***
To:
"North Coast Earth First!"
From:
"Shunka Wakan"
Date:
Sun, 24 Apr 2005 21:27:23 -0700 (PDT)
Subject:
[NCEF!] Letters from Gallegos, part I
On March 17th, 2005, a criminal homicide complaint was filed against Maxxam Corp./Pacific Lumber Co., for the murder of David "Gypsy" Chain. Gypsy was killed, on September 17th, 1998, when an enraged Maxxam/PL logger began intentionally falling trees towards a group of non-violent North Coast Earth First! acitivsts. Video footage of the logger was taken less than an hour before Gypsy's death; the videotape clearly documents the logger saying "get outta here, or else I'll MAKE SURE I've got a tree comin' this way!" [profanity edited out].
In the investigation that followed Gypsy's death, Earth First! was initially blamed, though never formally charged, and the final conclusion, by the district attorney's office, was that Gypsy's death was an "accident." So, if you're a big timber corporation in Humboldt County, California, then you can get caught falling trees at people, killing them, and still get away with it... "accident"...total corruption!
Our new district attorney, Paul Gallegos, said that he would re-open the Gypsy investigation if he were elected, during a local public radio call-in show. He was elected, in fact, and has still not yet re-opened the investigation...well, he did admit that he opened the case when he first got into office, and decided that there "wasn't enough evidence."
So let me get this straight...you can have video footage (videotapes don't lie) of a direct threat on someone's life, and, when that person gets killed as a direct result of those threats being carried out, and that's "not enough evidence" to prove that anything more than an "accident" occurred. What more do you need?
So I filed a criminal complaint against Maxxam/PL, on March 17th, 2005, for homicide, since there's no statute of limitations on murder. The complaint also included former Humboldt County district attorney Terry Farmer, former sheriff Dennis Lewis, and former homicide detective Juan Freeman, for criminal conspiracy to conceal homicide.
I then did interviews on the subject, on local and national radio shows, issued a press release to nationwide media, and posted the complaint on our website, at www.northcoastearthfirst.org.
About a week later, I e-mailed Paul Gallegos with a copy of the press release, and a link to the complaint, just in case the Humboldt County Sheriff's Dept. had failed to forward the complaint to his office. No replies from Paul Gallegos...
On the same day, however, Paul Gallegos sent this lengthy reply to a concerned citizen who e-mailed Paul to find out what was going on with the criminal homicide complaint.
See how Paul denies the very existence of the complaint, and then goes on to deny filing charges against Earth First!
He had already filed the bogus felony assault charges against Phoenix at the time of this writing, which were reduced to misdemeanor charges by Judge Feeney on Friday, by the way (press release soon to come to the listserver).
Ignoring legitimate complaints from people who have real evidence, lying to the public, and pressing felony charges against assaulted and battered activists...the real Paul Gallegos...
This is an e-mail that Gallegos wrote to another concerned Humboldt County citizen...he won't return any of my e-mails...I faxed him a copy of the complaint, stamped by the Humboldt Co. Sheriff's Dept., the very next day. I marked it "urgent" and "please reply" and haven't heard a word...
--- "Gallegos, Paul"
wrote:
> Thank you for your email. While I prefer to answer
> specific questions so I know what I am being asked,
> I will try to respond to your inquiry.
>
> No. Our office has exclusive jurisdiction over
> criminal complaints. No criminal complaint has been
> filed regarding the David Chain.
>
> As I have said publicly many times, on taking office
> I did look into the case involving the death of
> David Chain. After reviewing the information and
> concluding that there was not sufficient information
> to justify filing a criminal charge I made the
> decision that no criminal charge would be filed.
>
> Despite what individuals may want, supporters or
> opponents, I must make decisions based on the facts
> and the law. To do otherwise would be to use the
> authority of this office for persecution not
> prosecution. I will not participate in that.
>
> Regarding the claim that I am making Earth First!
> the sacrificial lamb for my political career, that
> is absurd. For one, that is the exact claim PALCO
> and its advocates makes against me for filing our
> lawsuit against them. For another, nothing has been
> filed against Earth First! How exactly are they a
> sacrificial lamb?
>
> Finally, I hope your belief that I would stand up to
> the waste and tyranny of Maxxam Corp was not the
> only reason you voted for me. For although, I have
> clearly shown that I will stand up to Maxxam Corp.,
> there is much, much more that this Office is about.
>
> This Office has stood up to many, many institutions
> that thought/think they control Humboldt County. The
> People of Humboldt County control Humboldt County.
> It is my commitment to that idea, to the
> enfranchisement of all people, to the protection of
> the rights of citizens, to the improvement of public
> safety and quality of life, as well as many, many
> other things that should justify your vote for me.
>
> I will go one step further: Every citizen, whether
> you like or dislike them, is entitled to the same
> protections of and from our laws. I would rather
> lose your vote and the vote of all people than fail
> to honor that principle both in word and deed. I
> hope this answers your questions. If not and you
> have more questions of me, please feel free to email
> me.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Paul V. Gallegos
>
No comments:
Post a Comment