From: miballar@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michael Ballard)
Subject: Re: NEWS: Bari/Cherney Suit v. FBI Proceeds
Keywords: environment forest
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 19:26:49 GMT

In article <EcoNet.28Dec1992.2153@naughty-peahen> EcoNet via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu> writes:
>[From EcoNet ecotopia.news Conference]
>
>================================================================
>=> From: jcarlisle@igc.org
>=> Date: 2:40 am  Oct 22, 1992
>=> Subject: Bari/Cherney Suit v. FBI Proceeds
>
>"Bari/Cherney/Mendocino Environmental Center Lawsuit Against
>FBI Clears Major Hurdle"
> 
>By Johan Carlisle 
> 
>San Francisco -- A federal judge has ruled that Judi Bari
>and Darryl Cherney can sue the FBI and the Oakland police
>for violating their civil rights by failing to properly
>investigate the May, 1990, car bombing in Oakland that
>nearly killed Bari and injured Cherney.
> 
>According to a report by Seth Rosenfeld in the San Francisco
>Examiner (9/3/92, p. A-5), "Judi Bari said Wednesday that
>the suit would show that the FBI was persisting in harassing
>dissident groups, even though Congress in the mid-1970s declared
>such activities -- called COINTELPRO -- unconstitutional."
>(COINTELPRO, which stands for COunter INTELligence PROgram,
>was a secret FBI intelligence operation involving harassment,
>infiltration, alleged murders and disruption of the Communist
>Party USA, the Black liberation movement, the New Left, the
>Feminist movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement and other
>dissidents from the '50s through the early '70s when it was
>discovered by activists and allegedly halted by Congress.)
> 
>U.S. District Judge Eugene Lynch ruled Tuesday that Bari, 42,
>and Darryl Cherney, 36, could press their suit, which alleges
>law enforcement officials engaged in conspiracy, false arrest
>and illegal searches, and falsely portrayed Bari and Cherney
>as responsible for the explosion.
> 
>But, in a partial setback for the lawsuit, Judge Lynch dismissed
>their claims against the Ukiah police and the Humboldt and
>Mendocino sheriff's departments for allegedly failing to stop
>threats and violence against Bari and other environmentalists.
> 
>One of the attorneys for Bari and Cherney, William Simpich, told
>the Examiner:  "He kept in the heart of the case."  Bari said,
>"There hasn't been any justice in this case so far.  I hope we
>can get some now."
> 
>An FBI spokesperson told the Examiner that its probe had been
>proper and declined further comment.
> 
>The lawsuit, filed last year, could have been dismissed this
>week by Judge Lynch.  Now that it has been allowed to proceed,
>Bari and Cherney's legal team will be allowed to begin the
>discovery process.  This will allow them to subpoena documents
>from the FBI and the Oakland police and to take depositions,
>under oath, from FBI agents and Oakland police officials.
> 
>The still-unsolved May 24, 1990, car bombing of Bari and Cherney
>in Oakland is the basis of the lawsuit.  At the time, Bari and
>Cherney were helping to promote upcoming Redwood Summer protests
>in Humboldt County against the logging of old growth forests.
>On the day of the bombing -- a pipe bomb wrapped with nails
>exploded under Bari's driver seat, shattering her pelvis and
>leaving her with a permanent disability -- she and Cherney were
>driving through Oakland on their way to Santa Cruz to promote
>Redwood Summer.  Cherney's face and eyes were injured and both
>were hospitalized.  Later that day, the Oakland police arrested
>both of them for allegedly bombing themselves.  Now, over two
>years later, the Alameda County district attorney's office has
>still declined to pursue the charges, citing insufficient
>evidence.
> 
>The lawsuit which is being led by attorneys Dennis Cunningham,
>of San Francisco, and Bill Simpich, of Oakland, is also being
>supported by the Industrial Workers of the World, known
>popularly as the Wobblies.  Bari is a Wobbly organizer in
>Mendocino County and she has always said that her efforts to
>organize timber workers against the cut and run policies of the
>big timber corporations was a thorn in the side of Louisiana
>Pacific, Pacific Lumber and other companies.
> 
>Support for the lawsuit, which is one of the few opportunities
>activists have had to sue the FBI in a long time, is also
>being provided by a small group of Earth First! activists,
>investigators and researchers.  Donations to this lawsuit,
>which in spite of large amounts of volunteer labor, will still
>cost over $100,000, are welcome and much-needed.  To get more
>information or to donate money, contact the Mendocino
>Environmental Center: (707) 468-1660, 106 W. Standley St.,
>Ukiah, CA 95482.


-- 
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