Forest Service Endangers Lives of Forest Activists - Call Them Today!

Has anyone called the contacts listed above? Have they countered any of the statements above?
I would like as much info before I call.

Thanx

He initially agreed that the actions taken against the tree sit were illegal. On a repeat contact, when informed that one of his Law Enforcement Officers had done the cutting (he claimed he thought the loggers had done it), he remembered that he was there that day and had ordered the lines cut.

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337


NEW FOREST SERVICE LAW ENFORCEMENT CHIEF LACKS CREDENTIALS
Agency Manual Hastily Amended; Independent Law Enforcement Program at Risk

Washington, DC — In an unprecedented step, the Chief of the U.S. Forest
Service has appointed a new Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations
who lacks any previous law enforcement experience, according to agency
documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER). To accommodate the move, the agency has hurriedly
amended its manual to remove the requirement that the Director of Law
Enforcement must be a peace officer, i.e., GS-1811 Criminal Investigator,
and to allow the position "Top Secret access" without the normal
background checks.

On July 20, 2005, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth named John Twiss, a
long-time Forest Service employee who has spent a good portion of his
career in staff positions within Washington. D.C. headquarters, as the
Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations effective July 24. Twiss is
the first person without any law enforcement qualifications or credentials
to occupy the top law enforcement slot.

In his new job, Twiss will oversee approximately 660 Special Agents and
uniformed Law Enforcement Officers who investigate resource crimes, such
as timber theft and fossil poaching, as well as a range of other crimes,
such as clandestine drug labs, on 155 national forests and 20 national
grasslands covering more than 193 million acres.

In addition to his lack of experience, Twiss' appointment also reverses a
decade of progress in increasing the professionalism of the Forest Service
law enforcement program in that a civilian will be making decisions about
how criminal and other sensitive investigations will be conducted.

Twiss has also signaled he will seek to end the independence of the law
enforcement program by making investigators answer to the forest
supervisors and rangers who are often the subject of investigations or may
be embarrassed by the outcomes of internal probes. After a series of
scandals in the early 1990s involving cover-ups of timber-theft, illegal
alien exploitation and prostitution, Congress mandated that the Forest
Service law enforcement be independent of, or "stove-piped" from, the
agency chain-of-command.
"By putting an unqualified suit, such as John Twiss, at the top of the
stove pipe, Chief Bosworth has, in essence, gutted both the effectiveness
and the independence of the Forest Service's law enforcement program,"
stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization led the
campaign to convince Congress to order the formation of an independent law
enforcement organization. "This move signals that all future Forest
Service investigations will be politically vetted."

The independence of Forest Service law enforcement drew the ire of
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey last year after he unsuccessfully
tried to quash a criminal notice of violation against Representative Henry
Brown (R-SC) for negligence in allowing a fire on his property to burn out
of control and spread into the Francis Marion National Forest.

Aggravating concerns about the future effectiveness of the Forest Service
law enforcement program is mounting evidence that is seriously
under-funded in the face of a growing workload. According to a
confidential internal agency assessment, the Forest Service law
enforcement program has -

· Only one officer "for every 291,000 acres of national Forest and every
733,000 annual visitors;"
· Lost more than 300 positions during the past decade and today "204 LEI
positions deemed critical by the corresponding line officers are now held
vacant to remain within budget constraints;" and
· Been assigned new Homeland Security, border patrol and other obligations
without sufficient funding, leaving the program "severely understaffed to
address need of National Forest lands."

"Far from being a forceful advocate for law enforcement, John Twiss was
tagged to put a happy face on an increasingly grim situation." Ruch added,
noting the irony of the appointment coinciding with the agency centenary.
"By this appointment, Chief Bosworth endangers the natural resource legacy
that the U.S. Forest Service is supposed to conserve for the next
century."

The FOREST SERVICE, IS WAY OUT OF LINE, this isn't the first time they have acted out on individuals trying to save the trees. And it's horrible on the activist's. It's outrageous, while the EPA, SITS BACK AND LET'S THE this going on. It's bad enough we have to be aware of POP'S (Persistant Organic Pollutants)in our mists, but now the destroying the lands. All of these issues are inter-related. Don't forget who we are, ambassadores for the saving of the planet, brothers and sisters. My heart goes out to any one bein incarcerated for standing up for the planet, and God bless all the brothers and sisters, who have giving their lives to protect what's left of nature.
PEACE & BLESSINGS!