EARTH NIGHT NEWS

Sunnyview Spiked

Community organizing, civil disobedience and blockades all failed to stop the Sphynx timber sale in Oregon. But, the Forest Service says someone or a group of people have vented their frustration with a hammer and some spikes in the yet uncut part of the sale. Forest Service law enforcement has announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the ceramic spikes found in trees at the Sunnyview timber sale (the second part of the infamous Sphynx timber sale) on the Detroit Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest. Sphynx was hotly contested as a showcase example of the Forest Service allowing logging in slide prone areas in a municipal watershed.

The Forest Service, of course, claims that the spiking hasn't affected logging of the sale whatsoever. John Herrick, Forest Service special agent, refused to say if the area that had been spiked. He also refused to comment on how the ceramic pikes were found. The Forest Service was originally notified of the spiking by an anonymous letter from the perpetrators. Herrick says the Forest Service has numerous leads and some suspects. He stresses that the reward was offered not as a last ditch effort but because the Forest Service "knows individuals in the area" have information about the spiking.

Billboard Blackout Championships

The world's first ever Billboard Blackout Championships are currently in full swing throughout Britain! The spectacular urban games convened during the week leading up to 1997 Buy Nothing Day on November 27. So far, spectacular entries have included blacked out writing on advertisements and subvertised or cosmetically improved corporate slogans. Subvertisers have valiantly deleted brand names and crass corporate images from billboards nationally to create remarkable Ad Free Zones!

All are strongly encouraged to enter the event. To ensure that the playing field is completely leveled during this "full-on, full-frontal attack on planet trashing consumerism," participants are encouraged to divide up their town or city between teams. American teams, such as the "California Department of Corrections" are reportedly scrambling to submit their own foreign entries to the coveted event. No official end date has been announced to close this incredible competition and ad space is everywhere. So, what are you waiting for? Join the race to blackout billboards today!

Fence Mending in Wyonming

The Ned Ludd section in Eostar 97' gave a detailed lesson in fence mending 101 to inspire the "alteration" of fences to spare creatures, like birds, coyotes and deer, from lethal injury caused by vicious barbed wire. Soon after the EF! Journal hit the shelves, rampant fence cutting appeared in central Wyoming, mostly on fences surrounding public lands. In the course of a month, fence mending occurred in 63 places with extensive cuts at each area. Notes were posted on the cut fences claiming the project was done for the purpose of range improvement by "Extended Palm Range Consultants", demanding that ranchers stop grazing their cattle on public lands. Dust off those pliers folks!

Swedish Road Project Wrenched to a Halt

In Stockholm, Sweden, on January 18 and 19, activists associated with Action for Social Ecology (SEA) severely damaged four road building machines, temporarily stopping the construction of the Southern Link road. The link is a part of a large road building project that has extreme environmental impacts.

The big road building corporations lobbied hard and the city of Stockholm declared that road users were going to pay for the road. The road link was met with strong oppositon and the project was finally stopped and their was great celebration.

Yet in reality, the Swedish government appropriated public money to continue the project one part at a time. In Sweden, like most of the world, neo-liberal politics rule and while governments have no problems funding road projects, they say it's impossible to find money for decent public schools, hospitals, libraries or public transportation. May action in the night teach them otherwise.

This page was last updated 10/25/98