Four Arrested in their Homes

Yesterday's Update:
Rock Creek, WV – At 3:47 pm, Tuesday, four Climate Ground Zero activists were arrested for trespass at their homes in Rock Creek, West Virginia. Matt Louis-Rosenberg, Jacqueline Quimby, Kimberly Ellis and James McGuinness were taken to the Kanawha County Courthouse by State Police. State Trooper Lt. Bowers. The charges stem from an October 10 demonstration at Walker CAT’s headquarters, which challenged Walker’s misleading pro-coal advertising campaign at which Gabe Schwartzman, 19, and David German, 18, were arrested by City of Belle Police and cited for trespassing on a structure or conveyance. The two had unfurled a banner which read, “Yes, Coal is Killing West Virginia’s Communities” .

Today's Update:
The four Climate Ground Zero activists that were arrested yesterday are still in jail and have yet to be arraigned. Matthew Louis-Rosenberg, Jacqueline Quimby, Kimberly Ellis, and James McGuinness are currently being held without bail, and we are working to raise funds in order toget them out as soon as bail is known.
The charges stem from the October Walker CAT action, which none of the above individuals participated in.  The arrested had no prior knowledge of the warrants or any other relevant court orders.

Lots of Snow!

Another snow in Rock Creek.

Bear Shit in Trouble!

Stop the deportation of Ryan Olander; American citizen arrested in Sheikh Jarrah

Posted using ShareThis

24 December 2009

Ryan Olander is due to be deported by the Israeli state, after being illegally arrested and detained in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in Occupied East Jerusalem. Please contact the Embassy of the United States in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Minister of Interior, or consider donating towards Ryan’s legal costs.
Ryan is currently being held at a deportation facility in Ramle, where his request for release has been rejected by the prison judge. His lawyer is working on submitting an appeal to the District Court in Tel Aviv this Sunday, 27 December.
Ryan was visiting the al-Kurds in the tent the Palestinian family built in their own backyard, after the recent setter take-over of a section of their house. At 1.15pm, on Friday 18 December, 6 Israeli police walked into the tent, where Ryan was talking to the family members and drinking tea, and took him for questioning at the Russian Compound police station in west Jerusalem. (For more information about his arrest click here.)
Ryan was released without charges the following Saturday, 19 December, before the beginning of a trial with 26 Israeli activists arrested in Sheikh Jarrah, only to be illegally re-arrested by immigration police right outside of the same police station that told him he was free to go. Now Ryan is facing illegal deportation after being held in Israeli prisons for a week.
From the Givon prison in Ramle, where Mr. Olander was taken, he made the following statement:
“On Friday, 18 December, I was placed under arrest illegally. A police officer forcibly removed me from the al-Kurd private residence and proceeded to file a fallacious police report stating I participated in what they claimed was an illegal demonstration and refused to disperse when ordered. In fact, I was arrested before the demonstration even took place.
I have become a target of the police for standing in solidarity with the Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah who struggle against the unjust and illegal evictions from the places they have called their homes for nearly 60 years. Now I face illegal deportation from Israel.”
His arrest happened just before a peaceful demonstration of around 300 people, held in solidarity with the evicted Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, was violently dispersed by the Israeli police and 27 people arrested. Ryan, along with other arrestees from Sheikh Jarrah reported ill-treatment by the police, who subjected them to several strip-searches, denied them food and water for prolonged periods of time and held them outside of the police station until late at night, with insufficient protection against the cold conditions.
The Israeli police and authorities have previously attempted to deport activists supporting the struggle of the Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and, so far one case, succeeded. We need to fight this deportation not only to stop the authorities from deporting solidarity activists in the future, but also to highlight the settlement expansion in East Jerusalem along with discriminatory law enforcement towards Palestinians.

Dinner

Skinned a deer.

PO Box

Finally got a PO Box, any letters or packages can be sent here :)

Maureen Farrell
PO Box 175
Rock Creek, WVa. 25174

Climate Ground Zero Winter Camp

This January Climate Ground Zero is hosting a winter action camp. Trainings for all roles involved in pulling off non-violent direct action will be covered, both arrestable and not.  If you're interested please send in an application!
http://climategroundzero.net/winter-action-camp/

Rally to Save Coal River Mountain

On December 7th, folks gathered outside the DEP to demand that the blasting on Coal River Mountain be stopped.

 

The speakers passionately spoke about their homes, their families, and their futures.

Kayford

This is Kayford. Larry Gibson's Mountain. Its been mined and partially reclaimed.

Gabe is standing atop a reclaimed hill, leading down to a mine site.

These are some machines which move earth and rocks. For scale you can see an 18-wheeler to the left of the yellow machines.

That mound in the middle is pretty new.

On the right of this photo you can see a valley fill. They generally like to put the tops of mountains there. Again, for scale, the people in the center of the photo are fairly close to where I was standing. These sites are huge.

Wock Cweek Wintew!

My first snow in Rock Creek, WV.