However, I was not prepared for what I heard in Albion. In the late morning I visited with an elderly Albion resident, Diana Duffey. I went there to take her Declaration to the Court for the Public Nuisance Suit filed by the Albion Nation against Louisiana Pacific's noisy helicopters. While sitting in her living room I tried to listen to what she had to say. The problem was that I could barely hear her. The helicopters were not very loud this time, she told me. In the company of this fine woman and her friend I felt comfortable. After 20 minutes I started feeling uneasy with a nagging pain in my stomach, similar to what you'd feel if you were falling off a cliff in a bad dream. I was soon overcome by the uneasy feeling that I should run and hide. I wanted to get away from what presented itself to me as gut-level immediate danger.
Diana Duffey retired to live in Albion. She was a Registered Nurse for 44 years, the last 17 years a Psychiatric Nurse at Saint Mary's Hospital in San Francisco.
I managed to write down what Diana Duffey told me. We had to pause often when I could not hear her speak, even though she sat right next to me. This is what she said:
"The invasion of noise and vibration without relief makes me feel trembly, shaky, exhausted. I feel as though my nerves are being burned by the noise. I really hurt, it feels painful inside. The vibrations go down...physically affecting my nervous system. It makes me scared that I'm going to lose it, run out screaming. I have epilepsy-gran mal-and I'm afraid it's exacerbating it. It constricts me. This is my home, where I have comfort, where I can get up and ...you know...where I live. It's my comfort zone. It goes on and on for hours. The helicopters start at 7:30 in the morning and go on until 5:30 in the evening, Saturdays included. I feel pained and hurt and nauseated inside.
It's difficult talking to people on the telephone and when people come, sometimes impossible. We have to wait until the helicopters go by. In my sleep I'm still reverberating with this. My hearing dog - I'm partly deaf - is skittish, and my cat; they are wired and can't function normally.
I called the doctor to help me stay in control and to feel better, to not feel victimized and by helping empower me so I can do something with my pain. I put my good ear down when I'm sleeping but still hear the vibration.
I called the County Sheriff on February 14 last week and asked what could be done...because you know that they bust loud parties at homes when neighbors complain...it's against the law. I asked if they could do anything about the noise, where it was coming from. The Sheriff said that they had nothing to do with it, that I should call GP or LP.
Then I called Little River Airport and asked them if they knew if the planes and the helicopters were from there. I thought maybe it was CAMP.
I also called the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Bragg. They advised me to call the logging companies. So I called GP and they told me to call LP and gave me the number. When I talked to LP, a girl answered who wouldn't give her name and said "Yes, they're logging in Albion". They told me to call CDF in Willets or Santa Rosa and gave me the numbers. When I called Willits I challenged the woman who answered that I wanted to speak to the head honcho. They put me through to Merv Pyorre. So I told him how I felt and he said that LP expects to be done on the north side of the river in about another week. And than they'll do the south side. I asked who approved this plan and Mr. Pyorre said he was the one who approved it and had not considered the noise and that it (noise) was satisfactory according to the FAA regulations and as well as the rules and regulations of CDF. We discussed it and I insisted that it was a public health hazard for all creatures with a nervous system and that I strongly objected that if they can't get the trees out on such a steep slope without helicopters they shouldn't be logging there. I asked for relief from them- would they consider it? He laughed.
Then, after Pyorre, I called CDF in Santa Rosa and they referred me back to CDF in Willits.
So then I called Charles Peterson, the Mendocino County Supervisor, who was not available, but he was to call back and then the phone rang and Mr. John Teie (of CDF) called me and he reiterated that the helicopter logging was safe aircraft-wise, employee-wise, and met OSHA requirements. Mr. Teie said they would need to have a conference with Forest Practice about this problem. Mr. Teie said I hear your pain, your suffering. So I called Charles Peterson back and told him why and what was going on, and that as a representative he needed to be aware of all the factors like noise, pain, and we're taxpayers, and he said there is nothing we can do. But I said there has to be. Do I write Sacramento? Do I write the Governor? He said all his efforts have been without luck since the extended logging in Comptche. He cited the FAA, CDF, and that all was O.K. and in legal parameters. I told him we need organization to stop this rape...this terror.
Charles Peterson then called Jan de Sippio and asked her to check on me because she is a local social worker. Jan asked if I was O.K. It was said that if it got too bad I could go to a hotel. I'm going to send LP my medical and hotel bills.
On Thursday's meeting with LP they brought up the fact that I was having so much trouble here. LP said it was a community problem, not theirs. That the community should take care of me".
Els Cooperrider lives near Big River in Mendocino County.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited