Mendocino Environmental Center
106 W. Standley ¥ Ukiah, CA 95482 ¥ (707) 468-1660
November 1, 1993
The Honorable Don Edwards, Chair
House Committee on the Judiciary,
Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights
House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Edwards:
As you recall, on September 29th, we sent you our press release, asking you to continue to pursue the investigation of the FBI's handling of the Bari/Cherney bombing case. At that time, we had nineteen signatories to the press release.
The press release has continued to receive a great deal of attention from environmental and social justice activists, who share our concern that this investigation be pursued, especially in light of the FBI's refusal to turn over their records to your Committee. As of this date, there are 50 signatories to the press release. We are certain that the list will continue to grow. As names of groups and individuals are added, we will send you updates.
We thank you for your continuing concern about this case. It is imperative that the perpetrator of this heinous act be brought to justice, and that Judi and Darryl's civil rights be protected. The violation of anyone's civil rights threatens everyone's.
We look forward to learning of the continuing developments.
Sincerely yours,
Gary and Betty Ball
Mendocino Environmental Center.
Bari and Cherney have initiated a lawsuit against the FBI. The suit charges that the FBI was conducting illegal COINTELPRO-type operations against them and against Earth First! At the same time, the Don Edwards House Judiciary Committee has elected to investigate the role the FBI played in the Bari/Cherney bombing. When the Edwards Committee requested to review the FBI's files on the bombing case, the FBI refused the Committee access to its files. The following letter and press release are in response to the FBI refusal.)
At present, the FBI has released a large carton of some 5,000 documents from its files both to the Bari/Cherney legal team and to the Don Edwards Committee. A perusal of these documents suggests that the FBI has released only its "garbage" information and that it has withheld most of the information needed to truly evaluate the facts of the bombing and the FBI's role in the bombing investigation. Letters are now needed to the Don Edwards Committee urging that the Committee's original request, that of Committee representatives coming to the FBI offices and inspecting the whole of the FBI's files on the bombing, be carried out. In addition, the expenses of Bari and Cherney carrying on a suit against the FBI are enormous. Contributions to help defray the costs of this important lawsuit can be sent in care of the MEC and made payable to the Redwood Summer Justice Project..
Mendocino Environmental Center
106 W. Standley ¥ Ukiah, CA 95482 ¥ (707) 468-1660
PRESS RELEASE:FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9/29/93
(UPDATED 11/1/93)
Outraged by the continuing cover-up in the bombing of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney in 1990, a growing number of environmental organizations call on the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights to use all legal means at their disposal to obtain the files from the FBI concerning the Bari-Cherney bombing.
In August of this year, Congressman Don Edwards, Chair of the Subcommittee, asked the FBI to allow his Committee to review documents in the headquarter's file, subject to minimal redaction of names of witnesses and informants. The request covered the period from the initiation of the investigation through the end of July, 1990 when the investigation shifted away from Bari.
On September 24, press accounts revealed that the FBI had refused to voluntarily turn over its investigative files of the bombing. As a reason, the San Francisco FBI office claimed the victims' civil suit against the bureau precluded their cooperation. But the activist groups and Bari's attorney say that reason doesn't make any sense and is simply a continuation of the cover-up.
In an editorial September 29th, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat agreed, calling the FBI's justification "an excuse that keeps the public from judging the performance of a public agency that immediately after the bombing focused on Bari and Cherney as the prime suspects."
It is time for answers, say the activists. They urged Congressman Edwards "not to take no for an answer."
Endorsers of the statement
As of November 1, 1993, are:
Gary and Betty Ball, Coordinators, Mendocino Environmental Center
Richard Johnson, Publisher, MENDOCINO COUNTRY Environmentalist
Naomi Wagner, Ecotopia Earth First!
Carolyn Fershtman, Attorney at Law
The Green Party of Mendocino County
Linda Perkins and Bill Heil, Friends of Albion Nation
David Chatfield, Regional Director, Greenpeace, SW *
Anna Marie Stenberg, Regional Field Director, Citizens Clearinghouse on Hazardous Waste *
Norman deVall, Supervisor, 5th District, Mendocino County, CA *
Rod Jones, Attorney at Law, Coordinator, Mendocino Coast Environmental Center *
David and Ellen Drell, Co-Directors, Willits Environmental Center *
Tim McKay, Director, Northcoast Environmental Center *
Polly Girvin, Attorney at Law
Environmental Protection Information Center
Lighthawk
John Knox, Executive Director, Earth Island Institute
Gar Smith, Editor, Earth Island Journal
Harry Siitonen, Industrial Workers of the World *
Tim Hermach, Native Forest Council
Randy Hayes, Rainforest Action Network
Jim Britell, Kalmiopsis Audubon
Ed and Mary Alice Denson, Civil Liberties Monitoring Project
Jim Owens, Executive Director, Western Ancient Forest Campaign *
Jim Morris, President, Jim Morris Environmental T-Shirts
Andy Kerr, Conservation Director, Oregon Natural Resources Council
Sharon Duggan, Esquire, Environmental Attorney
Tom Giesen, Oregon Eco Trust
Dr. Robin L. Schaeffer, Project S.A.F.E. (Save Our Ancient Forest Ecology)
Kelpie Wilson, Siskiyou Regional Education Project
Lou Gold, Siskiyou Action Project
Orin Langelle and Anne Peterman, Eastern North American Native Forest Network
Ric Gilaspie, Columbia River Bioregional Education Project
Columbia Gorge Audubon Society
Gene and Lisa Lawhorn, Labor Coalition for Environmental Responsibility
Larry and Sheila Wilson, Community Environmental Health Program, Highlander Research and Education Center
William and Victoria Barbour, Rogue Group, Sierra Club *
John Bianco, Rural Information Network
Myra Erwin, Conservation Chair, Rogue Group, Sierra Club *
Linda Driskill, Grant County Conservationists
Joseph and Susan Bower, Citizens for Better Forestry
Larry Glass, Spokesperson, South Fork Mountain Defense Committee
Hazel Wolf, Seattle Audubon Society *
Beth Burrows, Washington Biotechnology Action Council *
David E. Ortman, Friends of the Earth, Northwest Office *
Roger Yockey, Washington Association of Churches *
Muggins Peters, Conservation Division, Seattle Mountaineers *
Don Sexton, Progressive Democratic Alliance *
Sally Sariano, Washington State Rainbow Coalition *
Dick Fiddler, Sierra Club *
Bill Keller, Regional Director, Greenpeace Northwest *
Endorsers added November 12th:
Gwen Marshall, Protect Biodiversity in Public Forests
Kate Crockett, South East Alaska Conservation Council
Redwood Chapter, Sierra Club
Judith Vidaver, Ten Mile Watershed Association
* denotes organization for identification purposes only
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
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