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| Local Fire Leads To Terror Trial For ELF Spokesman |
| 2007-09-11 |
| SAN DIEGO -- A radical environmentalist is heading to trial Tuesday on a charge connected to a spectacular blaze in University City in 2003 Earth Liberation Front spokesman Rod Coronado is charged with a single count of distributing information on explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction with the intent that his listeners commit illegal acts of violence. A conviction on the charge could land him in prison for up to 20 years under post-Sept. 11 legislation Hours after a $50 million condo project burned down in August 2003 in an apparent eco-terror attack, Coronado stood in front of a San Diego audience and explained how to build a homemade Molotov cocktail. Prosecutors say Coronado, a longtime environmental activist renowned for helping sink whaling ships and destroying mink farms and animal research labs, wanted people to follow in his footsteps -- although they do not link him to the condo project fire. In court documents, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley wrote that Coronado told his audience "there is no other way to deal with these places than fire" and later told the television program "60 Minutes" that he was "asking for people courageous enough to take those risks for what they believe in." Now 41 and recently married, the activist says the abrupt shift in America's tolerance for violence and civil disobedience dramatically changed the landscape for environmental activism in a way he didn't recognize until he was charged. "In today's world, people striving for social change through the mediums that I have chosen are lumped together with the kinds of people who do fly airplanes into buildings," Coronado said recently from his home in Tucson, Ariz. Jurors hearing the trial before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller will have to decide whether Coronado was simply exercising his First Amendment right to speak publicly about illegal activities or trying to inspire his listeners to go out and commit eco-terrorist acts in the name of conservation. As a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front -- a shadowy group named one of the FBI's top domestic terrorism targets -- Coronado was a high-profile advocate of arson and other illegal tactics. He arrived in San Diego on Aug. 1, 2003, hours after an early morning fire destroyed a five-story, 206-unit apartment complex, an underground parking garage and a construction crane in the University City area. A 12-foot banner left at the scene read: "If you build it, we will burn it. The ELFs are mad." Flames leapt more than 100 feet in the air as the large apartment building under construction near the intersection of La Jolla Village Drive and Towne Centre Drive burned to the ground. No one has ever been charged in connection with that fire, the costliest act of eco-terrorism in U.S. history. At the lecture he gave that night, Coronado demonstrated how to make an incendiary device out of an apple-juice jug after an audience member asked about his tactics in a 1992 arson at a Michigan State University mink research facility, for which he served nearly five years in federal prison. Coronado says he was simply answering a question, not inciting people to any specific action. "It was a question about how I personally had carried out a specific action, which I'd already gone to prison for and paid for with four years of my life," Coronado told The Associated Press. "I guess I'm one of those naive Americans who was raised to believe that free speech was a protected right and that our government didn't imprison people for expressing opinions contrary to their own." He wasn't charged until 2006. By then, he had gotten into trouble with Arizona authorities for disrupting a government mountain lion hunt in 2004 with other members of Earth First!, a group best known for forest protests aimed at halting logging. He was sentenced to eight months in prison for conspiring to impede a federal officer and destroying government snare traps and sensors. In September 2006, Coronado renounced violence, writing that the "economic sabotage" favored by environmentalists in the 1980s and 1990s should be set aside in favor of building environmentally sustainable communities. "I almost feel like it's almost more of a disservice when (environmental activists) engage in tactics that might be considered equally unjust," Coronado said. "It's not that I don't recognize their importance historically, but there's just not enough return when we engage in tactics that may feel good at the time but don't gain anything long term." Coronado's trial begins on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #8 People need instructions to make molotov cocktails? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-09-11 22:40 |
| #7 We were talking to a local guy up in British Columbia a few weeks ago, he told us about his friend who was on a 7 day hike across one of the big wilderness areas in Northern BC. Friend took a side trip with a day pack, and when he got back to his camp all his food, his tent and sleeping gear was gone. He had a miserable and exhausting 48 hour forced march to get back to his car. "Who would do that to a stranger?"The ELF or their Canadian equivalent. They don't like people going in there. They are scum. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2007-09-11 21:52 |
| #6 the abrupt shift in America's tolerance for violence and civil disobedience What Americans won't (and should never) tolerate are those who confuse civil disobedience with violence and destruction. If you're so obtuse that you can't tell the difference between Martin Luther King Jr. and Abbie Hoffman (or their "historic importance"), perhaps you had better re-evaluate your capacity for sound judgement. Or to put it more bluntly, buy yourself a *#&* clue, dimwit. |
| Posted by: ryuge 2007-09-11 21:22 |
| #5 The punishment for ANY act of terrorism should be death. People need to understand that incarceration is NOT a punishment. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2007-09-11 17:45 |
| #4 Now 41 and recently married, the activist says the abrupt shift in America's tolerance for violence and civil disobedience dramatically changed the landscape for environmental activism in a way he didn't recognize until he was charged. Priceless. "I didn't realize my Just as this turd wants to settle down his crimes pimpslap him back into reality. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-09-11 16:57 |
| #3 We need an example - hang 'im high. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-09-11 16:53 |
| #2 Now 41 and recently married, the activist says the abrupt shift in America's tolerance for violence and civil disobedience dramatically changed the landscape for environmental activism in a way he didn't recognize until he was charged. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...!!! Yeah, that's usually the way it works, douchebag! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-09-11 16:50 |
| #1 Treat him like any other terrorist - try him, convict him, lock him up until he is really old in a place where the great outdoors will be a dirty exercise yard full of pissed off gang-bangers with shanks... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2007-09-11 16:34 |