From the open publishing newswire: Upstanding citizen in Salem (30+ years in same neighborhood) went down the street when multiple police showed up. Citizen stands across street taking one-to two pictures. Told to stop, or be arrested. Citizen stopped, put camera in pocket and asked to speak with supervisor who showed up momentarily. Sgt. (supervisor) agrees that citizen can take pictures. Citizen takes camera out of pocket for 1-2 more shots.

Citizen later "detained" while Sgt. investigated "interception of communications" law violation, based (assumed) on Cpl.'s statement who 5-minutes earlier asked if camera recorded video.

From the open publishing newswire: On Sunday, June 12, 2005, approximately 150 people gathered at Sam Bond's Garage (a local pub/restaurant) for a "Night of Solidarity with Political Prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers." This was the 2nd year of annual international solidarity actions with Jeff, organized in opposition to his cruel and ridiculous 22+ year prison sentence. He has served five years so far for burning three SUVs in protest of pollution and greed.

[ Free Free Now ]

From the open publishing newswire: On Sunday, June 12, 2005, approximately 150 people gathered at Sam Bond's Garage (a local pub/restaurant) for a "Night of Solidarity with Political Prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers." This was the 2nd year of annual international solidarity actions with Jeff, organized in opposition to his cruel and ridiculous 22+ year prison sentence. He has served five years so far for burning three SUVs in protest of pollution and greed.

[ Free 'Free' Now ]

From the open publishing newswire: June 18, 2005 marks the sixth year that political prisoner Robert Thaxton is in prison. Rob was arrested at the June 18, 1999 Reclaim the Streets party in Eugene, Oregon for throwing a rock at a cop charging him in riot gear. He recieved an, at the time, unprecedented 7 year sentence for this [5 years for assault, 2 years for riot].

The self described 'one hit wonder anarchist rock star' Rob 'Los Ricos' Thaxton wasn't always a rebellious 'rock star', or an anarcho-activist, or a "punk" political prisoner. There was a time, not that long ago, when he was just another chavo chicano growing up in some forgotten field town called Pampa, Texas... By the righteous (r)age of twelve, Rob began to work with various revolutionary organizations, and eventually left Pampa for the streets of Dallas, Texas, where he joined CISPES (the Committee in solidarity with the People of El Salvador), worked with ACT UP, and KNON-FM, a peoples (Pirate) radio station, where he served as program director.

message from Jeff Luers: "Solidarity for Rob Los Ricos and Brian McCarvill [April 2005] Rob has given his life to this struggle for 33 years. Even after 5 years of prison enduring racial discrimination and harassment by the cops he has continued to agitate for a better world. Brian is a man of honor. He is not selfish. His actions are not inherently politically motivated. He believes in freedom and when he sees something wrong he does his best to fix it. He lives by a code many of us profess to fight for and from prison he has struggled along side anarchists and suffered because of it. These men deserve your support. Write them, work with them, honor their sacrifices as you have honored mine. "

roblosricos.net

From the open publishing newswire: The Siskiyou Summer push is on! Logging companies are gearing up to punch into several Biscuit old-growth sales as we type. Logging is imminent; we need your help! Come join us at our community mobilization & education camp dedicated to protection of our public lands. Located right in the heart of what's at stake, forest defenders, community activists, and all who love wilderness are coming together again to organize. At the camp we will be going on hikes, teaching each other skills in areas such as: direct action, community organizing, climbing, and local ecology. Everyone is invited - come out for the day, a few days, or a week or more to help protect our endangered forests.

For those who have been involved in this movement already, it is important at this point to remember that there is MUCH left to save. We are still waiting for rulings on lawsuits that affect many of the impending timber sales. Stall time right now is really valuable - come help, have fun, and defend our forests!

Another forest defense call-to-action: [ McKenzie river ranger district (just east of Eugene) ]

From the open publishing newswire:
Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering held a protest on May 18 at a USDA public forum in Corvallis to take comments on the approval of genetically engineered creeping bentgrass.

The GE grass has been developed by Monsanto and Scotts to resist Monsanto's herbicide RoundUp, and would be used on golf courses around the country if approved. It has already contaminated the area around a test site near Madras, Oregon, including the Crooked River National Grassland and the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

Join us for another protest, this time against Smith & Hawken, an upscale gardening store in Northwest Portland. Smith & Hawken was recently acquired by Scotts, and they need to know that we want them to clean up their mess

From the open publishing newswire: Thirty activists from Eugene-Springfield forcefully protested the war in front of the main mail drop-off point for last minute Lane County tax filers. About five thousand cars with eight thousand people passed by our group at an average of 5 mph as we stood lined up for nearly six hours along their path, holding graphic images of the injured casualties of the war: children, men, women, and soldiers, bearing messages like, "Your tax dollars paid for this," or "It's our money, stop the war."

It was Friday night, the absolute last time that people had an opportunity to file their tax forms without penalty. We surmised that their state of mind was not given to favorable feelings toward the federal government at that time. We also had done solid preparation by having three different parties do reconnaissance at the scene beforehand, and by contacting the Springfield Police Captain in charge, Rick Lewis. We were assured of their cooperation, and we reassured them of our cooperation in keeping the scene safe for motorists and pedestrians. We thought this was an especially good idea since we were pretty much all of the pedestrians.

more images: The Posters

From the open publishing newswire: For years, volunteers kept Cougar Hot Springs safe and clean. Now the privatizing scammers are taking over YOUR hot springs. The fees: $5 per car PLUS $5 per person. Even the national parks don't charge that much. And all going to Hoodoo, a company that has already taken over public campgrounds

We need an organized effort to stop this insanity! What would be most effective, a boycott or organized protests of non paying users? (If we can get past the fee-collecting guards, that is.)

Unless we (we the public) actively work to contain the privatization epidemic, I'm suggesting that things are going to get a lot worse. The RAT was just recently authorized. The plague it carries has barely begun to spread.

From the open publishing newswire: Civil resisters from the Civil Resistance study group that have been meeting at the Friend's Meeting house in Eugene led 70 people in a successful direct action at the recruitment offices of the four major branches of the military service: Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines.

In a dignified, inspired example of classic non-violent struggle, and armed with graphic photo enlargements of the human casualties of the war, American and Iraqi, as well as thoroughly researched material that exposed the lies of our government about the realities of the war and the recruitment process, the resisters confronted the military recruiters and the mainstream media. While acting from a place of deep compassion and respect for the human dignity for those who disagree with us, we achieved three major objectives with startling success; we shut down the recruitment center for the day; we succeeded in injecting into the mainstream media graphic images and powerful verbal messages capable of transforming public opinion about the war; and we established our First Amendment rights to demonstrate at a supposedly "private property" shopping center without interference from law enforcement.

The action was executed after a month of meticulous planning, many meetings, civil disobedience training, copious research and a tremendous amount of hard work and long hours by many of the resisters.

From the open publishing newswire: It had rained in the morning here in Bend, and I thought I was going to rain during the March. We were fortunate that the rain had stopped and it was only windy and overcast.

There was a PA system playing Country Joe and the Fish's "What are we fighting for?" song among others.

There was a table for filling out postcards to be sent to our representatives.

About 110 people showed up for the event.

[ Other posts from March Hare ]

[ Corvallis M19 pics | eugene M18 direct action against the war ]

From the open publishing newswire: On Tuesday, March 1, 2005, military families whose loved ones are serving overseas or who have died in the conflict in Iraq, veterans, peace activists and other concerned Oregonians gathered on the Capitol Steps in Salem as part of an ongoing campaign to bring Oregon's troops home.

This issue and Rally will be the subject of this weeks the A Growing Concern Public Access program, which airs live on channel 11 from 7-8:00 pm, Friday evening, March 4, 2005. Erik Blickenstaff of Gold Star Families For Peace and Military Families Speak Out will be there to speak to this issue. Video clips from some of Tuesdays speakers will also be featured. Live phone calls will be taken sometime during the second half of the program.

[ Over four years of posts to pdx indymedia by Jim Lockhart ]

From the open publishing newswire: The University of Oregon has canceled an appearance by University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, who has come under a McCarthyist-style attack from the right wing for an essay about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

From the open publishing newswire: "Yesterday, on January 6th, 2005, Craig "Critter" Marshall, my co-defendant walked out of prison after serving 41/2 years. I can only imagine what that felt like. Back in the day Critter was one of my closest friends, and while many are aware that he and I have had a falling out, I am truly glad his time is done and he has gone home. (My old friend if you are reading this, I wish you all the best.)

Now that Critter is out I can't help but wonder why I am still here. We were arrested at the same time, charged with the same offenses. Up until the very end he & I refused to cooperate with the state. Yet, the state in Critter's case decided that the exact same fire was only "conspiracy to commit arson" and "possession of destructive devices".

I've half a dozen theories as to why things played out the way they did. The one fact I know is not once did the state offer to treat my case as Critter's. I'm doing 17 years more for the same actions and same evidence. 22 years for actions that hurt no one and caused less than $50k in damages.

[ more on free ] I [ more on critter ] I [ pdx indy prisons and prisoners page ]