Update on sentencings in Daniel McGowan's case

Family + Friends of Daniel McG May 28, 2007

Friends,
This past week, three people indicted along with Daniel have been sentenced. There has been a plethora of media coverage.

Below are some links to these articles as well as well written opinion pieces. Many have written asking us what they can do in light of these decisions and we have asked that people engage their community and write letters and opinion pieces to the media. We have provided more information on this below.

Thank you everyone for checking in and seeing how we are doing. Daniel will be sentenced on June 4th. More on that coming soon.
Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan

Weigh in on the Register Guard blog entry entitled "Eco-sabotage: Terrorism or activism"

www.registerguard.com/blogs/index.php/talk/comments/eco_sabotage_terrorism_or_activism/
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken has begun sentencing 10 environmental activists involved in arsons and other acts of sabotage that spanned several years. Operation Backfire is the largest ever prosecution of radical underground environmental activists in the U.S. So far, federal prosecutors have successfully argued that the “terrorism” label should apply to at least some of the actions.
Do you agree? Is this terrorism? Activism run amok? Vandalism? What is an appropriate punishment for those involved?

Recent sentencing articles:

Chelsea Gerlach's sentencing
Earth Liberation Front arsonist sentenced to nine years
By Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press, 5/25/2007

Kevin Tubbs' sentencing:
Second arsonist labeled `terrorist', By Bill Bishop, The Register-Guard,5/25/07

Stanislas Meyerhoff's sentencing
Arson attacks ruled terrorism, By Bill Bishop, The Register-Guard, 5/24/07


Opinion pieces
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-paul24may24,1,6114701.story?track=rss
My brother, the 'terrorist': The government is distorting the word to get more notches in its gun. By Caroline Paul, Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2007

http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1179960926146910.xml&coll=7
For justice, the label must befit the crime, by Bron Taylor, The Oregonian,Thursday, May 24, 2007

Write letters to the editors

If you would like to write letters to the editors, we have compiled contact information below.

News Publications:

The Oregonian:
We invite your letters to the editor. Send them to: Letters to the editor, The Oregonian, 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, Or., 97201, or letters@news.oregonian.com They may also be faxed to (503)294-4193.Please limit letters to 150 words. Please include your full address and daytime phone number, for verification only. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Register Guard
PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188. rgletters@guardnet.com
The Register-Guard welcomes letters on topics of general interest. Our length limit is 250 words; all letters are subject to condensation. Writers are limited to one letter per calendar month.

Eugene Weekly
1251 Lincoln, Eugene OR 97401. editor@eugeneweekly.com
Letters to the Editor (to be published in the paper) should be clearly labeled as such, be no more than 250 words and must include your full name, address and phone number.

Seattle times
Letters, not exceeding 200 words, must include your full name, address and telephone numbers for verification. Letters become the property of The Times and may be edited for publication. High volume prevents our acknowledging receipt of submissions. Email to opinion@seattletimes.com
Letters Editor, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 , Fax: (206) 382-6760

Portland Mercury
605 NE 21st Avenue, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232. mercuryeditorial@portlandmercury.com

Salem Statesmen Journal
Letters to the Editor are a popular feature of the Statesman Journal. Letters should be 200 words or fewer. All submissions are subject to editing, including for clarity, accuracy, grammar, length and libel concerns. The form below requires you to input your name, address, and day and evening telephone numbers. The addresses and telephone numbers are for verifying the letters; we will publish your name and town.
http://community.statesmanjournal.com/tools/sendmailforms/letters_to_the_editor.php

Willamette Week
822 SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205. mzusman@wweek.com

Previous letters to the Editor

Terrorist terminology will have bad outcome
May 20, 2007
The attempt of the prosecution in the trial of the Earth Liberation Front defendants to classify them as terrorists will have a telling effect on what remains of "justice" for the people of the U.S. in the future.

The guilt of the defendants is not an issue here. But, if they are classified as "terrorists," this case will be used as a legal precedent for any type of corporatist/ government legal or military action against any type of protest or gathering that they are afraid of and/or deem against their interests.

Since the Reagan presidency, the strategy of the corporatists (Republicans and Democrats alike) has been an incremental chipping away of people's rights and establishing a basis (in law) for suppression of dissent and population control.
This case represents a very large step in the direction of totalitarian corporate control. It has been under-reported by the media (only 88 hits on Google).
When will the population at large wake up and see that they are being turned into steaks on the table by choice and consent? If we have the power to choose -- then they have a menu for us. Put on the feedbag -- all work and no play make for a strong, healthy economy.
-- Michael Anderson, Salem

Punishment shows values
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The comparison between radical environmental/animal rights activists and the Ku Klux Klan made by prosecutors in the "Operation Backfire" case ("Sentencing hinges on defining terror," May 16) is appalling and stupid.

The fact that Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front are considered the nation's top domestic terrorist threat when they have never injured a single person is just one more example of how the government has its priorities wrong.

Resources have been diverted away from investigating right-wing terrorists, al-Qaida and corporate criminals -- all who have the blood of innocents on their hands -- and instead used to go after misguided idealists who destroy the property of companies that are poisoning and destroying the natural environment we all depend on for our survival.

When Jeff Luers was sentenced to 22-plus years in prison for burning three sport utility vehicles, the message I got was that local authorities are more concerned with activists destroying property than criminals harming people. Why else would they give somebody a prison sentence longer than most rapists, child molesters and other violent offenders?

RONNIE LEE
Eugene
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Arson is a reprehensible and inexcusable act, and the people who commit it should be dealt with harshly. Your editorial about the so-called "eco-saboteurs" ("Spreading fear with fire," May 23) hammers that point home.

On page C4, however, there was a small story about Matthew Jay Stutzman, who was sentenced to two years in prison for causing the death of a man he knew had a bad heart ("Beaverton man gets two years in fatal fistfight," May 23).

I'm not saying the arsonists should be treated lightly, but perhaps our justice system should value the life of humans at least as much as a car lot of sport utility vehicles.
BILL DANT
Southwest Portland