[Ppnews] Eco Justice prison case updates

[Political Prisoner News]

ELP Information Bulletin (28th of January 2006)

Dear friends

ELP has three lots of American news for you today:

    1) More police informants?
    2) Daniel, Jonathan and Suzanne released
    3) Lauren to be released

1) Over the past couple of days there has been an excited discussion 
about
whether some of the defendants, arrested on the 7th of December 2005, 
have
started cooperating with the police or not.  The debate started because 
of
things which were said at the Bail hearings of some of the defendants.

Having spoken to various people about what was and wasn't said we can 
report
the following:

Kevin Tubbs - On the 25th of January 2006, at the bail hearing of Daniel
McGowan, Officer Harvey of the EPD, stated, under oath, that Kevin 
Tubbs had
cooperated with them in their investigation against Daniel McGowan.  ELP
does not know the extent of the cooperation Tubbs has given the police
(Officer Harvey did not disclose that) but as a precaution, pending 
further
investigation, we are removing Kevin Tubbs from our prisoner list.

Sarah Harvey - On the 24th of January 2005, at the bail hearing of Sarah
Harvey, the Prosecutor (Engdal) stated that Harvey should be released on
bail because "She has accepted responsibility for her actions, and is
cooperating."  Again ELP does not know the full extent of this 
cooperation
and we are investigating the matter further.  Earlier this month Harvey
distanced herself from the radical environmental movement and asked to 
be
removed from ELP's prisoner list.

Jen Kolar - Kolar is a woman who has never been charged with any 
offence in
relation to the on-going investigation against the eleven people 
accused of
illegal activity in the State of Oregon, however it has been widely 
believed
for a while that Kolar has been cooperating with the police in their
investigation.  This suspicion was confirmed when the well known Earth
First! lawyer, Stu Sugarman, stated, in court, that Jonathan Paul's 
arrest
was based on the testimony of Jen Kolar.

2) Despite all the bad news about the cooperation of the above named 
people,
the latest round of bail hearings went quite well.  Daniel McGowan and
Suzanne Savoie have both been released on strict conditional bail, with
Jonathan Paul due for release on bail very soon.  This means that out 
of the
people ELP is supporting in this case, only Chelsea Gerlach and Darren
Thurston remain in custody.

However we would like to emphasise that despite all the recent bail 
releases
Chelsea and Darren do remain inside and they both deserve our support.
Please send letters of support to:

    Chelsea Gerlach #1308678
    Lane County Jail
    101 W 5th Ave
    Eugene
    OR 97401
    USA

    Darren Thurston #701415
    Multnomah County Inverness Jail
    11540 NE Inverness Dr.
    Portland
    OR 97220
    USA.

For more information about Chelsea and Darren check out their respective
support campaign websites at www.supportchelsea.org and 
www.freedarren.org

3) Going back to the positive news of people being released on bail, 
ELP is
delighted to announce that Lauren Weiner, one of the three people 
arrested
in Auburn accused of planning to damage the property of the US Forestry
Service, mobile phone masts and power stations, is due to be released on
bail very soon.

However her two co-defendants remain in prison so please continue to 
send
letters of support to:

    Zachary Jenson X-4198632 7E213A
    Sacramento County Main Jail
    651 "I" Street
    Sacramento, CA 95814
    USA

    Eric McDavid X-2972521 4W114A
    Sacramento County Main Jail
    651 "I" Street
    Sacramento, CA 95814
    USA

ELP is sad to report that in their case there appears to be two police
informants.  One is a woman who is only known by the name of "Anna" and 
the
other is convicted Earth Liberation Front prisoner Ryan Lewis.  It would
appear that following his plea-bargain Ryan decided to follow his
co-defendants lead and start cooperating with the authorities in the 
hope of
a lighter sentence.  Part of his cooperation has been to confirm the 
image
of Eric McDavid when shown a photo of him.  The evidence against Lewis 
has
been seen by an ELP volunteer.

Just before I finish this e-mail, I would just like to say that in a 
recent
article about the Auburn Arrestees, it was mentioned that "the three
defendants have already been contacted in the Sacramento County 
jail 'by the
movement's prisoner support network.'"

This article gave a very misleading impression of prisoner support.  We
would like to point out that prisoner support work is LEGAL and LAWFUL.
Many, many, groups, all around the world, are involved with prisoner 
support
including such famous groups as Amnesty International and Prison Writes.

So let me emphasise again, supporting prisoners is legal and lawful.  
It is
also a highly worthwhile activity and its good fun!  By supporting 
prisoners
you get to hear from people all around the world and learn about issues
which you may of been previously unaware of.

Also the prisoners themselves tell ELP that they enjoy receiving the 
letters
from all around the world and they learn about campaigns they were
previously unaware of!  So go on, write to a prisoner today.  Tell them 
all
about the lawful campaign you're involved with.  The prisoner won't be 
bored
or think your letter dull.  They'll welcome your letter and really
appreciate the fact you wrote to them.

So go on, write that letter now!  You know you want to!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Prison is a weapon used by the State to crush individuals who step out 
of
line" (Michael Collins - former Mayday 2000 prisoner)

Support All Animal & Earth Liberation Prisoners

Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
BM Box 2407, London, WC1N 3XX, England
E-Mail < ELP4321 at hotmail.com >
< www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk >

Earth Liberation Prisoners Poland
c/o E-Mail < ELP4321 at Hotmail.com >

Belgium Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
E-Mail < elp_bel at hotmail.com >

Italian Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
E-Mail < italianelp at yahoo.com >
< www.italianelp.net >

North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
E-Mail < naelpsn at mutualaid.org >
< www.ecoprisoners.org >

Turkey Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
E-Mail < yesilansari at yahoo.com >
< www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm >






Claude Marks
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977