and Videos’. Then click on the last few videos, and watch public comments to get an understanding of the conversations taking place.

What’s this meeting about?
* A huge developer has plans which need approval by the City in the form of a Planned Action Ordinance. The City Commissioners will decide to sign it or not. The Ordinance states ‘all environmental issues’ have been ‘adequately addressed’ in the Environmental Impact Statement, and impacts mitigated. (Mitigation is developing a plan to lessen the environmental impact).

What’s the problem?
* Do we want our community sicker? The area proposed for this project is extremely contaminated. The Dept. of Ecology recognizes the human health risks at this development site. That is why it’s known as a Hazardous Site! Some of the known hazards are dioxins/furans, PCBs, mercury , arsenic, chromium, PAHs, and VOCs…just to mention a few of the known contaminants!!! Look them up. Need I mention cancer?

Where are those contaminants coming from?
* On the south side of the proposed Shelton Hills Project is the C Street Landfill. It is an unlined, unclosed landfill that may end up being a Superfund site once it is finally assessed. Little is known about the degree of contaminants, except the results of the only study on location; The National Dioxin Study. Dioxins/furans cause cancer. The dioxin results at the landfill were very concerning to the EPA. The study, in the 1980s, didn’t have to consider human health impact because of the unlikelihood of future development in that area. Simpson deposited a large amount of dioxin/furan laden ash in the 1970s and 80s. Rayonier had previously used it for possibly 20 years as a dumping ground for unknown chemicals and supplies. How do you adequately mitigate possible impact at a location, when the first step of assessments, have not been completed.

* On the north side of the Shelton Hills Property is Goose Lake. It has very hazardous sediment, ranking above National Cleanup Standards for a handful of hazardous substances. The Goose Lake site, and nearby upland property, were reportedly used as a disposal area for Rayonier’s waste from a calcium sulfide pulp mill. Thousands of tons of waste sulfite liquor were deposited from May 1931 to 1934 into the lake the Shelton Hills property.

* To the west of Goose Lake, on Shelton Hills property, more hazardous material was dumped from 1934-1943 in a series of upland lagoons that were constructed west of the lake. From May 1931 and until 1957, Rayonier reportedly disposed of and periodically covered unknown quantities of solid waste from its pulp mill in Shelton, including wood debris, pulp by-products, building material, and incineration char. From 1936 to 1974, Rayonier disposed of solid waste from its Research Center including office and laboratory waste in a landfill area next to the lake. Small amounts of household waste were also reportedly dumped in the landfill area. The ravine, with its landfills, had some of the most contaminated soil tests of the whole area. Ecology required Rayonier Properties, LLC and Hall’s Equities LLC to take more tests to complete the first stage of testing. Those tests are incomplete at this time.

Why are they responsible when Goose Lake is not on their property? This is the concern stressed by some locals. Others recognize the threat to the community’s health as a common enemy that knows no boundaries.

* Goose Lake is simply not just the lake…It is a site. Hall Equity bought part of the SITE in 2006 and were informed by Ecology in 2008 that they were now a Potentially Liable Person (PLP). They already knew this when they bought the property. They had signed a Covenant Not To Sue because of Hazardous Materials (2006).

What’s another part of the big deal?
* There are many incomplete ground water tests. This is the groundwater and contaminants that exist in the water of the critical aquifer recharge area. This very large, critical aquifer recharge area is a very susceptible to contaminants; recharging the community’s drinking water.

Watch the You Tube video…Lois Gibbs: 35 years later. Love Canal happened in New York many years ago but is similar to our situation. We both have buried chemicals, a water table that fluctuates 20 feet in a wet season, and both built or plan to build an adjacent school and residential area. They both had naysayers that warned of moving ahead, yet they proceeded with the project anyway. At the Love Canal, it was followed by years of miscarriages, deformities, diseases and death. Finally, the government had to buy all the property at fair market value. Do we want that for our community?

Effects of Dioxin on Animals and the Unborn

Why should you come to the meeting?
* We need your support. We need you to pass on this invitation/letter to others. Information is power! We need to empower the public…including you. We need your voice in what happens in our community! You may come to the meeting just to listen, or decide to voice your opinion. Each person will have a 5 minutes maximum time limit to speak.
Please…talk to your friends, family and neighbors. Share this on your Facebook page and email friends. Everyone needs to take responsibility to get the word out. I saw nothing in this week’s paper about this meeting, besides my letter to the editor. The title to my letter was changed , by the paper, to ‘Dreams and Schemes’. The real title was: Health Alert! “Hazardous Site” Development Proposed; Home for Local Children, Citizens and Businesses.

We must pack the audience. Information is power…without it you are powerless. Tired of things happening to you…out of your control…This meeting is so important! See you on Monday evening at 6…Civic Center in downtown Shelton! Please pass this on!

AFTERMATH

The disappointment on Terri Thompson’s face was palpable. The outrage expressed by her husband, Mark, on her behalf while at the podium was moving. Mark is always a quiet, restrained, though articulate speaker. Her words had fallen on the tin ears of the City Council, as expected. They ignored her poignant reminder of their role this evening was to consider the environmental impact, not jobs, real estate special interests, or the local economy. Just the health of the residents in the community and their families along with the significance the proposed development would have on the environment–that’s it! But, you can’t reason with a hog and it only annoys the pigheaded commissioners if you try.

Sherri Staley participated in the sidewalk rally opposing the approval of the FEIS as it stands currently. She refused to enter the City Hall chambers during the public hearing. She knew better and what to expect. She was correct. It was like watching an execution.

Katherine Price, who organized the rally protesting the City Council’s anticipated actions did not speak and left quickly after citizens concerned for the welfare of their families and neighbors were defeated.

The City Council members gave weak apologies in advance before cutting their constituents off at the knees. The usual assortment of special business interests and oily real estate pimps gave support to the wholesale theft and destruction of the commons, welcoming the economic opportunity of exposing feckless home buyers to the blessings of a steady diet of Dioxin.

Final Remedial Investigative Report by GeoEngineers
Goose Lake Site
Shelton, WA
for
Rayonier Properties, LLC (June 12, 2012)
Plaza 600 Building
600 Stewart Street, Suite 1700
Seattle, Washington 98101
206.728.2674 

Click on –> INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

Spy game: Local police tap cell phones

A secretive Flordia corporation (Harris) which colludes with police agencies to violate the civil rights of U.S. Citizens by manufacturing devices to tap into private cell phone conversations is selectively ignored by the cops after making a 911 call. Apparently, the LEO’s don’t even want to be seen in their company or acknowledging their existence.

By William Patrick

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The National Security Agency apparently isn’t the only government agency engaged in domestic spying.

Local law enforcement is playing the role of Big Brother, too, but to what extent is still unknown.

Recent court documents reveal a troubling cell phone surveillance program conducted by a Florida police department against unsuspecting cell phone users.

Attempts to keep the practice secret, even from judges, is raising questions as to just how prevalent police spying is within the Sunshine State.

The controversy stems from the arrest of James L. Thomas, a criminal suspect believed to be in possession of a stolen phone. Tallahassee police located and arrested Thomas by tracking a cell phone signal, then promptly searched his home.

It later became known that police didn’t seek a warrant or admit to using a little-known surveillance device called a “Stingray.” (Full Story Here)

Corporation Produces Cops’ Spy Gear

We Don’t Know You

by Carlos Miller of PINAC

A secretive Florida company called the Harris Corporation has been supplying federal, state and local law enforcement agencies with cell phone tracking devices that allow authorities to collect information from citizens without the annoying requirement of having to obtain a warrant.

But when PINAC correspondents Jeff Gray and Thomas Covenant pointed the cameras towards the facilities from a public sidewalk this week, company security guards called the cops.

However, when the cops arrived, they pulled up behind Gray’s vehicle, taking notice of his license plate, and drove off, speeding right past a Harris Corporation security guard trying to flag them down.

So what gives?

Gray, who was arrested in Brevard County last year, which is where the Harris Corporation is located, believes the cops traced his license plate number to him and realized what they were about to get into, so decided to avoid it altogether, considering the last arrest ended up with an arrogant deputy being reprimanded by internal affairs.

Although the cops were from the Melbourne Police Department, it is likely they share information with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office as many Florida law enforcement agencies do with each other.

When Gray made a public records request on calls for service during this particular time frame, he was told there were no calls for service from the Harris Corporation.

But maybe that’s just another example of the nondisclosure agreement the company has entered with local law enforcement agencies.

This uneasy relationship has come to light in the past but it doesn’t appear to have had an effect because the Harris Corporation is still supplying law enforcement agencies with devices under a non-disclosure agreement, according to recent court documents.

The ACLU, which has been trying to pry open the details of this relationship for years, is still hammering away, focusing on arecent case out of Florida.

As revealed in a recent opinion of a Florida appeals court, Tallahassee police used an unnamed device — almost certainly a stingray — to track a stolen cell phone to a suspect’s apartment. (The case’s association with stingrays was first pointed out by CNET’s Declan McCullagh in January). They then knocked on the door, asked permission to enter and, when the suspect’s girlfriend refused, forced their way inside, conducted a search, and arrested the suspect in his home. Police opted not to get warrants authorizing either their use of the stingray or the apartment search. Incredibly, this was apparently because they had signed a nondisclosure agreement with the company that gave them the device. The police seem to have interpreted the agreement to bar them even from revealing their use of stingrays to judges, who we usually rely on to provide oversight of police investigations.

When the suspect’s lawyer tried to ask police how they tracked the phone to his client’s house, the government refused to answer. A judge eventually forced the government to explain its conduct to the lawyer, but only after closing the courtroom to the public and sealing the transcript of the proceedings so the public and the press could never read it. Only later, when the case was heard on appeal, did the most jaw-dropping fact leak out. As two judges noted during the oral argument, as of 2010 the Tallahassee Police Department had used stingrays a staggering 200 times without ever disclosing their use to a judge to get a warrant.

Potentially unconstitutional government surveillance on this scale should not remain hidden from the public just because a private corporation desires secrecy. And it certainly should not be concealed from judges. That’s why we have asked the Florida court that originally sealed the transcript to now make it available to the public. And that’s also why we have asked police departments throughout Florida to tell us whether they use stingrays, what rules they have in place to protect innocent third parties from unjustified invasions of privacy, and whether they obtain warrants from judges before deploying the devices.

While the FBI has stated that they do not use these devices to eavesdrop on conversations, Ars Technica compiled a list of devices produced by the Harris Corporation, including the Stingray, which is capable of doing this.

Also, not only is it difficult to take the FBI’s word on how they use this technology, the agency does not speak for the countless other law enforcement agencies that have entered non-disclosure agreements with the Harris Corporation, which has earned more than $40 million from law enforcement agencies since 2004, according to Ars Technica.

Speaking of Melbourne, Gray, Covenant and I were on a public access television show out of Melbourne in January with host Larry Lawton, which you can see in the two videos below.

Larry Lawton, author of Gangster Redemption and host of Lawton’s Law interviews Carlos Miller the founder of Photography is not a crime. In today’s always being filmed world, Carlos Miller, has made a name for himself by filming police officers on the job. The Good, Bad and Ugly. Photography is not a crime. Larry Lawton who describes being tortured and abused by guards while in federal prison in his soon to be a major TV series book Gangster Redemption believes cameras can HELP the police. It is all about being accountable, said Lawton.

Officer Kevin Corcoran had gotten away with it many times before, as had his fellow officers on the beat. Sworn to uphold the law (not to mention the truth), who was going to challenge his authority or veracity? After all, most judges have never met a cop they didn’t like.  “You may beat the rap, but you won’t beat the ride,” was their mantra. They were the ‘untouchables’…at least until now.

by Carlos Miller of PINAC

Philadelphia, PA — Philadelphia police officer Kevin Corcoran obviously wanted to teach Roderick King a lesson, not only for being part of a group that criticized him for making an illegal u-turn, but for daring to video record him as he stepped out of his marked SUV and walked towards the group.

He focused on King, who had his cell phone camera out, recording the enraged officer.

“I have the right to videotape,” King tells him as the cop approaches. “You’re grabbing me and I’m not even doing anything to you”

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Corcoran responds, moving into King’s space, grabbing at his clothes.

“I’m not touching you,” King reponds.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Concoran continues before slapping the phone out of King’s hands.

This exchange, where the cop pushes the citizen while ordering the man not to touch him, is obviously another one of those training tactics probably taught to cops after they teach them to order suspects to stop resisting when they are not as I’ve seen it used many times and have even experienced it myself with security guards.

Concoran probably figured it would work to his benefit in court, knowing the altercation was being recorded, figuring the courts would take his word over a black man standing on a street corner at 2 a.m.

But, what he didn’t realize was another man was video recording the altercation. And, he didn’t realize King was an Iraq war veteran with a clean arrest record.

Officer Kevin Corcoran

After driving for several blocks, King informed him of all this, which made Concoran realized he had messed with the wrong person. The officer turned the SUV around and dropped King off at the same location where he’d been arrested. King filed a million dollar lawsuit a month later.

Now, almost a year later, Concoran has been arrested, charged with false imprisonment, obstructing administration of law and official oppression. He has also been suspended from the department for 30 days and will probably be dismissed, according to Philly.com.

While the decision to arrest Concoran is a victory, it’s troubling that it took almost a year to do so, considering the overwhelming evidence against him.

There is no doubt had Concoran followed through on his arrest, King would have been forced through the system and probably pushed into a plea deal as so many innocent people do on a daily basis [the underlying malicious intent ab initio], just because they don’t have the time, money or confidence to fight a false arrest in court.

It’s clear Concoran had abused his power many times over his nine-year career.

According to the Guardian Liberty Voice:

This faulty arrest is only one incident in a string of misbehavior and abuses of power. In 2006, Corcoran was investigated by the Internal Affairs division nothing short of six times. In Nov. 2008, he was sued for entering a home without a warrant; that resident suffered two broken vertebrae and a broken nose, at the hands of Corcoran. A year later, Corcoran was sued for beating up a South Philadelphia man. Decidedly, the accusations and charges filed against him over the recent years seem to be endless. But, Corcoran has never been formally charged. Until now!

On desk duty for the previous 11 months, Kevin Cocoran is now charged with three misdemeanors for his unlawful altercation with a war veteran of this country’s Navy. Having been falsely arrested, and voluntarily displaced for the fear of his safety, King is seeking up to $1 million in damages. Quite possibly, the final chunk of change will come at the expense of this brutal excuse for a law enforcement officer.

The fact Corcoran was allowed to continue working even after the video surfaced last year, despite for desk duty, shows the Philadelphia Police Department has little regard for the citizens they are sworn to protect.

It is no wonder why the ACLU has several lawsuits pending against them.

by Dana Walker in The Thunderbolt

1A)  Rethinking Prisons Month

It’s a month of anti-prison actions!

This is from Abolish Cops and Prisons and FIST:

RETHINKING PRISONS MONTH is a series of events at The Evergreen State College that addresses issues around mass incarceration, the Prison Industrial Complex, and alternatives to police and prisons.

WHY THIS MATTERS: 2.5 million people are incarcerated in the United States — the largest prison population in the world, and more prisoners per capita than any other country.  Another 8 million people are under some form of correctional supervision, including parole, probation, house arrest, etc.  The criminal legal system disproportionately targets people based on race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability, along with people who actively work to undermine these systems of control and domination.  Despite these obstacles, it is imperative that we connect across differences to struggle together for our collective liberation, and start building community-based alternatives to the prison-industrial complex.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

(more info coming soon!)

April 2 (1pm-5pm) – April Prisoner Writing Day

April 7 (3pm-5pm) – Immigration and Incarceration Panel!

April 8 (5pm-7pm) – Robert King of the Angola 3

April 9 (2:30pm-4:30pm) – Jen and Kimberly for Troy Davis Tour

April 9 (6pm-8pm) – Boots Riley (Brought to you by Hip Hop Congress)

April 10 (5pm-7pm) – “Policing and Counterinsurgency” by Kristian Williams

April 11 – (11am-2pm) Greg Lewis – Radical Self Defense

April 16 – (3pm-5pm) AORTA Collective – Disability + PIC

April 19 – (9am) “Yet Again As Captives: Mass Incarceration in the U.S. & Palestine” featuring Angela Davis and Noura Erakat

April 23 – (3pm-5pm) Ed Mead & Mark Cook from the George Jackson Bridage

April 30 – (3pm-5pm) Prison Doula Project

Thank you to our co-sponsors EPIC – Evergreen Political Information Center, Fist Atevergreen, MEXA de Evergreen, Evergreen Students for Justice in Palestine, and Students for a Democratic Society!

https://www.facebook.com/events/760526027293925/

Queen of Mean objects to CIA’s upskirt antics, at least hers!

The Worm Turns On Feinstein

by Normon Solomon

Who knows, soon we might see headlines and cable TV shows asking: “Is Dianne Feinstein a whistleblower or a traitor?”

A truthful answer to that question could not possibly be “whistleblower.” It may already be a historic fact that Senator Feinstein’s speech on March 11, 2014 blew a whistle on CIA surveillance of the Senate intelligence committee, which she chairs. But if that makes her a whistleblower, then Colonel Sanders is a vegetarian evangelist.

“With few exceptions, what bonds those at peaks of power routinely trumps what divides them. It takes a massive and sustained uproar to really fracture the perversity of elite cohesion.”

In her blockbuster Tuesday speech on the Senate floor, Feinstein charged that the CIA’s intrusions on her committee’s computers quite possibly “violated the Fourth Amendment.” You know, that’s the precious amendment that Feinstein—more than any other senator—has powerfully treated like dirt, worthy only of sweeping under the congressional rug.

A tidy defender of the NSA’s Orwellian programs, Feinstein went on the attack against Edward Snowden from the outset of his revelations last June. Within days, she denounced his brave whistleblowing as “an act of treason”—a position she has maintained.

Snowden and other genuine whistleblowers actually take risks to defend the civil liberties and human rights of others, including the most vulnerable among us. Real whistleblowers choose to expose serious wrongdoing. And, if applicable, they renounce their own past complicity in doing those wrongs.

Dianne Feinstein remains in a very different place. She’s 180 degrees from a whistleblower orientation; her moral compass is magnetized with solipsism as a leading guardian of the surveillance state.

This week, Feinstein stepped forward to tweak her tap dance—insisting that intrusive surveillance, so vile when directed at her and colleagues with august stature, must only be directed at others.

A huge problem is that for the USA’s top movers and shakers in media and politics, nothing rises to the level of constitutional crisis unless their noble oxen start to get gored. It doesn’t seem to dawn on the likes of Senator Feinstein that Fourth Amendment protections for the few are not Fourth Amendment protections at all.

More than 40 years ago, under the Nixon administration—when the U.S. government was breaking into the offices of the Socialist Workers Party, busting into the homes of members of the Black Panther Party in the middle of night with guns firing, and widely shredding the civil liberties of anti-war activists—few among ruling elites seemed to give a damn. But when news emerged that one of the two big political parties had severely transgressed against the other with a break-in at the Watergate office of the Democratic National Committee on June 17, 1972, the Republican White House had gone too far.

As spring 2014 gets underway, we might be nearing a pivotal moment when major sectors of the establishment feel compelled to recognize the arrival of a constitutional crisis. Consider how the New York Times editorialized in its Wednesday edition, declaring that Feinstein “has provided stark and convincing evidence that the CIA may have committed crimes to prevent the exposure of interrogations that she said were ‘far different and far more harsh’ than anything the agency had described to Congress.”

In the euphemism lexicon of official Washington, “far different and far more harsh” refers to outright torture by the U.S. government.

At the surveillance-state garrison known as The Washington Post, where cognitive dissonance must be something fierce right now, quickly out of the box was conventional-wisdom columnist Dana Milbank, who portrayed Feinstein as a savvy and angelic force to be reckoned with. The adulatory logic was classic for journalists who like to conflate complicity with credibility.

Noting Feinstein’s record as “an ally of Obama and a staunch defender of the administration during the controversy over the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs,” Milbank wrote: “So her credibility could not be questioned when she went public, reluctantly, to accuse Obama’s CIA of illegal and unconstitutional actions: violating the separation of powers by searching the committee’s computers and intimidating congressional staffers with bogus legal threats.”

News media accounts are filled with such statements right now. On the surface, they make sense—but there’s a pernicious undertow. With the underlying logic, the only time we could become sure that Wall Street malfeasance was a real problem would be if someone with the stature of Bernie Madoff stepped up to condemn it in no uncertain terms.

History tells us that we’d be deluded to depend on entrenched elites to opt for principle rather than continuity of the status quo. With few exceptions, what bonds those at peaks of power routinely trumps what divides them. It takes a massive and sustained uproar to really fracture the perversity of elite cohesion.

Consider the fact that the CIA, under the current Democratic administration, has gone to extraordinary lengths to transgress against a CIA-friendly Democratic-controlled Senate intelligence committee,

in an effort to prevent anyone from being held accountable for crimes of torture committed under and by the Republican Bush administration.

While Dianne Feinstein has a long and putrid record as an enemy of civil liberties, transparency and accountability, it’s also true that thieves sometimes fall out—and so do violators of the most basic democratic safeguards in the Bill of Rights. Some powerful “intelligence” scoundrels are now at each other’s throats, even while continuing to brandish daggers at the heart of democracy with their contempt for such ideals as a free press, privacy and due process. The responsibility for all this goes to the very top: President Obama.

 Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” and “Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America’s Warfare State“.

New York is at it again. Not satisfied with the State’s Sullivan law which makes it illegal for residents to own/possess pistols, it now ups the ante by trying to criminalize self defense against armed intruders. The inalienable right of the people to meaningfully protect themselves, their homes, and their families from armed attack or worse is on the chopping block as an ambitious state prosecutor attempts to feather his nest with the lives of those accepting the responsibility to provide for their own protection when the state will/can not!

The alleged burglar is seen trying to enter a door. The burglar then pulls out a gun, and a flash is seen which appears to be the burglar firing a shot into the home.

Youssef Abdel-Gawad’s attorney says he came to the door with a rifle and returned fire at the burglar and his alleged accomplices, striking one of them.

Gawad has been charged with manslaughter.

No Right To Self Defense In New York! Man Charged With Manslaughter For Shooting Back At Armed Intruder

by Susan Dulcos

New York — New York’s attack on legal and lawful gun owners continues as a resident of a home catches a burglar entering his home, armed, shoots him in self defense after the burglar appears to fire a shot first, and the NY authorities are charging the legal resident of the home with manslaughter for protecting his home and family.

Despite the fact that the resident, Youssef Abdel-Gawad , has video footage of the attempted break in and subsequent events, the prosecutors have indicted him of manslaughter.

At the 30 second mark in the video, the man breaking into the house clearly pulls out a gun before entering.  At the 31 second mark the gun is clearly seen firing.

Do we, as Americans, no longer have the right to protect our homes, our families from armed intruders? New York has been the leading state to attack the Second Amendment rights of it’s citizens and one has to wonder when those very citizens are going to say ENOUGH!

(A)narchists and r@dicals are notoriously paranoid, @ssaultive, destructive, and their own worst enemies–a trait so well known among law enforcement agencies, it is used as a ‘tell’ when they assess a suspect. It suits their purpose and becomes part of the strategy deployed by police, right or wrong. Paranoia makes communications difficult and organizing almost impossible. It attracts the mentally imbalanced who recognize kindred spirits. It keeps the targets on the defensive. R@dicals are reduced to using 2 tin cans and a string for conversations once held openly.  Technology becomes their enemy. They become their own oppressors, their own nemesis. Masking up, they draw attention and derision to themselves in public while providing an appearance which encourages a presumption of guilt. Their assaults on photojournalists do not dispel the presumption. Like a chapter from The Art Of War, the police need do nothing as the enemy fights and destroys itself, terrifies the public, incurs the  wrath of its victims, hardens official sanctions against it. Instead of appearing as deft Robin Hoods, these violent self described (A)narchists give every impression of being the self-aggrandizing manipulative street thugs they are.

Like some nightmarish Jekyll and Hyde character, the very elements who protest the violent culture we’ve become help perpetuate it, their bi-polar dystopi@n fant@sies complete, their insistence on ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ violence is paradoxical.

So why would a conscientious feckless young college student, et al, dabble in the sophistry of this lifestyle (A)narchy? In part, it has to do with the Punk and Hip Hop scene which has been grafted onto the polemics in an appeal to the barely pubescent and naive.

Some may recall the recent Pacific NW story of a young (A)colyte, Leah Plante, a Portland, OR federal grand jury resister who became the all too brief poster child of NW r@dicals. Her story is instructive as she quickly became a persona non-grata to her erstwhile f@ns when she began to fail under the weight of torture in solitary confinement for little more than her casual association with area (A)narchists and her refusal, at least initially, to answer speculative questions about them.

Leah had admitted she had emotional/psychological issues and was not in the best of mental health or able to resist the solitary confinement to which her federal tormentors deliberately exposed this young woman in a successful effort to break her.

Leah was released, possibly after a week of this abuse which included the promise she would be kept in isolation for the indefinite duration of her incarcerations. Leah broke down. Her f@natical supporters turned on and vilified her. She remains unavailable to the public today, fearing for her sanity and safety. This is the prospect for anyone who takes up with these f@ir weatherman ‘friends’ who will turn on each other in a heartbeat.

The more recent story of the John Towery lawsuit in Washington State alleging damages from his spying on area r@dicals, currying trust and confidences from them, is as instructive. Mr. Towery, in fact, was working with the U.S. Military to provide information/surveillance in targeting a group perceived to be a threat to military operations preparing for deployment of troops to Iraq. The lawsuit’s premise is the government and its agents are a threat to democracy and the 1st Amendment (ironically, @narchists often target photojournalists).

The uncomfortable truth is, it isn’t agents such as Mr. Towery who provide the most critical information or are the more egregious betrayers. It’s the conspir@tors themselves! Almost all of them roll over for the feds in a judicial system exquisitely tuned to extract the same through terror, torture, isolation, and long prison sentences or even death. Many so targeted become clinically insane before the government is done with them–a realistic parallel to the movie, BRAZIL. 

Yet, adding to the lifelong stigma the government uses to label the human detritus it creates, the self-righteous r@dicals who sit in judgment insist on a pattern of stigmatizing, or ‘snitch hunts’ in a vain attempt to counter government terror with r@dical terror along with a thinly disguised call to @ction against these broken human remains.

The following is re-posted from the Earth First! journal, which maintains an active ‘snitch list’ index to illustrate the point and what neophytes like Leah Plante, et ux, may expect when the whole venomous snake pit comes crashing down on them:

INFORMANT TRACKER

(from Earth First!–an online journ@l promoting defending the environment/planet)

This feature on the EF! Newswire keeps you abreast on the whereabouts and status of informants and ‘snitches’ who are cooperating with, or working for, the State in effort to monitor and/or repress ecological resistance movements. Sadly, the names on this list are people who can never be trusted again in activist circles or resistance movements. We aim to present short summaries of these individuals, so that they are consolidated in a single location. There is very likely more information, including additional photos, to be found for each individual through online search engines and resources designed to gather personal information on people (some of which cost money). We hope that this page will serve as a useful starting point for those seeking to do further research. We only post information on this page that can be verified to the greatest extent possible through public documents—in most cases, their plea agreements.   Types of Informants Listed:

Undercover Agent/ Infiltrator

A law enforcement officer who uses an assumed name or fake identity to infiltrate a movement or organization to gather information or evidence. In political infiltration cases, an agent will typically pose as a sympathizer to a particular organization, gain the trust of its key members and then use this access to gather confidential information to pass on to the investigative agency. A secondary objective may be to lay the groundwork for a separate investigation. Undercover agents typically concoct a cover story as detailed as the assignment requires as well as a basic biography and plausible story covering past and present activities.

Informant

Individuals who are not employed as law enforcement agents who provide law enforcement agents with information, often in exchange for money. An informant ordinarily has previous involvement in – and more intimate knowledge of – the movement or organization that the agents are investigating.

Cooperating Witness

Similar to informants, except that cooperating witnesses usually agree to ‘flip’ or ‘snitch’ after being threatened with prosecution. Cooperating witnesses will testify in court in exchange for lesser or no charges filed against them.

Law enforcement recruits informants and cooperating witnesses from the ranks of people already active within the movements or organizations being targeted. The government often threatens these individuals with charges carrying massive jail time, offering to not file charges in exchange for a promise to inform on others in the movement. Undercover agents, on the other hand, use false pretenses from the beginning of their association with any movement or organization.

The U.S.-based informants are listed by release date (when applicable) or date of cooperation from least to most recent, while the International informants are listed in alphabetical order because to our knowledge none have served time. This page was originally posted on 9/5/11, and last updated on 6/26/13.

Currently Walking Free

                                                      Justin Clayton Samuel (DOB: Dec. 31, 1978)

of Snohomish, Washington Height: 6’ 0″ Weight: ~165 lbs Hair: brown. Eyes: hazel Race: white

Informant Status: Testified against Peter Young in charges related to cutting fences and liberating mink from a series of fur farms in October 1997. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison plus a year supervised release and ordered to pay $364,106 in restitution in exchange for his cooperation. Current Information: He was released on 11-28-2001. As of 2010, he had gone into the computer security field, working for Firefox, and was a PhD student at UC Berkeley. His school department profile: www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~jsamuel His twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/jstnsml

“Anna”

(DOB ~1986, according to court testimony) of Miami, Florida when she started working for the Feds Height: approximately 5’4’’

Informant Status: Worked as an informant in the anarchist/environmental/animal rights movements since at least 2003 (during the FTAA protests in Miami). She attended various gatherings, meetings and protests up until January 2006 when Eric McDavid, Lauren Weiner, and Zachary Jenson were arrested in Auburn, CA and charged with conspiracy to destroy public and private property. During her time with the trio, Anna wore a wire, had a recording device in her car, possibly her bag, and the house they were living in (that the Feds paid for) was wired. She reported back to the feds about anyone and everyone she came into contact with—not just Eric, Zach and Lauren. The criminal complaint against Eric states that Anna was involved in the prosecution of at least 12 other “anarchist” cases. According to her testimony at Eric McDavid’s trial, she was recruited by the FBI after going “undercover” to write a paper for a class about the FTAA protests. During her time as an informant, she reported on people attending Crimethinc gatherings, the DNC, the RNC, BioDev in Philly, the G8, Feral Visions and more. Her work entrapping Eric McDavid landed him in prison for a term of almost 20 years.Current Information: During her time working for the feds, she dyed her hair frequently—sometimes blond, sometimes red, sometimes brown. She told people she was a medic, wore a medic’s garb and carried a medic’s bag, although no one ever actually saw her perform any of the functions of a medic. She boasted of previous actions, was bold in her speech, and was incredibly pushy. She always had seemingly bottomless pockets and even paid for Weiner to fly across the country. According to FOIA documents, Anna was residing in Philadelphia at some point after Eric’s arrest. Before Eric was arrested, Anna had used the email address: annadavies99@yahoo.com and the phone number: 954-821-2477. She also sometimes told people that Anna was an alias and that “Grai Damiani” was her real name. For more insight into Anna, you can read court transcripts of her testimony at Eric’s trial at: supporteric.org

Zachary Jensen

(DOB: ~1986) of Monroe, Washington

Informant Status: Arrested on January 13, 2006, along with Eric McDavid and Lauren Weiner and charged with a single count of conspiracy to destroy by arson or explosives public and private property. His arrest was the direct result of a paid FBI informant, known as “Anna,” who spent over a year and half befriending and entrapping the trio. Zach plead guilty to a lesser charge on July 18, 2006 and was released on bail later that month. The terms of his plea agreement required full cooperation with the government against Eric McDavid at trial, as well as in any and all other investigations in which the government deemed him useful. Zach received time served (which amounted to about 6 months) at his sentencing on December 4, 2008. His supervised release expired in December 2011. Current Information: Zach has a medium build, with brown hair and brown eyes. He stands at about 5’5’’. His last known place of residence was Seattle, Washington. He fancies himself a writer and claimed to have been working on a book about his experiences (and warning others against following a similar path) during the time of his sentencing hearing. He has also claimed an interest in Buddhism, yoga and other “spiritual” pursuits. He is normally withdrawn and quiet and eager to please whatever company he might be keeping.

Lauren Weiner

(DOB: ~1986) of Pound Ridge, New York

Informant Status: Arrested on January 13, 2006, along with Eric McDavid and Zachary Jenson. She was charged with a single count of conspiracy to destroy by arson or explosives public and private property. Her arrest was the direct result of a paid FBI informant, known as “Anna,” who spent over a year and half befriending and entrapping the trio. Lauren was released on bond in early February 2006 and later plead guilty to a lesser charge on May 30, 2006. However, there is evidence that Lauren was cooperating with the government months before the plea agreement was signed. The terms of her plea agreement required full cooperation with the government against Eric McDavid at trial, as well as in any and all other investigations in which the government deemed her useful. Lauren received time served (which amounted to about 3 weeks) at her sentencing on December 11, 2008. Her supervised release expired in December 2011. Current Information: Lauren has a heavy build, with brown hair and brown eyes. She stands at about 5’1’’. Her last known place of residence was Pound Ridge, New York (Westchester County). Lauren attended art school and is quite skilled in pottery and various other art forms. She is outspoken and often lies or engages in hyperbolic speech to impress those around her. Stories have surfaced about her attempting to attend fundraisers for Green Scare defendants after her release on bond.

Angela “Angie” Marie Cesario

(DOB ~1979)

Informant Status: Took a cooperating plea deal for a 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in Oregon, pointing the finger at Tre Arrow to reduce her sentence. This was a departure from earlier testimonies, when both Cesario and Rosenbloom did not name Arrow as the instigator, but Jake Sherman. All three named Arrow in exchange for sentences of 41 months. She was released on 12-22-2006. Current Information: None at this time.

Jeremy David Rosenbloom

(DOB ~1977)

Informant Status: took a cooperating plea deal, pointing thefinger at Tre Arrow to reduce the sentence. This was a departure from earlier testimonies, when both Cesario and Rosenbloom did not name Arrow as the instigator, but Jake Sherman. All three named Arrow in exchange for sentences of 41 months. He was released on 12-22-2006. Current Information: None at this time.

Jacob “Jake” David Bardwell Sherman

(DOB ~1982) of Portland, Oregon

Informant Status: Convicted of arson of logging trucks and a front-end loader near Eagle Creek in 2001. Sherman “immediately began to cooperate” with investigators after his arrest, according to court documents, naming three others who had participated in the arsons: Tre Arrow, Angela Marie Cesario and Jeremy David Rosenbloom and pegging Arrow as the ringleader in exchange for a sentence of 41 months. Sherman was boastful and told several girlfriends (two of whom also provided information to the government), in detail, his version of the events that took place that night. Sherman had also not been an especially careful saboteur. His mother’s vehicle smelled of gasoline and he dumped his clothes in the trash bin when he returned that night at 2:00 am, asking his brother to tell his parents that he had returned home at 10:30 pm. Sherman’s father contacted the FBI telling them he believed his son was involved in the arson. Current Information: None at this time.

Darren Todd Thurston aka “Goat”

(DOB: ~1970) of Canada

Informant Status: Took a cooperating plea agreement, charged with conspiracy to commit arson and destruction of an energy facility east of Bend, OR in 1999. Thurston was given a sentence of 37 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson in the 2001 fire at theLitchfield, Calif., U.S. Bureau of Land Management wild horse corrals. Current Information: He was released on 8-14-2008. As of summer 2010, he was running his own computer security firm (http://www.hard-mac.com/blog/) out of Canada. Hegoes by “rad_boy” and “hard_mac”.

Stephanie Lynne Fultz

(DOB ~1980)

Informant Status: Cooperated with the authorities and testified against Marie Mason and Jesse Waters after being charged with participating in one ELF action with Mason and Ambrose. In 2009, Fultz was placed on probation for two years and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. Current Information: None at this time.

Aren Bernard Burthwick

(DOB ~1980)

Informant Status: Cooperated with the authorities and testified against Marie Mason after being charged with participating in one action with Mason and Ambrose. Burthwick was sentenced to 14 months in 2009. Current Information: none at this time.

Trapper James Zuehlke

(DOB: April 14, 1975) of Council Bluffs, Iowa

Informant Status: To evade his own legal issues, he provided information in 2010 on his brother Walter Bond’s whereabouts and criminal activity, including going out of his way to trick Walter into a location where he was arrested. While this is not a case of someone in the movement informing, it does illustrate another example of how one may become an informant to be aware of. Current Information: He lives with wife and three children in Council Bluffs. He is employed at Jim Hawk Truck Trailers.

Lacey Phillabaum

(DOB: ~1975) of Spokane, Washington

Informant Status: Phillabaum took a cooperating plea agreement, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, arson, and use of a destructive device at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001. The university spent $7.2 million to rebuild the center. She is very intelligent, calculated and manipulative. Phillabaum is a formerEarth First! Journal editor, known for her role as the narrator of the underground documentary film Breaking the Spell, which advocates property damage and examines the 1999 Seattle WTO riots from the perspective of anarchists in Eugene, OR. In 2005 she moved to Charlottesville, VA, to take reporting position at C-Ville Weekly. She turned herself in to federal agents sometime around early 2006. In 2008, Phillabaum was sentenced to three years in federal prison and three years’ probation. Current Information: She was released on 4-21-2010 and is currently out after transitioning via a halfway house in Spokane, WA. She is thought to be living at her parents’ house in Phoenix, AZ and reportedly seeking work as a paralegal.

Sarah “Kendall” Harvey Tankersley

(DOB: ~1977) of Ohio

Informant Status: Arrested while living in Flagstaff, AZ,charged with arson and attempted arson of US Forest Industries in Medford. Kendall received a 3-year, 10-month sentence. Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Tankersley to five months less than she agreed to when she took a cooperating plea agreement to arson at the US Forest Industry’s office in Medford in 1998 because she cooperated with the state. Current Information: She was preparing for medical school when she pled, and attended Humboldt State and graduated with molecular biology degree in 2004 so may be working in either field. She was released on 9-17-2010.

Suzanne Nicole Savoie aka “India”

(DOB: ~1977) of Applegate, Oregon

Informant Status: Charged with arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR. She was sentenced to more than 51 months in prison for her role in two arsons. She turned self in to FBI agents in mid-January 2006. Savoie made statements against Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher and was given a sentence only 8 months less than expected because of her cooperation with investigators. Current Information: Released in March 2011, living with her husband in the Applegate Valley of southern Oregon. She attended the April 2011 screening of “If a Tree Falls” in Ashland and was heckled and harassed during and after the showing. She claims her “innocence” as a reluctant federal informant, and her husband has attempted to rejoin the activist community.

William “Billy” Jensen Cottrell

(DOB: 1980) of Gainesville, Florida

Informant Status: A former Ph.D. candidate at the California Institute of Technology who was convicted in April 2005 of conspiracy and arson, associated with the 2003 destruction of 8 sport utility vehicles and a Hummer dealership in the name of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). He named Tyler Johnson as the ‘mastermind’ behind the arsons. He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on arson charges and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution. His lawyers appealed the verdict and sentence on account that he has Asperger’s syndrome and it was upheld 2/3 of the way through his sentence. Current Information: He was released August 16, 2011, and is now living in Florida.

Ian Wallace

(DOB: ~1981) Formerly of the Twin Cities and recently attending college at Stony Brook (NY)

Informant Status: Signed a cooperating plea agreement on September 5, 2008 resulting in a sentence of three years in prison, beginning June 1, 2009, for his role in placing two failed firebombs at US Forest Service buildings where GE tree research was being conducted on the campus of Michigan Tech University in 2001. Wallace and another traveled from Minneapolis to upper Michigan for the action, according to the pleas agreement. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. Wallace also admitted involvement in three other acts in the plea agreement: two in Saint Paul—sabotage of a building and vehicles at a US Forest Service research station in 2000 (loss $25,186) and arson of the construction site of what is today the Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics on the University of Minnesota campus (loss $630,000). He also admitted to involvement and named three other activists responsible for the destruction of 500 research GE trees in Rhinelander, Wisconsin: Bryan Lefey (who took a non-cooperating agreement) and was sentenced to 3 years in prison for the Rhinelander action, Katherine Christianson(who took a cooperating agreement) was sentenced to 2 years, and Daniel McGowan, serving a 7 year sentence currently. Aaron Ellringer, who drove the activists to the Rhinelander site, cooperated with the government and was sentenced to four days in jail. Please contact us with any further information on Christianson or Ellringer. See Source. Current Information: He was released on 01-12-2012.

Nicole “Nikki” Stanford (formerly Viehl)

(DOB: ~1990) of Salt Lake City, Utah Height 5’3″ Weight: 95 lbs

Informant Status: Was subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in 2009 investigating local illegal animal rights activities, mainly fur farm raids in Utah. She was initially going to resist the grand jury along with Jordan Halliday, but later decided to testify and admitted to naming names and vehicles on the stand. She used to be married to former animal liberation prisoner BJ Viehl. Current Information: She works as a model and at a gun store called Gallenson’s at 166 E 200 South in Salt Lake City.

Daniel Kruk

(DOB ~1980) of Baltimore, MD Height: 6’5” Weight: ~250 lbs Race: White

Informant Status: Daniel Kruk appeared in federal court in Indianapolis on July 19 2012, to offer a guilty plea and for sentencing for charges relating to an arson at the Republican National Headquarters in Bloomington, IN in 2000. At this hearing, it was disclosed that Kruk has been cooperating with the feds since 2009. Kruk was facing a sentence of up to 5 years and a fine of up to $150,000 in restitution. Because of his cooperation, he received 4 years of probation (no jail time), 2 years of community service (one 8-hour day a month), and a $5000 fine. Current Information: Kruk is currently on probation. He lives in Baltimore and works at a FedEx store.

David Agranoff

(DOB ~1974) now of Portland, OR

Informant Status: Agreed to become a government informant as part of a plea agreement related to Earth Liberation Front crimes in Bloomington, Indiana, more than 10 years ago. According to the prosecution at Kruk’s sentencing hearing, Agranoff began, “negotiating with the state on various issues” in 2009. In January, 2012, Agranoff was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day for misprision of a felony (knowing about the commission of a felony and failing to report it to the police). The court recommended he serve his time in a low-security prison camp. He also received 1 year probation. Current Information: He was transferred to a halfway house in Seattle on 10-15-2012 and was released on 01-03-2013. He is currently residing in the Portland, OR and runs a blog.

Jennifer Lynn Kolar aka “Diver”

(DOB: ~1973) originally of Spokane, later Seattle, Washington

Informant Status: Took a cooperating agreement pleading guilty to charges in connection with the firebombing at the University of Washington. She turned herself in to federal agents in Washington sometime around early 2006.  Ironically, she was often the ‘computer security expert’ for the groups she worked with. Current Information: She was released on 2-01-2013 and resides in Seattle where she is working as a dog trainer at PAWS. For the years prior to arrest, she spent much of her time sailing and racing a yacht, Manta Ray, an Olson 911 SE sail number 45, she co-owns. She was a chair of the Corinthian Yacht Club (CYC) of Seattle Large Boat Racing Fleet.

Jacob “Jake” Ferguson

(DOB: ~1972) of Eugene, Oregon

Informant Status: Court records indicate that by spring 2004, Ferguson was wearing a hidden recording device in an effort to bait others, into incriminating themselves. He admitted in a cooperating agreement in 2007 that he set fire to the US Forest Service Ranger Station in Detroit, OR and a government pickup in 1996. He admitted to being granted immunity plus $50,000 for his cooperation, and received 5 years probation. Ferguson, searched out others and had them recount experiences while he was wearing a recording device. The recordings provided investigators the evidence that they needed to convict Daniel McGowan, Jonathan Paul, Joyanna Zacher and Nathan Block (who all received sentences of 5-7 years). Ferguson wore the hidden recorder to the 2005 annual Earth First! gathering, to the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon, and to meetings with six of his former partners, by then scattered across the country. FBI and Forest service special agents were possibly tracking him since 1996, when an accomplice at the Detriot Ranger station fire left a Slingshot organizer phone book in a local phone booth. Ferguson was under surveillance for nearly 5 years when a roommate assumed he had stolen her truck after an argument, reported it stolen and filed a restraining order against him, putting him further on the police radar. He was using heroin heavily by 2003, when feds contacted Ferguson and lied to him about people within the community linking him to the Romania fire and other arsons. That, ostensibly, is when Ferguson agreed to cooperate. He was never indicted for the over 15 acts of sabotage he admitted and he may have been financially compensated for his cooperation. After testing positive for opiates on 3/29/11, he was incarcerated for violating probation. On 7/14/11, Ferguson was charged in state court with manufacture, delivery, possession of heroin, cocaine, methadone, and others; child neglect and child endangerment. For this violation, Ferguson received 22 months in prison (the bottom end of range), and Judge Ann Aiken made his sentence concurrent (meaning he will serve both sentences at the same time). Current information: He was released on 5/29/13. Prior to his arrest he is believed to have resided in an Edgewood Center condo (paid for in full by the FBI) located on 40th and Donald in Eugene, Oregon which he may return to. He may be easily recognized by a pentagram tattoo on his forehead.

Briana Waters

(DOB: ~1975) formerly of Oakland, California

Informant status: Sadly, this former non-cooperating ELF prisoner, took a cooperating plea deal in the prosecution of two 2001 ELF acts of arson. She had been released earlier this year after a mistrial and is expected to testify against former boyfriend Justin Solondz, who was captured as a fugitive in China, is now in US custody for alleged ELF activity. Current Information: She has a young daughter and was working as a violin teacher prior to arrest. She was released from a halfway house on 06-27-2013.

Chelsea Dawn Gerlach

(DOB: 1977) of Sweet Home, and later Eugene, Oregon

Informant Status: Sentenced to 9 years for arson at Childers Meat Co. in Eugene; arson at a Boise Cascade office in Monmouth, OR; toppling of a Bonneville Power Administration tower; arson at the Eugene Police Department West University Public Safety Station; attempted arson at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie. Gerlach pled guilty in a cooperating agreement to conspiracy and arson charges in 20 fires that did $40 million worth of damage in five states, including a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort in Colorado. After the group disbanded in 2001, Gerlach went underground and became a DJ in Portland, OR. At the time of her arrest, she was selling drugs in Portland with her boyfriend Darren Todd Thurston. Thus far, drug charges are not pending with either Gerlach or Thurston. Gerlach was extremely helpful to the prosecution, although she defends herself against being vilified as a snitch and says she cooperated ‘for the movement.’ Gerlach made statements against Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher. She convinced Thurston to turn informant, unsuccessfully attempting to get Zacher, Block and McGowan to turn as well. She led the prosecution on several field trips to previous arsons and a buried cache of guns, ammunition and fake passports allegedly belonging to William “Avalon” Rodgers. Current Information: She provided information about herself including self-identifying as good with words and computers in an interview she did from prison in 2007. She also developed an interest in Buddhism while incarcerated. She is still registered at a halfway house in Seattle (although she is working at her brother’s business in Eugene, The Divine Cupcake) and released on 10-10-2013.

Currently Serving Time

Frank Brian Ambrose

(DOB: ~1975) formerly of Bloomington, Indiana

Informant Status: Ambrose pleaded guilty in a cooperating agreement to conspiring to set a fire and explosion that caused more than $1 million in damage to the offices of Michigan State University’s Agriculture Biotechnology Support Project on New Year’s Eve 1999. Ambrose became a paid FBI informant after his arrest (for disposing of evidence of actions in a dumpster that were found and law enforcement notified). Ambrose has provided information on 15 other people allegedly involved in ELF/ALF actions, including ex-wife Marie Mason. Court documents reveal that Ambrose was being used by the FBI not only to gather information on ELF/ALF activities but general movement organizing as well (specifically organizing against I-69 and Cincinnati Earth First! organizing). He “traveled outside of Michigan seven times at the FBI’s direction, often working extremely late hours; he made repeated trips from Detroit to Grand Rapids; he made 178 consensual recordings of telephone conversations and in-person meetings with investigative targets; and he participated in lengthy interviews with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and otherwise assisted the FBI’s efforts to improve its intelligence-gathering protocols related to, and its understanding of, underground environmental and animal-rights extremist groups and movements.” In sum, his cooperation with investigators after his arrest has been substantial and rather extraordinary. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison in 2008. He also received a lifetime of supervisory release after prison and was ordered to pay $3.7 million in restitution to the University and for other sabotaged sites. There is speculation of an additional informant in Ambrose’s case (listed as another confidential source in official documents). Confirmation and details on the identity of this person are currently pending. Current Information: He is currently being held at a halfway house in DC and has a projected release date of 12-23-2013.

Stanislas “Stan” Gregory Meyerhoff, also went by “Jack”

(DOB: ~1977) of Charlottesville, Virginia

Informant Status: Meyerhoff was the first of the group called “The Family” to be sentenced, and the first to snitch once arrested. Charged with May 1999 arson at Childers Meat Co. in Eugene; 1999 arson at Boise Cascade office in Monmouth, OR; toppling of a Bonneville Power Administration tower; arson at the Eugene Police Department West University Public Safety Station; arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR; arson of sport utility vehicles at a Eugene car dealership; arson of Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie. He admitted guilt in his first hearing in front of an arraignment judge. Meyerhoff eventually pleaded guilty in a cooperating agreement to conspiracy and arson charges in a string of 20 fires that did $40 million worth of damage in five states, including a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort in Colorado. Meyerhoff, who admitted to fashioning the devices to start the fires, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. After the group disbanded in 2001, Meyerhoff enrolled in college in Virginia, where he studied engineering. Current Information: He is currently held at Englewood FCI and is scheduled to be released on 7-08-2015.

Kevin Tubbs

(DOB: ~1969) originally from Nebraska, but had been living in Springfield, Oregon

Informant status: Tubbs attended Humboldt State University and was once editor of the Earth First! Journal. Despite his status as an informant, he still has an active support page at. Tubbs cooperated three weeks after his arrest. His cooperation was substantial, after he learned of three snitches against him: Ferguson, Meyerhoff and Kolar—in that order. Tubbs’ testimony was sufficient enough to get Jonathan Paul indicted. Tubbs was an animal rights activist charged with arson of Oakridge Ranger Station; arson of Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, OR on July 21, 1997; attempted arson at US Forest Industries in Medford, OR in December 1998; arson at Childers Meat Co., in Eugene; Sept. 6, 2000 arson at the Eugene Police Department West University Public Safety Station; Jan. 2, 2001, arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR; using a destructive device to set fire to sport utility vehicles at a Eugene, OR, car dealership in March 2001; arson at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie, OR, in May 2001. In 2007, he was sentenced to nearly 12 years and 7 months in prison with 3 years supervised release. Current Information: Tubbs is currently held in Safford FCI and has a projected release date of 11-23-2016.

International Informants

Additional information on all of the UK informants may be found via the Activist Security collective. The same organization has also published a few security guides.

Jim Boyling aka Jim Sutton

of the UK

Informant Status: A serving Metropolitan police officer who spent five years infiltrating environmental groups, including Reclaim the Streets, between 1995 and 2000. During his time undercover, when he is said to have become a key organiser, Boyling met a 28-year-old woman and began a relationship with her. He later disappeared from her life. It was only when he reappeared a year later that he told the woman he was a police officer. They later married and had two children but divorced two years ago.

Current Information: None at this time.

Simon Bromma aka Simon Brenner

(DOB 13-04-1985)
of Leimen, Germany
allegedly in Bad Säckingen in the Waldshut (Baden-Württemberg) area

Informant Status: On the 12th of December 2010 a undercover agent working for the Landeskriminalamt (LKA) Baden-Württemberg was uncovered in Heidelberg, Germany. Undercover, he used email addresses simonbrenner@ymail.com and californication@riseup.net,the latter has already been blocked. Under the user name ‘californiaction’ he also wrote articles on Indymedia. From November of 2009 – November of 2010, he infiltrated groups and actions including SDS, Umzingelung des AKW Biblis, blockades against the fascist protest in Berlin, Campus Camp in Heidelberg, anti education cuts protest in Heidelberg, a direct action climbing workshop, blockades against the fascist protest in Sinsheim-Hoffenheim, the NoBorder Camp in Brussels, antifascist protests in Rastatt and Rheinmünster-Söllingen against the fascist centre „Rössle,“ protests against the nuclear waste transport and the ‘south blockade’ („Südblockade“), antifascist protests against the hero memorial of Heidelberg on the ‘honor graveyard’ („Ehrenfriedhof“) and the Critical Mass Action in Heidelberg. After being recognized by an acquaintance and confronted, he admitted that he gave reports to his superiors in Stuttgart every two weeks, as well as over the phone with the Heidelberger state security division for follow up assessments of political actions. He also self-confessed that he was responsible for the raiding of a flat of a comrade as well as the enormous police presence at the Heidelberger “Ehrenfriedhof” during the protests against the hero memorial.

John Dines a.k.a. “John Barker”

of the UK

Informant Status: John Dines posed as an environmental activist between 1987 and 1992, while working as an undercover sergeant in the Metropolitan police’s special branch feeding intelligence to his handlers in a secret unit called the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). During this time, he had a two-year relationship with an activist. He was one of many spies who stole the identities of dead children to make his alter ego more credible. By the summer of 1991, as part of an exit strategy, Dines began exhibiting symptoms of a mental breakdown.

It was not until 2010, after almost two decades of research, that his former girlfriend found out for sure that the man she had loved was a police spy. After locating a copy of his marriage certificate she states, “What hit me like a ton of bricks is that he listed his occupation as a police officer…What had once seemed like heart-wrenching stories in these letters, disclosures that made me really worried about his wellbeing, were completely false. That is manipulation. It is abuse.”

Current Information: He is believed to have returned to work at Scotland Yard, however, no other details are known at this time.

Matthew Gibbons

of the UK

Robert Steven Gilchrist

(DOB: 25 October 1968)
New Zealand/Aotearoa.

Informant Status: In September 1996 Rob Gilchrist was fired from his job selling door hardware. He was charged with attempting to defraud the company he worked for, but in June 1997 he was found not guilty “by the skin of his teeth” according to the Judge. A year later, as Christchurch activists were preparing for protests against an Asia Pacific Economic Development (APEC) free trade conference, Gilchrist appeared on the scene and started joining local groups. It is likely that he was recruited by the Police around the time of his fraud case, well before he approached any activist groups. The anti-APEC groups, led by experienced activists, were suspicious of him but he moved on to other scenes, eventually befriending local unemployed rights and anarchist activists. By early 2000 he was involved in animal rights activists and traveling up and down the country as part of a network of anti-capitalist groups. Over the next eight years he was a police informant active in animal rights, environmental and anarchist groups.

Through these connections he was able to spy on many other activists in NZ for the police. He also provided the police information on the whereabouts of many Maori, anarchist and environmental activists who were raided and imprisoned during Operation 8. Rob is also known to have perpetrated sexual abuse on a number of occasions.

Additional detailed information on who he was spying on, what information he was gathering and how he was caught:

http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr38-180b.htm

http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr38-180c.htm

Current Information: Rob is known to be currently living in the Waltham area of Christchurch. He is suing the police for mental pain caused during his employ with them.

“Mark Jacobs” or “Marco”

of the UK
Height: Over 6′

Informant Status: Acted as a campaigner inside anti-globalisation and anarchist groups for four years. He was first noticed in activists’ gatherings in Brighton in March 2005 and became a regular face at meetings of Dissent!, the network mobilising protesters for the G8 summit at Gleneagles in July. In 2006, he moved to Cardiff to monitor the activities of an anarchist group as well as the Rising Tide Network. Former friends said he traveled with UK activists to protest against the G8 in Heligendam, Germany, in 2007. Jacobs, like both the other male undercover officers (Jim Boyling and Mark Kennedy) exposed by the Guardian, has been accused of having an affair while infiltrating a group. By 2009, there was enough suspicion that he was an informant that he was no longer welcome in many circles and appears to have moved out of the area.

Current Information: None at this time.

Mark Jenner a.k.a. “Mark Cassidy”

of the UK

Informant Status: Jenner was an undercover police officer in the Metropolitan police’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), one of two units that specialised in infiltrating protest groups. He pretended to be a leftwing activist from 1994 to 2000, sharing a flat with an activist girlfriend for four years despite being married in his real life. The activist now understands she inadvertently provided “an excellent cover story,” helping persuade other activists he was a genuine person. Jenner disentangled himself from the deployment in 2000, disappearing suddenly from his faux girlfriend’s flat after months of pretending to suffer from depression. “This is not about just a lying boyfriend or a boyfriend who has cheated on you,” she said. “It is about a fictional character who was created by the state and funded by taxpayers’ money.”

Current Information: He is believed to have returned to work at Scotland Yard, however, no other details are known at this time.

Toby Kendall aka Ken Tobias

of the UK

Mark Kennedy a.k.a Mark Stone

of the UK, now the US

Informant Status: Acted as an informant from 2003-2010 [seechronology]. He had at least three relationships with female activists and sued the Met for emotional trauma resulting from his exposure.

Current Information: After his exposure in October 2010, he is still actively seeking to operate as a private consultant. He appears to be based in the US. His LinkedIn profile lists as an employer US-based “risk managers” Densus Group, for whom, since March 2012 as a consultant. He has several tattoos.

Bob Lambert aka Bob Robinson

of the UK

Informant Status: Acted as a spy in London Greenpeace from 1984 to 1988, and he went on to supervise other agents who continued with infiltration of groups such as Reclaim the Streets, along with anti fascist protests, and actions against genetically modified crops. – an operation he took part in or supervised over two decades, whilst rising to the rank of Detective Inspector. Bob was also actively involved with many other protest activities including at Molesworth Peace Camp, free festivals, and animal rights activities and was even prosecuted at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court for distributing ‘insulting’ leaflets outside a butchers shop. He adopted a false identity to infiltrate leftwing and animal rights groups, said he had the 18-month relationship with a woman, who was not herself involved in political activism, as part of his cover story. He was outed on October 15, 2011.

Current Information: None at this time.

Paul Symington Mercer

of the UK

Informant Status: In the 1990s, Mercer involved himself in the anti-roads movement including protests against the M11 in Claremont Road. In 1994, he published the ‘Directory of British Political Organisations,’ which contained personal information and contact details for people he’d met in Earth First! and other ecological direct action campaigns in the early ‘90s. Later, working for Global Open, the same company that employed Mark Kennedy, Paul was actively involved with environmental and animal rights campaigns in Nottingham, including Nottingham Against Incineration and Landfill (NAIL) from 2002-2007. Mercer was publicly exposed for his role in spying on anti-arms trade campaigners, Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) in 2007. In 2007, Mercer was thrust into the headlines when it was revealed that he had forwarded an email containing legally privileged material from anti-arms trade campaign, CAAT, to arms dealers, BAE. An investigation found that Mercer was working as a security consultant for LigneDeux Associates, a company paid £2,500 a month by BAE to provide information on “threats” to the company.

In his sworn affidavit to the court during the CAAT case, Mercer insisted that “most of my research involves the automated searching of public websites and newsletters,” indeed he claims to have “a good reputation for my ability to rigorously search the Internet.” Nevertheless, he says he has “a wide range of contacts” and “does sometimes receive information from anonymous sources, as do many journalists.” At a meeting organised by think tank Policy Exchange in January he described himself as having spent 29 years trying to “combine an academic study of extra-parliamentary groups with actually going and seeing what happens on protests.” He claimed to have “covered and having been on pretty well every major public order disturbance in London over that period,” including the Poll Tax Riots and Mayday 2001.

Current Information: None at this time.

Adrian Radford a.k.a. “Ian Farmer”

of the UK

Informant Status: From 2004 to 2007, he supplied his police handlers with detailed information on animal rights activists, mostly associated with SHAC. Radford gave detailed accounts of three actions in which he participated, and even staged a lone action to “prove” he was not an informant. He also disrupted some and prevented others, often by giving the police information that allowed them to warn targets. He often blamed errors on a legitimate activist Gavin Medd-Hall. Four activists who were befriended by Radford were prosecuted in 2009, Gregg Avery, Natasha Avery, Heather Nicholson, and Mel Broughton. Radford was nicknamed “Captain Nancy” because of his flamboyant character and past work as a gay rights activist.

Current Information: He is now based in Gran Canaria.

Rebecca “Becki” Todd

of Kent, UK

Current Information: None at this time.

Lynn Watson

of the UK

Informant Status: Posed as an environmental activist for five years after surfacing in in 2003 at a protest at Aldermaston, Britain’s nuclear weapons centre. In 2004 she returned to Aldermaston women’s peace camp. The following year, she moved to the student area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, where she became active in environmentalist groups centered around a radical social centre called the Common Place. Watson also took a role in the UK Action Medics Collective. She disappeared from Leeds in 2008.

Current Information: None at this time.

If you value us keeping these informant bios available and up-to-date, help keep us around by subscribing or donating to the Earth First! Journal. 

Hunger Strikes part of a larger campaign aimed at President Obama to issue an executive order halting deportations

ICE Detainees Immigration Protest (Photo: Joe Barrentine)

by Amel Ahmed (2-24-14) Tacoma, WA — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed that at least 550 detainees at the Northwest Detention Center in Washington state have launched a hunger strike.

Grim Reward

The detainees, who have been refusing to eat since Friday, are demanding better food, safer working conditions and for President Barack Obama to sign an executive order ending deportations, according to Maru Mora Villalpando, founder of Latino Advocacy.

The hunger strikers, Villalpando said, are part of a growing, nationwide campaign against the U.S. immigration policy. Villalpando put the number of hunger strikers at 1,200, more than twice what ICE reported to Al Jazeera.

The strike is expected to last through Tuesday, Villalpando said. The center, which is run by the private correctional services company GEO Group, currently houses 1,300 people being investigated for possible deportation.

ICE told Al Jazeera that hunger strikers are under continuous observation by detention center staff and medical personnel: “ICE fully respects the rights of all people to express their opinion without interference.”

Villalpando, whose group organized protests outside the detention facility last month, told Al Jazeera that protesters began the strike on a Friday because that is when guards segregate those who will be deported on Monday morning from those who remain in detention.

Hunger strikers at the facility were inspired to fast after witnessing protesters outside the gates of the detention center block deportation vans from exiting, Villalpando said. Solidarity actions outside the center are being planned in tandem with the hunger strikes. “People will be coming every day from noon to 4 p.m. until Tuesday to show their support with the 1,200 immigrants,” Villalpando said.

Villalpando accused GEO Group of exploiting detainees at the facility by paying them $1 a day for performing services that include working in the kitchen and janitorial work. “It’s just ironic that the government is detaining people for working without a social security number; meanwhile, they allow this company to exploit their labor,” said Villalpando.

GEO, which calls itself the world’s leading provider of correctional and detention services, lobbied Congress last year on immigration reform, standing against alternatives to detention, according to The Nation. GEO did not respond to requests for comment.

Nationwide campaign
Immigration detainees in Washington State are the latest to join a nationwide campaign to protest deportations. Similar actions have been held in Arizona, Illinois, California and Virginia.

Coordinated actions by immigration advocates and detainees signify a new front in the battle to halt deportations after a bipartisan immigration reform bill stalled in the Republican-controlled House last July. Activists have shifted their focus from Congress to President Barack Obama, demanding that he issue an executive order to end deportations until the immigration system is overhauled for the around 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.

A national campaign dubbed “Not One More Deportation,” organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, is sponsoring events around the country to halt the deportations. On April 5, a day of action called “All Out in the Streets” will include additional hunger strikes and sit-ins outside the White House and across the country.

Peace Train

Climb on Board the Peace Train

People Are NOT ‘Illegal’!

What Would Jesus Do?

Into the Belly of the Beast

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here

Main Stream Meets Main Street

As ye have treated the least of these, so have ye treated me. – Matthew 25:33-40 –

Gates to Immigration Hades

Tracks to Immigration Concentration Camp

Orphaned?

Good Fences Making Good Neighbors?

When the Saints Come Marching In

Endangered Species

Arbeit Macht Frei

Jobs & Jails: Eggs & Bacon?

Come to the Barrio

Mending Walls

Love is Stronger than $

A Nation of Immigrants

Sunday Sermon

Beauty and the Beast

Home to the Hearth from a Hard Day at the Gulag

Officer Friendly Checks Immigration Reform Advocates

Cold Day in Hell

Ms. Sunshine after a hard day at the Gulag

Prison-Industrial Complex

Good Humor Man

Meat Wagon

Human Trafficking

$oylent Green

Easy Come, Easy Go

Human Misery Profit Margin

Courage In the Face of Adversity

Pear shaped or square shaped, these walls don’t lose their shape.

What GeO’s for FexEx is good for America

Immigration Reform Advocates Stand Tall

ICE is NOT Nice!

Storming the Walls of the Prisons

Sisters of Mercy

Watching US Watching Them!

Taco Time at the Prison-Industrial Complex

Homeward Bound for those lucky enough to have one

Warm, Safe, & Dry