From: Patrick.Martin@f825.n102.z1.fidonet.org (Patrick Martin)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles.dirt
Subject: B2V Protest!
Date: 3 Jan 1993 07:10:14 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

 
In response to Ken Carpenter's recent tirade where he babbled that 
the Barstow-to-Vegas Race was over, I am recycling the following 
article on the importance of the 1990 B2V Protest Ride by a handful 
of Sahara Club members and their subsequent trial in federal court. 
 
                                         Patrick Martin 

[...the full article follows...] 
 
ALAN M. GHALEB
attorney at law 
 
August 27, 1991 
 
Cycle News 
Attention: Editors and Readers 
2201 Cherry Avenue 
Long Beach, California   90806 
 
Re:  United States of America V. Sieman, Van Dyke, Martin, Holmes 
     & Webb 
 
Dear Sir, Madam or Ms.: 

You have recently reported the verdicts in the case of the United  
States v. Richard L. Sieman; Barry Van Dyke; Patrick  R.  Martin; 
Wesley Holmes; and Lowell Webb.  Frankly, your scant coverage  of 
the trial and of the Barstow to Vegas protest trail Ride of  1990 
deprived your readers of many important facts revealed  at  trial 
and left unclear the nature of the protest. 
 
First, District Judge Gary  L.  Taylor  granted  the  Defendant's 
Motion for a pre-trial evidentiary hearing to support our  claims 
that the BLM selectively prosecuted Mr. Sieman and the others and  
that the BLM acted illegally and unconstitutionally in  both  its 
issuance and enforcement of its temporary  closure  order.   This 
rarely  permitted  hearing  allowed  us  to  cross  examine   BLM 
California Desert District Manager Gerald Hillier and BLM  ranger 
Probert (author of the closure order) and produced the  following
revelations: 
 
 
1. Mr. Hillier admittedly lied to Mr. Sieman on November  7,
1990, regarding the BLM's true intentions for  its  B  to  V 
protest  crackdown,  despite   Mr.   Sieman's   good   faith 
disclosure that he and a small group would ride  in  protest 
on legal dirt roads paralleling I-15.  Hillier deceived  Mr. 
Sieman  prior  to  Hillier's  public  announcement  of   his 
temporary  closure  order,  the  gist  of   which   he   had 
selectively revealed to certain AMA District 37 leaders; 
 
2. Mr. Hillier deliberately  failed to disclose to  his  own 
staff that from 1979 through 1982, legal protest rides  were 
approved in the Boulder Corridor and that Cycle News printed 
a map showing the approved routes.  Hillier admitted that no 
environmental harm ever occurred during these  past  protest 
rides and that his  failure  to  disclose  eliminated  legal 
protest as an alternative; 
 
3. Hillier and Probert admitted that no  environmental  harm
occurred as a result of the 1990's protest ride, which  took 
place entirely on open areas and maintained dirt roads which 
are normally open for public use year-round; 
 
4. Hillier admitted that contrary to his own sworn statement 
declaration  and  numerous  statements  to  the  press,   no 
tortoise burrows were ever "crushed" in the B to V  race  of 
1989: further, he admitted that he is aware of no documented 
case of any  tortoise  killing  by  any  motorcycle  in  the 
history of off-road events in the California desert; 

5. Hillier testified that in December 1989, he telephoned Mr. 
Louis McKey and told him that the BLM would not  permit  any 
more B to V races.  Hillier admitted  that  motorcycles  and 
the race had nothing to do with the  tortoise  problems  and
candidly told Mr. McKey that the real reason  for  canceling 
the   race   was   because   of   extreme   pressure    from 
"environmental" groups which strained the BLM's resources; 
 
6. Hillier admitted that he violated the BLM's own rules  by 
hastily approving 1990's "Battle to Victory"  race  held  in 
Johnson Valley. This was done in collusion with AMA District 
37 whose leaders were given special advance  notice  of  the 
BLM's protest crackdown:  in fact, AMA District  37  leaders 
threatened club officers  and  members  with  dismissal  and 
expulsion should they engage in any  protest  activities  in 
defiance of the BLM; 

7. Probert admitted that the  BLM  illegally  accessed   DMV 
records on Mr. Sieman prior to the protest and  disseminated 
his CDL photo at the BLM's secret "Operation  Roast  Turkey" 
law enforcement briefing to facilitate his arrest; 
 
8. Hillier admitted that he relied upon  a  facially  absurd 
document faxed to him by the Sierra Club as  justifying  his 
temporary closure order;
 
9. Probert admitted that out of  10  vehicle  operators  who 
allegedly violated the closure order,  only  those  nine  on 
motorcycles were arrested and forced  to  appear  in  court: 
Number 10, an avowed Sierra Club member,  was  given  a  $50 
ticket for deliberately driving his  pick-up  truck  in  the 
closed area. 
 
Unfortunately, for technical legal reasons,  none  of  these  and 
other shocking behind the scenes revelations could  be  submitted 
for the jury's consideration.  The jury was simply  charged  with 
the narrow task of determining  whether  any  of  the  defendants 
knowingly entered a closed area. 
 
At trial, BLM ranger Sasseville (second in  command  to  Probert) 
testified that he deliberately misinformed the  public  regarding 
which BLM map should be used to avoid temporarily  closed  areas: 
Probert  testified  that  the  special  closure  map  was  almost 
impossible to comprehend. 
 
The jury learned that  Sasseville  viciously  attacked  Defendant 
Lowell Webb, knocking him  off  his  motorcycle  while  traveling
between 20 and 30 miles per hour.  The BLM  ranger  had  actually 
laid in wait behind bushes and the pillars of a freeway underpass  
to ensnare the unsuspecting Mr. Webb as  he  exited  the  tunnel. 
Sasseville was characterized as a "savage" and "beast" by several  
members of the jury who acquitted Mr. Webb of any wrongdoing. 
 
In the end, Messrs. Sieman, Van  Dyke,  Martin  and  Holmes  were 
found to  have  knowingly  entered  the  closed  area:  a  simple 
trespass.
 
The BLM then showed its true  colors  by  replacing  their  trial 
counsel with a sentencing "expert" who  argued  for  a  mandatory 
term of six months imprisonment for Mr. Sieman, $1,000 fine  each 
(down from $100,000 fine originally sought),  and  probation  for 
all.  Amazingly, the BLM argued  that  Mr.  Sieman's  role  as  a 
publisher and protestor demonstrated criminal intent akin to that  
of an organized crime conspirator and  was  a  proper  basis  for
increasing his punishment. 
 
The court wisely rejected the  BLM's  wish  list  and  imposed  a 
simple fine based, in the main, upon evidence  of  a  high  speed 
pursuit. 
 
The court's  ruling  went  much  further  however:  Judge  Taylor 
acknowledged that the constitutional issues raised by the protest  
are "every bit as important as the most fundamental civil  rights 
parade during the 60s, are every bit as  important  as  the  very 
significant debate over abortion...  every bit  as  important  as 
many  other  protest  factors  that  are  present  in  this  free 
country." 
 
Judge Taylor held that despite the  BLM's  desire  to  crush  the
protest, it is an "activity that has a right to continue.   "This 
`in your face' philosophy of protest has a right to go on." 
 
In fact, it was the courageous protests led by Mr. McKey and  Mr. 
Sieman and others from 1975 through 1982  which  forced  Congress 
and the BLM  to  bring  back  this  country's  premier  and  most 
symbolic off-road event in 1983: no amount of  coffee,  doughnuts 
and trips to Washington by  ostensible  OHV  community  "leaders" 
could have achieved this truly democratic result.   With  history 
as our guide, can we honestly expect to win back our right to use  
stolen public lands with polite,  politically  correct  exchanges 
with the enemy? 
 
As we left the courtroom, I witnessed something that I had  never5
--  
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