Eco Terrorism
Rears it's Ugly Head Again?
Unfortunately, it's all too likely. Some time ago,
a page appeared on the web, posted by radical environmentalists, that
condemned the "wanton destruction" and other colorful
euphemisms, perpetrated by off-road racers in "Baja"...I.E.
Baja California Mexico. This classic of modern literature also
threatened to put an end to racing in Baja "one way or
another". A short time later, it disappeared.............. Off-road racing in Mexico has always been a
challenge. As if the terrain wasn't rugged enough, some of the locals
have a habit of "booby trapping" the course. Rather than being
some form of sinister plot to scare off racers, the traps were built as
jumps & such. Their purpose was to get the trucks, bikes &
buggies airborne, increasing the thrill factor for the spectators in the
area. While they were never by any means "encouraged", at no
time were they built specifically to kill or maim anyone. Recently however, things in Baja have gotten ugly.
Very ugly. During the Baja 500, one racer was mugged by 3 masked men
while prerunning in a desolate section of the course, and another was
shot during the race itself. It seems to have been the beginning of a
trend with some ominous overtones. Off-Road.com recently received the following
letter (excerpted) from race promoter Otis Fudpucker, widely known as
"Fud". "More bad news from Baja..... I hate to report incidents like this
because it seems we have not heard anything good from Baja lately.
However, i feel the atv and bike racers need to be aware of this. On July 4 there was a race by El
Alamo. Pro bike racer Marc Burnett was way out in front after two laps
when he discovered that someone had strung a single strand of barbed
wire across the road and tied each end to a tree. Marc said he saw it
just before he hit it. I went to see him today and it was not a pretty
sight. 400 stitches were
required to close the wounds in his arms and approximately 200 stitches
were needed to close the rips on his face. He is lucky, because he could have
bled to death. The good news is the doctors have told Marc he should not
have any lasting scars. ........Fud" There were of course, no witnesses, no arrests,
and no way of knowing who the culprit was. Perhaps we never will know,
but in light of the recent escalation of ecoterrorism incidents (such as
the Congressman Frank Riggs episode among others), one has to wonder.
This would not be the first time that radical environmentalists had
rigged traps capable of, and in fact designed to kill off-roaders. The "Death Cube", a construction of
spiked railroad ties placed into a freeway underpass by Mike Roselle
& other members of Earth First, would have, if left undiscovered,
certainly killed the first racer to hit it. Perhaps several more as
well. The trap was placed in protest of the "Barstow to Vegas"
motorcycle race. Since EF! couldn't stop the race by civilized methods,
they resorted to acts of terrorism. It should be noted that the trap was
hidden in deep shadow, & placed after safety riders
"swept" the course for any signs of trouble. This is but one
example....there are more. Still the question remains. Was the barbed wire
trap the act of an ecoterrorist? The barbed wire strung across the
course is a tactic straight from what has become known as the "Earth
First Death Manual". This
pamphlet, advertised in the "Earth First Journal", and
promoted by that paper,"assumes that the United States has
been invaded by Enemy Soldiers on motorcycles, and that we have to fight
and harass them by guerrilla tactics.". Sure. We believe it was written about "enemy
soldiers on motorcycles".....not. From "Neck Wires"....... "A broken neck will
seriously hamper a Soldiers activities. Ideal wire to use is very thin
'piano wire' lightly daubed with a dark brown or black paint to kill the
shine. Since this wire has a tensile strength of something like 100,000
pounds per square inch it can be stretched between two trees very
tightly. Any wire will do the job, even rusty barbed wire. Barbed wire
has the advantage of gouging deep scratches even if it misses the neck
area and only pulls across the chest and arms. This smarts, especially
if the rider is thrown and gets dirt in the wounds. A variation is a
loop hung down from a tree limb. This will act as a noose and as it
tightens around the riders neck it will pull him off the cycle. He will
probably have some difficulty in breathing." All we know for certain is that radical
environmental groups, and their members, have proven themselves capable
of killing human beings "in defense of nature". The Unabomber
proved that. We know that Earth First! and the Earth Liberation front
have ties in Baja Mexico (according to Dave Foreman himself), and we
know that they have stated their intention to eliminate racing on the
peninsula. Several months ago on a trip to San Felipe, I was
confronted with a wide variety of "environmental" propaganda,
posted on the walls of one of the local government buildings. It was the
typical "doom & gloom" literature that Americans have been
putting up with since common sense hooked up with reality, and took the
last boat to points unknown. History has shown us that wherever
"mainstream" environmentalism goes, radical environmentalism
is never far behind. Coincidence? I Think not. "It's
Not Easy Being Green" - Article Index
Links to so called
"Environmental Organizations" The Sierra Club
Homepage - http://www.sierraclub.org
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance - http://www.suwa.org/
Earth First! Homepage - http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/campaigns/ef/pubs/aulat.html | 
