 |
| Barto Compressor Station, Lycoming County, PA Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee |
UPDATE 4:
At the request of a Bloomberg News reporter, I made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of the FBI. Here's what I got back:
Based on the information you provided [name, address, ss#], we conducted a search of the Central Records System. We were unable to identify main file records responsive to the FOIA.
In other words, The FBI has nothing. The letter goes on to issue disclaimers about what's excluded by Congress--but this is all just boiler plate.
But that raises the following question: Mike Hutson is with the Pennsylvania State Police/FBI Joint Ecoterrorism Task Force--so what was he doing at my door? On what possible grounds could he have had reason to drive all the way from Williamsport (about an hour) on a snowy Winter Valentine's Day in the middle of the day with no particular expectation that I'd even be home from work? Who, Officer Hutson do you work for?
The only investigation I have been able to unearth in which Officer Hutson was involved had to do with alleged pipe bombs at 14 locations, but only one identified at a frack pad in Zelienople, PA. But while he canvases a number of possibilities about the culprits--Officer Hutson does not even consider the possibility that the report is false, that even if there were explosive devices found, that they were planted by the industry itself: "With no suspects except in one case, “we don’t know the intent,” said state Trooper Michael Hutson, a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force based in Williamsport" (Hazardous devices found at gas well sites but intent unknown | PennLive.com).
Officer Hutson then goes onto say something rather telling: "It does not appear the natural gas industry was targeted because no environmental group has come forward to claim responsibility, he said."
So, again, what brought you to the door of my home, Officer Hutson? What could have possibly justified that visit--paid for by tax dollars, without a warrant, and without any claim of wrong-doing on my part?
Are we comfortable as a public--as citizens--with State Police/FBI investigators just "comin' to chat awhile"? Coming to our homes on fishing expeditions?
We should not only find this wholly unacceptable--but clear evidence of a state police whose job has become to run interference in the interest of protecting an industry favored by a corrupt state.
And anyone who thinks this will change one iota under a Tom Wolf administration is a fool.
Would the gas industry plant its own unexploded explosives in order to prompt the state police to deploy such repressive strategies like paying visits to citizens--effectively criminalizing the exercise of first amendment rights?
Goddamn right they would.
Next: FOIA request at the Pennsylvania State Police--I'll let you know.
"Ace reporter Morgan Myers always get the story straight! Let no one be deluded - there is indeed a causal relationship between Mr. Hutson harassing law-abiding citizens who chose to exercise their constitutional rights and this story in Sun Gazette. However, I would suggest that the relationship is actually the inverse - Mikey, or his industry cronies, put that story out to the Sun Gazette in order to counteract the firestorm of negative publicity that the Joint Terrorism Task Force is receiving as a result of his (and their) blind assumption that anyone who photographs or speaks out publicly against the gas industry is associated with "terrorism".
Think about this - this dude's livelihood is predicated upon combatting "terrorism." Random acts of vandalism against stuff left in the woods hardly qualifies as "terrorism". Are smashed rural mailboxes acts of terrorism against the US mail system? Are the ubiquitous gunshot holes in rural stop signs indicative of a clandestine insurgency against the Department of Transportation? Mikey NEEDS to show he is actually DOING SOMETHING. What better way to maintain funding for his shiny black, freshly-washed, tinted-window, fully accessorized, anti-terrorism, assault vehicle than to inflate the threat perception? Otherwise he is back to working as a crossing guard outside the elementary school.
Not convinced that his "investigations" are not legitimate? This guy used state tax dollars to travel up to New York State to come to the door of Jeremy Alderson (NO FRACK ALMANAC fame) over an alleged "trespassing" claim! When the seismic stooges trespassed on MY LAND three years ago and left cut brush and flagging as evidence the State Police refused to send a trooper out. They told me to call the district attorney's office. When I called the district attorney's office they told me to call the State Police!
Who do YOU think Mikey is protecting? Number one - he is protecting Mikey. Next, he is protecting the interests of wealth and property. He is NOT protecting the community.
And anyone who is reading this industry company newsletter (the Sun Gazette) should only do so to mock the grammer, writing skills and intellectual acumen of the Sun Gazette staff and editor. The vast majority of people who read these local rags are seeking bias confirmation of previously held beliefs, not information that will make them think or, god-forbid, challenge their operational paradigm.
The proper response - satirize them and rob them of all credibility. You do not win by debating them as you can not teach stupid, you win by exposing them as hypocrites and stooges."
 |
| Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee |
EXACTLY.
UPDATE 2: My comment (posted below) at the Williamsport Sun Gazette on the wholly fake MORGAN MYERS "news" "story" on ecoterrorism. At least NOW we know why Officer Hutson was at my door.
But here's a short version of my response: Bite. Me. I will not be silenced, deterred, or fear-mongered by anyone--but especially by an industry who--drunk on a devil's brew of arrogant entitlement combined with increasing desperation borne of the fact that their fossil fuel heroin is about to run out--thinks it can dispatch a state police officer/FBI jack boot to my HOME.
"It's stunning that what sadly passes for a newspaper prints as if it were news what is in fact industry fear-mongering propaganda designed to stifle legitimate protest. There was no story here. Morgan Myers is a PAID SHALE PLAY GAS SHILL. This is how a corrupted state, a grossly inept governor, and an industry hellbent on maximizing its profits insures against the increasing public outrage at a process that destroys the conditions of life. For a far truer picture of this collusion see "When the Gas Industry uses the State Police," Wendy Lynne Lee, at The Wrench."
http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/603131/Ecoterror-target.html?nav=5011
 |
| Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee |
UPDATE 1: TREMENDOUS THANKS TO ALL OF THE SUPPORTIVE FOLKS WHO'VE RESPONDED TO THIS POST. I HAVE BEEN JUST OVERWHELMED AND AMAZED AT THE NUMBER OF BLOGS AT WHICH IT'S BEEN REPOSTED--AND THE NERVE IT HAS CLEARLY TOUCHED. I WILL BE UPDATING AND ADDING POSTS AS THIS STORY DEVELOPS, AND I HAVE BEEN TRACKING THE SITES WHERE IT'S BEEN REPOSTED. I HAVE LISTED THESE AT THE BOTOM OF THE POST.
AND HERE'S THE ORIGINAL STORY:
I was brushing my teeth, and getting kidney meds into my cat, Switch, when I heard my three dogs going nuts downstairs.
I jostled down the stairs, wiping toothpaste off my face to attend to the rapping, and the doggies.
There was a man at the door.
I thought it was a Jehovah Witness, so I was wondering whether to make coffee.
I arrived at the door, signaled to the fellow--who I could now see was holding out a badge--that I needed to get my dogs outside. 'Barky, not bitey," I believe I said.
The man's name is MIKE HUTSON, Pennsylvania State Police, Intelligence Unit, Williamsport Office.
He was investigating reports of "vandalism" at unspecified compressor station locations, and he had with him a copy of the excellent Jeremy Alderson's Fall/Winter (2.2) Edition of the NO FRACK ALMANAC (http://www.nofrackalmanac.com/downloads/volume2_2.pdf).
He wanted to know about the pictures--the ones I have included here.
He wanted to know about the activists in the anti-fracking movement--and whether or not "they" commit acts of vandalism and/or violence.
He wanted me to give him names of "bad apples."
I know of no such "apples."
So, I scoffed.
Such a notion--as I made very clear to Mr. Hutson--is preposterous.
 |
| Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee |
I reminded him of the activism of Nelson Mandela, Rigoberta Menchu, Aung San Suu Kyi , Ella Baker, and Martin Luther King, and made very clear that these were our heros.
I mentioned Socrates who was willing to die for what he stood, and that he was executed for daring to question authority.
In fact, if there's to be a discussion of violence, I said, he'd be far better to investigate the industry. It will use whatever it can to silence us--and that is what brought the state police--an intelligence unit in a big black window-tinted van--to my door in rural Pennsylvania.
We see that everyday in its flagrant flouting of environmental, safety, and zoning law, and in it's liberal use of retired intelligence agents to harass, follow, surveil, and intimidate us.
Many of us have experienced vandalism clearly intended to silence our voices.
I used to wonder if I was surveilled, if my phone was tapped.
Now when I call my mom, I say into the phone that the agent listening might as well go get donuts.
Now I have the state police intelligence unit at my door.
What more effective way to intimidate a movement activist than to make up a complaint about "vandalism" at "compressors" that will get the police to her door?
But I have a message for this industry:
I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU. AND I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE STATE YOU WIELD AS YOUR PERSONAL POLICE FORCE.
Here's the good news:
First, I got nothin' to hide. In fact, I'll bet that makes the industry even more nervous. I'm a mommy and a professor with some goddamn convictions, a steady paycheck, and a deep sense of duty to my four kids.
Doesn't get more ferocious than that.
Second, as a movement, we must be making some real headway for the industry to go to all the trouble to fake a vague charge against some unspecified folks in order to get an intel-officer dispatched on the tax payer 's dime and time to the door of an activist with no arrest record, no history of violence.
What she's got is a raft-load of knowledge about an industry that ought to be criminalized, a capacity to write down what she knows, a good camera, and some guts.
And she's keeping all four.
*Update: Thank you "BJ" for bringing the following two items to my attention--particularly thefact that Mr. Hutson is with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.
http://stepsofpa.com/PDF/11_Terrorism.pdf
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/10/hazardous_devices_found_at_gas.html
Wendy Lynne Lee
Shale Justice
All photographs: Wendy Lynne Lee, taken with a Nikon, and a telephoto lens on PUBLIC ROADS.
 |
| Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee |
POSTED ALSO AT:
http://www.ronpaultribune.com/index.php/90-content/dailypaul-com/13619-gas-industry-uses-the-state-police-the-fbi-joint-terrorism-task-force-to-silence-a-citizen-intelligence-officer-at-my-door-2-1
http://www.dailypaul.com/312489/when-the-gas-industry-uses-the-state-police-and-the-fbi-joint-terrorism-task-force-to-silence-a-citizen-intelligence-offi
http://pennsylvaniafrack.com/2014/02/16/when-the-gas-industry-uses-the-state-police-and-the-fbi-joint-terrorism-task-force-to-silence-a-citizen-intelligence-officer-at-my-door-2-14-14/
http://protestationdotorg.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/when-the-gas-industry-uses-the-state-police-to-silence-a-citizen-intelligence-officer-at-my-door-w/
http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2014/02/14/when-the-gas-industry-uses-the-state-police-to-silence-a-citizen-intelligence-officer-at-my-door/
THANK YOU MICHAEL BADGES CANNING AND TOM JEFFERSON FOR THIS GREAT POSTER:
51 comments:
I support Wendy's position, and having been to this 'intimidation rodeo' before, I too am not afraid, nor will I be intimidated, coerced, co-opted, or cornered into being silenced in the face of this injustice.
I have, and will continue to speak out against the injustices I have witnessed by this industry, and will stand with and support those who may engage in lawful, non-violent civil disobedience in protest of this industry's dangerous, toxic, and invasive activity in PA, and beyond. That being said, I know of no one, or have heard of, who is, or is planning to be, in any way a threat to anyone's safety, or property. I, and those I stand with do not support, nor will we ever support violence, vandalism, or criminal activity of any kind, in any way, shape, or form.
Thank you Citizen Sane.
Kiss Kiss. Hug Hug.
I support Wendy's position, and having been to this 'intimidation rodeo' before, and I too am not afraid, nor will I be intimidated, coerced, co-opted, or cornered into being silenced in the face of this injustice.
I have, and will continue to speak out against the injustices I have witnessed by this industry, and will stand with and support those who may engage in lawful, non-violent civil disobedience in protest of this industry's dangerous, toxic, and invasive activity in PA, and beyond. That being said, I know of no one, or have heard of, anyone who is, or is planning to be, in any way a threat to anyone's safety, or property. I, and those I stand with do not support, nor will we ever support violence, vandalism, or criminal activity of any kind, in any way, shape, or form.
If some "foreign evil-doers" slithered into our country and poisoned our streams, rivers, and aquifers, our government would declare war on them, and rightfully so. So WHY isn't our government investigating/arresting all of the drilling companies for doing the same thing to us? Americans have NO PROTECTION from these terrorists!! It makes NO SENSE. Just GREED.
So it's come to this. Sad. Very sad. Most of these people that are fighting fracking/gas drilling/extreme extraction/industrialization of our homes, or whatever you want to call it, won't even use antibiotic soaps, try to eat as organically as they can, and long for the day when they can afford solar panels and electric cars. What makes the authorities think they would even entertain any vandalism that would further poison them, or anyone for that matter? You see. They are fighting so hard because they honestly and truly care for people. They even care for those they have never met. That's just how they roll.
I'll tell you what makes them think that. The industry is in a corner with nowhere to turn. They've poisoned the people, the water, the air, the political process and the media. If they make the folks that are just trying to live their lives and protect their chidren and their children's children look like crazy lunatics, then they have found their scapegoat.
There is no more covering up the poisons they use, the waters of this Commonwealth that are forever radioactive, the people that have died, the kids that are sick and will now be forever harmed due to their "proprietary chemicals", the water wells that will never be usable again, and let's just add all the explosions of late, so rather than 'man up' and accept what they have done, they will do their level best to paint the folks that are trying to wake people up, address the disgustingly dirty politics of Tom Corbett and gang, they are so afraid that they are on the last ditch effort of trying to paint things that are just not there.
Mark my words. Write this down. Save this post. Do whatever you have to do, but I would bet my bottom dollar that big oil and gas is going to try to pin some sort of environmental damage on people that are just trying to fight for clean air and water. Call it a hunch, but the writing seems to be on the wall.
Any sane mind will not believe it to be true, but remember who all they own. I don't blame the guys that are investigating and would openly invite them to investigate to their heart's content, but I can say (and cross my heart and hope to die, if they want), that I have never heard one single person speak of it, and the people that I know that are fighting this extreme assault on our environment wouldn't even think of it, because you see there is a difference here.
The people I know in this movement wish no harm on anyone. They just wish that our Republican controlled atmosphere that is entirely bought and paid for by campaign contributions and perks also wished no harm to them. Actually, most of them pray for it.
Carry on dear investigators. Carry on. So sorry you are also being played.
Why are activists considered the eco-terrorists when it is the fracking industry that is destroying the state???
Here is some of his activities.
http://stepsofpa.com/PDF/11_Terrorism.pdf
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/10/hazardous_devices_found_at_gas.html
Looks like he has been busy, but he should look at the big picture. How much is done by disgruntle employee's. Like the ones that get fired. I think our sheriff here in Susquehanna County looks at it in a different light. That is where the problems are in Susquehanna county.
Now what happens when a sewer plant is affected by someone dumping a truck in a manhole, or if someones water well (no public water) that is hooked into the sewer system goes bad and either of them affect the sewage treatment process? The 2002 Bio-terrorism act comes into play.
Forgot the agenda for that meeting
http://stepsofpa.com/PDF/11_Agenda.pdf
We need to turn this around and start filing criminal charges against them.
I have been reviewing NY and PA penal law, as well as federal crimes which might be used to prosecute frackers under existing law.
Let's chat.
As Gandhi once said, "first they ignore you, then they harass and arrest you, then you win." When the cops, FBI and detectives come to question and intimidate you, then you know you are making an impact. That is why we need to recruit and train more people to get involved. Groups and teams or "affinity groups" are better to with stand the intimidation. By empowering more leaders, they can't stop the movement. By silencing or imprisoning leaders, the forces that be are trying to break the movement. This is a sign that we are a threat. That is why maintaining nonviolent discipline is so important. We keep the moral high ground. We just have to be more creative, strategic and supportive of each other to carry it on. For some ideas try: http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu
You might not wish to mention Mandela next time as he pleaded guilty to and was imprisoned for 152 acts of violence. In his own words, "...since the ANC had been reluctant to embrace violence at all, it made sense to start with the form of violence that inflicted the least harm against individuals." In his 3 hour speech at his trial he embraced a campaign of sabotage against property (designed to minimize risks of injury and death), while also starting to train a military wing for possible future use. He later expressed gratitude for his imprisonment for helping to rid him of bitterness which could have continued to imprison him after his release. We all admire Mandela the peaceful leader but he wasn't always so.
I just want to say I appreciate all of these helpful comments, and useful information. This stuff is just mind-blowing. Bill--I'll call you soon, and BJ--thanks so much. The info. you posted here is a goldmine.
i could tell you some stories about planted evidence of "eco-terrorism" and the like, from back in the 70s in OR. heads up people!
And he had the audacity to do this on Valentine's Day ! Where is the love ! I can ask my attorneys about your civil rights violations and see if you can be added to my lawsuit with Cabot; We may need a class action suit against the frackers....
The Center for Constitutional Rights has a publication: "If an agent knocks" that you can find here:
http://ccrjustice.org/ifanagentknocks
It is best not to talk to police or agents who come fishing for information. They play on our instinct to be polite to visitors. By all means be polite. "I'm sorry but I never speak with police without my attorney" is a very polite response.
Thanks Vera and Susan--I'll be in touch. :)
Wendy, Thanks for writing this. As do you, I think the real eco-terrorists are those who perpetrate the destruction of the environment and our way of life. Mountain Justice (a non-violent group which opposes mountaintop removal) was put on the Virginia terrorist list in the same report that thought the KKK was not much of a problem.
http://bethwellington.blogspot.com/2008/07/ecoterrorism-not.html
Here's the fusion report:
http://rawstory.com/images/other/vafusioncenterterrorassessment.pdf
Here's another piece on FBI's guidelines which expand the definition of "eco-terrorism" to conflate it with non-violent activism:
http://bethwellington.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-fbi-guidlines-more-cointelpro.html
BTW, in Ohio, the fusion group apparently was called in which resulted in a "multi-jurisdictional air-lifted tactical team" being deployed against a single protester. My friend there wrote me to say that the protestor wasn't charged with a "felony until Homeland Security arrived from Columbus. They told her repeatedly before they arrived that if she would release herself and they didn't have to call them in from Columbus, that she would not be charged with a felony.
"She didn't buckle (or unbuckle) until they arrived and were discussing openly in front of her using jackhammers to get her out, saying things like 'they sometimes slip,' etc."
http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-37204-law-enforcement-tries-to-remove-protester-chained-to-injection-well.html
Another good resource is The Defending Dissent Foundation. You can contact Sue Udry there: http://www.defendingdissent.org/now/about-us/
HI Beth--thank you so much for this invaluable information. I truly appreciate it.
:)
I think all the "evidence" was planted at the sites by people/corporations/police who need an excuse to get the police state involved. I have never met a single activist who expressed the desire to harm anyone, gasshole or otherwise. I have never heard one person threaten in any way the personal safety or property of anyone. Actually, it is exactly the opposite with many leaders in the movement calling on us to love the very people seeking to harm us by poisoning our air, land, and water. And in this hyper police state we find ourselves enduring does anyone else find it odd that there are no surveillance images of the "pipe bombs" being planted, no pictures of get away vehicles? The eco terrorists slipped in, planted the bombs and got away under a cloche of invisibility? Surely the gassholes can protect the multi-billion dollar environmental catastrophes permitted by the state with motion sensing cameras. My mother did not give birth to nor raise a stupid child! Apparently, the same can not be said of Huxton or the other gasholes involved in this debacle.
In the beginning, several years ago, this was about our farm, my business and livelihood. The common bond of the century of taxes paid by our parents, their parents and theirs. The endless hours of research, the days devoted to file reviews at the DEP, all detracted and distracted from PA's #1 industry, agriculture. After being told by one of the state police at the protest with that adorable oversized pink piggy that his mission was "to protect and preserve the right to do business." I asked said cop if he was going to protect my right to do business? He actually had the nerve to sneer at a taxpayer who pays his salary and say, "No!" After watching the elected legislators, who swore an oath to protect the constitution, have Josh Fox, who had the legal right to be where he was, doing what he was, handcuffed and arrested by the police to this police-state travesty, a direct infringement of my rights to peacefully assemble and redress the industry whores... oops legislators -they just have no idea of the beast they have unleashed!
What gives an industry the right to move into an agricultural area and poison it? Industries out right lie on "minor source permits" application and/or subdivide facilities then permit them separately? Does anyone have the right to poison the community because they own something?
"It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from the government!" Move over Thomas Paine, apparently some people have failed to learn from history!
Wendy, I am very intrigued by your article? I will state that I am Pro- Gas, But that being said I am sure no one on either side of the debate wants to see anyone or anything blown up. Would it be possible that since your are known to be out taking photo's, They might want to know if you have seen anything or any one suspicious? I know this actually happened in the fall (found the devices). I do not want accuse anyone of trying to bomb anyone or anything, But what kind of investigation would it be if they did not check out every possible cause? Correct me if I am wrong but after reading your article, it does not sound like they actually accused you or anyone else of being the perpetrator of these crimes. It is my opinion that a home owner, Mother, and professor would be someone that is considered honest and a reliable source of information, And again how can you investigate the crime without talking to people. It is my OPINION that you may be over reacting and feeling a bit of paranoia,like you stated in your post. I guess my point is I don't see how you felt like someone is trying to intimidate you?
Dear Frack Daddy,
Thank you for your comments. I agree with you, of course, that "no one on either side of the debate wants to see anyone or anything blown up."
That being said, I think it naive at this point--given the billions of dollars at stake and the power that goes with that--to think that the natural gas industry--like its predecessors--is not wholly willing to utilize the state police to the ends of keeping people like me from taking photographs of things they industry does not want the public to see, namely, the utter destruction of habitat, water and land that fracking generates.
One way of doing so is to either plant "evidence" or simply manufacture stories upon which the state police can act. You may regard this as paranoia--and that is your prerogative--but the number of stories I have received this last week about police harassment of law-abiding protesters, police refusal to investigate claims from folks harassed by industry representatives at frack pad sites, police refusal to enforce traffic laws, instead allowing the industry to commandeer public roads as if they were private industry roads, and so on.
Hutson's interest--for now--is not to accuse me of any crime. His aim was clearly to try to intimidate and use me to provide evidence of "crimes." I have no such evidence, and the fact of the matter is that the likelihood that folks on my side of these issues are prone to any sort of violence or vandalism is vanishingly small. And the FBI agent KNEW that. Moreover, this was not merely a state police officer investigating leads; this was the LEAD FBI/State police joint terrorism investigator at my door. These fellows are not your regular cops on the beat--they get paid to produce results. Moreover, the notion that being completely innocent means anything to that agency is at this point in American history simply without foundation or supporting evidence.
Wendy, you probably know of this blog, but I was thinking that since your current post is attracting visitors, they might want to read this: http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/
Wendy -- you should know that "FrackDaddy" is an industry shill, and a bully who has promoted ridiculous falsehoods about the Franklin Forks situation, and who has also made false and defamatory statements about Vera and I.
To wit, he has said on several occasions that both I and Vera have "threatened he and his family", which is a ridiculous lie. I am "this close" to filing harassment and defamation charges against him for his harmful lies, and he should know that if he thinks he tell harmful lies about named persons and then hide behind the anonymity of a fake username, he's wrong.
Thanks for that heads-up Bill!
As for you, Mr. Frack Daddy--thanks very much for providing my readers with an example of precisely how the industry manufactures falsehoods, attempts to discredit the resistance, works to cauterize freedom of expression, fear-mongers citizens, and shills for an industry that must be BANNED.
You are exactly the sort of agent that gets folks like Mr. Hutson to the doors of folks like me.
Unfortunately for you, you're also not likely superhuman, so you'll be as subject to the short term deleterious effects of fracking as well as the long term effects of climate change just like the rest of us.
Cheers,
Wendy
Thank you Wendy for the heads up. It's hard for them to realize the truth that we, the people are not into violence but interested in reporting the truth about the toxic contamination of our health, environment and democracy from this industry. They have managed to buy our elected officials but there are many of us who still believe that the negative impacts are not worth the risk involved. When we continue to fight by reporting the truth about these impacts, it makes them want to stop us. WE WILL NOT STOP SHARING THE TRUTH about the contamination of our environment and democracy by the O&G industry!
Thank you Wendy for sharing your experience with us. It's hard for them to believe that there are many of us who believe there is more to life than "Jobs and money" We continue to keep them scrambling because we don't use violence but TRUTH. When we keep reporting how this industry has managed to contaminate our environment, health and especially our democracy with their toxic industrial process we will win in the end. This is what they fear. The TRUTH is stronger than their intimidation and propaganda.
I just wrote an article about your experience Wendy -- it will be going out in our newsletter tomorrow. http://www.defendingdissent.org/now/an-agent-knocked/
I just wrote an article about your experience Wendy -- it will be going out in our newsletter tomorrow. http://www.defendingdissent.org/now/an-agent-knocked/
Wendy,I will try to reply to both comments in one shot here. I am confused how I am manufacturing falsehoods? I simply was implying that any investigation by local police or The FBI needs to be done thourghly and completely, And with out speaking to someone who is out taking pics in the local area would seem like a logical place to start. I even through in a complement to you. Second to be clear I did not or am not saying anyone in the Anti movement was responsible. The already have one in custody, a 20 year old man. And being a 20 year old my self at one time I doubt he was acting alone, and that would be the most logical solution. As far as paranoia, it was not a accusation just merely a point I hit on in your article. Moving on, I tried to open a discussion on the topic and got the usual paid shill routine, Maybe if we had more dialog and less "Paid Shill" Maybe things would move along better. I said I am Pro Gas, I am also Pro safety and Pro strict regs, its is MY land after all. Last to Mr. Bill Huston, Please what lies have I told about FF? You seem to be the one following me online telling everyone I am an industry paid "Shill", But yet you claim to know who I am, If that is true you know what your saying is a lie. And yes both Bill and Vera have demanded I provide my address so they can come see the NG well on my property, Saying you are going to come to my property (trespass) and post my photo and address online is 100% a threat, Also see bills blog post around 11-9-13 clearly threating me with a lawsuit for disagreeing with him. Also bill you might want to call the cops because emails you sent me from WilliamHuston@gmail.com and Acemahoney@yahoo.com both came from the same IP address......
I just find it a shame that very few on your side are willing to have a dialog instead go right to the "Paid Shill" response.
Why do I waste my time responding to you? When it is your job to annoy and distract me?
What is the difference between "asking" and "demanding"? You've stated 100x that "I live 1134ft from the boar[sic] hole". And said you have no impacts. I only asked what TOWN you live in so I can look up the history on nearby wells to prove or disprove the truth of your statements. NOT so I could come by your house. Sheesh. Is everything that comes out of your mouth or fingertips a lie?
SEND ME THE LINK to my post where I threatened a trespass. YOU CANNOT, because I never said that. I have NEVER said I'm going to trespass and take photos of your house. I have NEVER threatened you or your family. Again you have proven you are a fucking liar and an industry shill and you intend to harm me by telling these lies.
A lawsuit is proper civil remedy for someone who is harassing me. It is not a threat. I am telling you STOP telling stories about me which YOU KNOW to be false, with intent to harm me, OR ELSE I will take your sorry ass to court. THAT is not a threat. I have NEVER threatened you or your family, a LIE which you have repeated dozens of times, and which you continue.
PS: one's IP address is generally not revealed in email messages, which shows that you know as much about internet protocols as you do about the facts of water contamination incidents in Susquehanna County.
Bill, you begin your response to a valid opposition to your argument with an accusation. This is poor form. It makes the rest of what you wrote extremely unlikely to be read since it is assumed to be more of the same.
Frack-Daddy, it takes courage to post a dissenting opinion on a board that obviously follows a different line of opinions than your own. And I recognize the argument you are making and can say it is legitimate. If the police were to investigate a claim, they would logically start with speaking to someone who was known to be in the area taking pictures. The hope being that they may have caught something on camera. That seems logical and also likely. However, the tactics that were used tipped the hand that Wendy was not being considered as an uninvolved photographer who may have been in the right place at the right time. I have seen this tactic from both sides, and the intent was to put Wendy on her heels and encourage her to "slip up" in the frenzy following his visit. The information wasn't to be gathered speaking to her directly, it would be gathered watching what she did once he left. (Personal opinion: going public was a great choice)
Bill, are you going to try and discredit my argument by making the accusation I am a gas industry paid employee too? I am ok with certain aspects of the natural gas industry. I am not going to detail which ones, because I have reasoning to back it up and qualifying your accusations will only encourage you.
Dear Frack Daddy:
Apologies for taking so long to get back to this discussion. This piece has gone sufficiently viral that keeping up with it has become a challenge. But I think people really do resonate with the issues here--particularly with an FBI/State Police Agent coming to the door of a citizen who has committed no crime whatsoever--other than the engagement of her rights to free speech, free assembly, freedom to dissent.
That these are becoming effectively criminalized in America--THAT is the real issue. The state police/FBI have no justification for surveilling me other than that such surveillance serves the interests of those who write their paychecks--and THAT is a government both state and federal so profoundly corrupted by corporate influence and graft that it is hard to imagine anything but a revolution to address what can only rightly be called fascism: the corporatization of the state in the interest of insuring the latter functions to facilitate the profiteering of the former.
The sense in which you perpetuate falsehood is this: you assume--but without justification--that the state and its police agents operate as autonomous entities free from industry influence. That is manifest falsehood as can easily be demonstrated by reference to legislation drafted by and obviously for the gas industry. It would indeed be a task of some magnitude to locate a bill in any way relevant to energy production n Pennsylvania not drafted to facilitate industry profits. There simply is no "thoroughly and completely," unless what you mean by that is "insuring industry profitability."
Does it not strike you as odd that
a) the photographs of alleged pipe bombs in Officer Hutson's Powerpoint Presentation of "ecoterrorism" in Pennsylvania include NO references or evidences of location? No signs indicating the pad? No ancillary evidence like photos of destroyed surveillance cameras? No jacked locks? No ripped fencing? No--just alleged blown explosives laying on unknown ground--that is at LEAST shoddy evidence--and at worst PLANTED. It certainly does NOT warrant the drive Mr. Hutson made all the way from Williamsport to visit JUST ME in Bloomsburg.
No--anyone with ANY sense would surmise his aims were something else--intimidation, manipulation, information--but not because there actually exists any violence on the side of the anti-fracking movement, but because WE ARE COSTING IT MONEY.
INDEED, WERE WE NOT MAKING REAL TRACTION, MR. HUTSON WOULD NOT HAVE DRIVEN ALL THE WAY TO SEE A WMAN WITH NO CRIMINAL RECORD, A PROFESSOR, A MOTHER, A SCHOLAR.
The fact is that "ecoterrorism" is nothing but a faux pretext for dispatching Mr. Hutson to my door.
What that visit was about was fear-mongering and silencing.
And he should have known better.
Awesome! Struck me as odd!
Wendy, you know probably better than most, that I support a strong initial and ongoing suspicion of the state (and its agents). However, it is also necessary to separate the contempt for the decisions of the state, from the agent instructed to carry them out. Mr Hutson, is obviously high enough in the machine to know what the real intent of his action was to do. But, at what level does the agent become simply a peace officer doing their job? Unfortunately we require in a free society a police force. The true question is what within the system has allowed for the officer who puts a badge on for the first time, wanting only to help keep their community safer, to turn into Mr Hutson. (I suspect money, and a lot of it. But I can't back that up with anything real) It is required of an effective police that they "obey all lawful orders given to them."
The question being, how do you bring the experience of being harassed by an agent who has gone from a sense of duty within "lawful" orders to ignoring the constitution they swore to uphold, into the living rooms of America...without taking away from the respect we owe to the uniformed "foot patrol" level officers who put themselves in harms way on our behalf?
HI Vince--I appreciate what you're saying. And I am certainly not denying that any functional society needs something like a peaceable police force. But in a society like our--now more than ever controlled through surveillance, intimidation, punitive laws that make the exercise of free expression more and more difficult, I'm afraid that police officers at whatever level no longer have much justification for being naive as to the interests they really serve. It is simply no longer the people's--and the violence that is now being committed in the name of "protecting safety," (ironically) is more and more about protecting corporate interests at the expense of the public health and welfare.
I agree that the last question you pose about respect owed to the uniformed is essentially this: When the institutions charged with governing and protecting are returned (or created) such that that respect has a genuine opportunity to be earned. Corrupt institutions cannot but compromise even the best-intentioned among them.
Wendy, I will start bye thanking you for allowing me to post where I am obviously not wanted. I guess I may be slow but I am still trying understand how I "--thanks very much for providing my readers with an example of precisely how the industry manufactures falsehoods, attempts to discredit the resistance, works to cauterize freedom of expression, fear-mongers citizens, and shills for an industry that must be BANNED." By simply suggesting "It is my opinion that a home owner, Mother, and professor would be someone that is considered honest and a reliable source of information, And again how can you investigate the crime without talking to people."...? Also with after reading your latest posts, I had to go back and read the article a few times. Because of something else I don't understand, How you feel by this coming to your door one time and asking if you know any "Bad Apples" means the PSP/FBI who ever is following you and listening to your phone calls? Is there a back story to this, More that you have not included in this post? Has this man or other police questioned you about crimes? I have stated my point on why you might be a logical person to talk to. I hardly find it evidence that Pennsylvania is becoming a police state for O&G. As far as the power point, I would assume the not reveling the details of an on going criminal investigation. I am not in law enforcement but that's just my thought.
Vince- Thank you! At least someone recognized my comment instead of just giving my the old "Paid Shill" Routine. Also for seeing the other commenter for what he is. Someone who accuse me of " harassment and defamation ", But after I ask WENDY a question he says "Wendy -- you should know that "FrackDaddy" is an industry shill, and a bully who has promoted ridiculous falsehoods about the Franklin Forks situation, and who has also made false and defamatory statements about Vera and I". So he follows me and says that! And I am the one harassing people.......
Thank You Again! I will not bother you folks again unless invited to.
FD
bye=by...
Hi Wendy,
Thought of you when I read this...
http://jesshousty.com/2014/02/06/in-the-spirit-of-kindness/
Apposite, eh?
Hi Diogenes--and thank you. This post--"In the Spirit of Kindness" is LOVELY--and the comparison is incredibly, well, kind.
w
Another story of intimidation -
The Shadbush Environmental Justice Collective put together an action camp in November, 2012 at Maggie's Farm in Lawrence County. It was a 4 day event, though all but about 30 folks left at the end of day 3.
Before breakfast on the morning of day 4 we were awakened to the sound of a hovering PA state police helicopter. Later we spotted several PASP cruisers driving past the farm.
We planned to carry some signs up to a nearby Shell drill rig around noon. And we were going through logistics when another couple of cruisers went by.
As the designated police liaison, I went to talk to the troopers to see what they were up to. I flagged one down and approached the driver's window. The trooper lowered his window. I introduced myself and put out my hand to shake his (I was new to this dealing with police thing). He told me he didn't shake hands, patted his revolver and said, "That's my gun hand."
We weren't looking to do anything so I asked what was up. He asked me what we planned. I told him we just planned to go to the pad and hold up some signs. He told me to look out for Sgt (so and so) when we got there.
About an hour later, we arrived at the pad (followed by 2 cruisers) and found 27 other cruisers, 30 state police troopers, the helicopter (which traveled from Franklin, Venango County to Bessemer, Lawrence County - a 60+ mile drive), and several local cops PLUS at leat 30 private security guards.
We were herded into a small area and surrounded. Sgt (so and so) told us he wasn't looking for trouble but they were prepared for whatever.
So, 30 protestors carrying signs, props and looking like we had spent the weekend camping on a farm prompted an overwhelming police state response. We were a scary bunch.
Of course, 2 months later we arrived with the real terror - Henrietta Lawerence, an 8 foot by 5 foot, by 6 foot high pink papier mache pig. Henrietta made that Joint Terrorism Task Force power point presentation. She was a fierce pig.
Yup--as I keep saying, the job of "task forces" like this one for Officer Hutson is to make it LOOK like there's a threat of terrorism where there is no such thing.
One wonders if they put on these jobs guys who are just inept at being an actual police person. Officer Hutson, for example, has a slightly skanky record of harassing kids without just cause, and without following appropriate protocol:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/pa-superior-court/1417545.html
Helicopter surveillance reminds me of this at the SE Climate Convergence in 2007. (The "eco-terrorism" was going to involve some paper mache polar bears, etc.)
Wendy, although I'm sorry you had to go through such an ordeal you are making progress and I am grateful for all you do!
In the memo released from the governors office in Ohio last week they listed Marcellus Protest (which I am a proud founding member of)as one of the "Opposition" groups named in the memo! Marcellus Protest was listed as number 10 just above NRDC! We are the all volunteer grassroots group in Pittsburgh that convinced our city council to be the first city in the nation to BAN FRACKING!
I guess we're doing something right to be listed on both the Ohio and PA list of "environmental terrorists" or in other documents we found ourselves "the insurgency." Yes we "concerned citizens" (how I define myself) have managed to make the industry take notice. Our nonviolent form of educating the public on the negative impacts of fracking has them worried.
In the end, I am content knowing that all the volunteer hours we have put in for the past 4 years is having an impact. When you make it to the top 10 list of organizations the industry and corrupt politicians are aware and worried about it's comforting to know that all this work is not in vain. Exposing the toxic contamination of our environment and democracy is making the news. MSNBC did a story on the Ohio saga:http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/kasich-joins-the-troubled-gop-governor-group-164052547571
Here is a link to the entire memo from Ohio if your interested:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/downloads/2014/02/ODNRfrackingPRplan.pdf
I'm sure the PA memos were jamming the shredders as the story in Ohio broke. In the end, we will continue to have the TRUTH on our side. May they be stopped before more irreversible damage is done.
When "King Kong" opens on Broadway next year, lets hope that when the big ape breaks his chains in the Big Apple he heads south for the hills of Lycoming County, and bangs unceremoniously on the front door(s) of certain State Police and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force members who disturbed The Wrench so rudely on St. Valentine's Day.
Natural gas slid after data revealed U.S. natural gas stockpiles rose more than the five-year average last week.
The sheer stupidity of this overwhelming!
Post a Comment