Was the arrest and conviction of Eric McDavid (right) a successful prosecution of an eco-terrorist conspiracy, or a case of entrapment by an overzealous undercover operative? His friends and family make a compelling case for the latter, on today's North Bay Report.

The use of terrorism and conspiracy charges to suppress free speech and dissent has been used most aggressively against members of the Earth Liberation Front and the  Animal Liberation Front, but Jenny Esquivel  observes that the same  tactics were employed to pre-emptively arrest organizers of political protests at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis last summer.

 

 McDavid's friends and family have also established an online support website for him and his appeal at supporteric.org .

Injustice For an Activist: In 2008, Eric McDavid, an environmental activist was imprisoned, and subsequently sentenced to 19 years and 7 months for crimes he never committed. Loved ones will be giving a 2 hour presentation of Eric's story including the FBI's use of entrapment as part of the government's Green Scare campaign .

Thursday, February 19, 7 pm, at the Peace and Justice Center in Santa Rosa.

 

 

 Shepherd Bliss, a Sebastopol farmer and writer, and  part-time instructor in the psychology department  at Sonoma State University talks about his experience in Chile just before the 1973 coup and how it felt to return to that country34 years later, as part of an inquest into the police state execution of his close friend Frank Teruggi. It wasn't easy, but even after three and a half decades, Bliss believes that confronting government-sanctioned brutality and torture is difficult, painful and necessary.

September 11^th was also the date of General Pinochet's Chilean coup in 1973 (above). But Sheperd Bliss suggests that earlier tragedy may have had even more far-reaching consequences.

    Bliss has written about his efforts to come to terms with his recent Chilean experiences in an essay titled "The Grim Reaper, Agrotherapy, Kokopelli and Pinochet's Darkness," which was published in the most recent edition of the University of Hawaii's Manoa Journal:  Enduring War--Stories of What We've Learned. Occidental garlic grower and writer Chester Aarons also has two pieces in the same volume.

Both men will co-host a presentation titled "Storytelling, Farming and Healing," at the VIVA Culinary Institute, 7160 Keating Avenue in Sebastopol, 6:30-8:30 pm, Tuesday, Feb. 17.  Details here or by calling 824-9913.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public schools throughout Sonoma County are struggling to cut and balance budgets that depend on state funds, without a state budget to tell them what money will be available.

 You can view a map of Sonoma County school districts here.

 

The Santa Rosa City School District has posted the list of potential budget cuts they are weighing on their website. You can view it (pdf) here.

Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Sharon Liddell

 

 

 

California's budget problems dominated the dialog at the convocation to open the new semester at Sonoma State University.