Troy Davis

When: Wednesday, April 9 at 3-4:30 pm

Where: Recital Hall, COM Bldg @ TESC

What:  Wednesday, April 9 two opportunities in Olympia to hear Kimberly Davis and Jen Marlowe.

On September 21, 2011, Troy Davis was executed by the State of Georgia, despite a compelling case of innocence. Troy’s execution was protested by hundreds of thousands around the globe, and 51 members of Congress, Pope Benedict XVI and President Jimmy Carter all appealed for clemency. How did one man capture the world’s imagination and become the iconic face for the campaign to end the death penalty?

Troy’s sister Kimberly Davis and I Am Troy Davis co-author Jen Marlowe will unpack Troy’s case, demonstrating how emblematic it is of our broken justice system. They will share stories of the Davis’s family two-decade struggle to prove Troy’s innocence, and reveal the human impact of capital punishment. Davis and Marlowe will also discuss how Troy’s case continues to galvanize the fight to abolish the death penalty, looking also at the struggle here in Washington State, where Gov. Jay Inslee recently placed a moratorium on executions.

Marlowe will also describe her years-long collaboration with Troy and the Davis family to write their book, I Am Troy Davis, and share passages from the book.

These events are a part of RETHINKING PRISONS MONTH – APRIL 2014.

Supporting Evergreen academic programs, student organizations, and offices:
The President’s Diversity Fund, Creating Dangerously: Experiments in Feminist and Diaspora Art, Gateways: Popular Education, Abolish Cops and Prisons, The Writing Center, Who’s Got What? Political Economy through Food, Culture and Social Movements, Against All Odds: The Black Experience, Political Economy of Media, SOS: Community-Based Research, First Peoples Advising Services: Day of Absence/Day of Presence, Students for a Democratic Society, For Racial Justice, Students for Justice in Palestine, Coalition Against Sexual Violence

Supporting community organizations: Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation, Washington Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Orca Books

CLICK —> Audio of Troy Davis interview from Death Row

Robert H. King

Robert King spent 29 years in solitary confinment in a maximum security unit, the Supermax of the Angola prison in Louisiana. Now 71, the former Black Panthers activist has come to Paris for the first time to tell his story during a meeting organized by Amnesty International on Tuesday, April 30th. He condemns the private prison system, as well as the racial discriminations and humiliations that happen there. He also speaks about his campaign to free the other two members of the “Angola Three”, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox.

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!