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Fired up
Colorado has taken the torch from Arizona and New Mexico, holding the dubious distinction of hosting the highest priority fire in the country. With eight fires burning across the state, including four large fires which are each currently less than 5 percent contained, the Hayman Fire, stretching from Lake George to beyond Deckers, has been declared the nation's number one fire priority. Late Tuesday night, the Hayman Fire was estimated at 86,925 acres, and the persistent 10-30 mph winds pushing the fire around erratically left little hope in the efforts to get it contained. "We don't see much relief," Fire Information Officer Barb Masinton told Boulder Weekly Tuesday. "We are basically in a defensive mode with this fire. It's so dangerous that we're not able to do anything on the leading edge." The notion of a "defensive mode" rings true throughout the West as firefighting resources are stretched thin throughout forests exploding at a single stray spark. A combination of sustained drought conditions and dry windy weather patterns have accelerated every ignition in dangerously dense forests, overstocked after a century of mismanagement. "We've been very successful at preventing fires," Masinton acknowledged, touching on the irony that a legacy of fire suppression has altered the forest ecology to the degree that we can no longer hope to quickly contain fires once they start. "To many people, this is a healthy forest," Masinton continued, letting the irony of our society's concurrent attraction for unchecked forest growth and for a home in the midst of these tinderboxes speak for itself. There have been warning signs for years about the building fire danger in the West, with every successful suppression slowing down a natural ecological thinning process and raising the stakes for the next ignition. It has taken the specter of an exponentially expanding inferno threatening people where they live to spur long overdue action. With reports of the fire marching on toward Denver-35 miles from the fire's head on Tuesday-Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton made a trip to her home state to tour the fires with Governor Owens. Norton and Owens had declared a ban on fires and fireworks on all federal and state lands in Colorado on June 6, two days before this fire started from an illegal campfire in the Pike National Forest. "We need to be better prepared to fight fires," Norton told the press in Lake George Tuesday. "That means much more actively managing our forests than we have in the past." It was a welcome acknowledgment of a long legacy of shortsighted fire management policy leading to this summer of doom, but there is no easy way out of a complex situation that continues to build on its own unstoppable momentum, much like a fire developing its own weather patterns, complete with lightning and thunderstorms, wind and rain. Although the Hayman fire is getting additional resources every day, with 400 new firefighters called in Tuesday to aid the 546 personnel already on the site, some ready resources remain bogged down in bureaucratic paralysis. Peterson Air Force Base, in nearby Colorado Springs, has two tankers gassed up and ready to aid in the slurry bombing efforts, dropping retardant along the most volatile lines of the fire to help establish a fire line. But because of the red tape involved in carrying out the governmental chain of command, it could be as late as Thursday before these idle planes are able to take to the air. At least 21 residences have already been confirmed lost, and 5,430 people had already been evacuated by Wednesday morning. The Forest Service projects a worst-case scenario of 135,000 acres lost in the Hayman Fire, which has already surrounded Cheesman Lake, making a significant impact on the Upper Platte Watershed, which Denver relies on for 60 percent of its water. "If we have to fight two or three more fires right now, it's going to be a significant problem for us," Owens told the reporter, stressing the need for Coloradans to take responsibility for respecting the state-wide ban on open fire. Owens knows that lightning strike ignitions-which typically account for 75 percent of all forest fires-are inevitable, and with the state's forests pulsing from slow burns to explosive infernos, there's no question that we're already in the midst of a significant problem. "Historically, the worst is yet to come," says Fire Behavior Analyst Brad Smith. "Based on past years, the last two weeks of June are the peak of fire season." With the fire season officially opening this coming Saturday, and with the "pre-season" pace consuming acreage at nearly twice the ten-year average, it is staggering to think of what lies ahead. After a century of suppression, fire is back with a vengeance, and there is little that can be done other than watch it run its course. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
Activists win
This week, activists everywhere won a landmark victory as the jury in the Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney civil rights lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland Police department ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding them a total of $4.4 million. "It feels unreal, and it just feels so wonderful," said Betty Ball, a local activist and close friend of Bari's and Cherney's. "In a large way, it's still sinking in." Twelve years after a bomb exploded in Bari's car, the jury found that six of the seven FBI and OPD defendants violated the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution when they illegally searched the homes of activists, arrested activists and carried out a two month long smear campaign against Bari, Cherney and Earth First! blaming them for the bombing and accusing them of terrorist activity. "This has been a total emotional roller-coaster for me, and it's so wonderful that after 12 years, the wonderful Judi Bari has had her day in court and has won," Ball said. In May 1990, Bari and Cherney were on their way to a rally in Oakland, Calif., when a bomb exploded beneath Bari's seat. Bari was seriously injured, while Cherney received wounds to his face and eyes. The FBI and the police claimed Bari and Cherney were responsible for the explosion and publicly accused them of being terrorists. Meanwhile, death threats Bari had been receiving were not investigated, nor was the letter to a local newspaper from someone claiming responsibility for the blast. After 17 days of deliberation the jury ruled that $2.4 million from the FBI and $2 million from the OPD be awarded to Cherney and Judi Bari's estate. Although Bari survived her injuries, she died in 1997 of breast cancer. Bari testified at the trial via a video made of her prior to her death. "We would not have had this day if it were not for who Judi was-her wit, her genius," Ball said. "The FBI never, ever expected this day to come, especially after Judi died." Jurors ruled that FBI agents Frank Doyle, John Reikes, Philip Sena and OPD officer Mike Sims violated Bari and Cherney's First Amendment rights. OPD Officer Sitterud was found to have violated Cherney's First Amendment rights as well. Doyle was found to have violated the Fourth Amendment rights of Bari and Cherney, while Sims was found to have violated the Fourth Amendment rights of Bari. Due to the FBI's smear campaign against Bari and Cherney the bomber is still free. Ball said she and other activists hope the trial will result in a new investigation of the bombing, one that focuses on exactly who put the bomb under Bari's seat. "We talk about it all the time," Ball said. "Has the FBI talked about it? I don't think so." Ball said that friends and supporters of Bari and Cherney have been celebrating in Oakland, Calif., where the trial took place. "This is so huge... The people have prevailed," Ball said. Before her death, Bari said, "This case is not just about me or Darryl or Earth First! This case is about the rights of all political activists to engage in dissent without having to fear the government's secret police." The FBI and Oakland Police Department still have time to file an appeal, though they have not yet announced their intent to do so. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
Local activist greives loss of husband to cancer by Ron Bain Laura Kriho of Rollinsville, known in Boulder County and nationally for her jury nullification and cannabis legalization activism, is grieving the loss of her husband, Timothy Mark Bailes, to cancer on May 27. Bailes, 46, died at the International Biocare Hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, at 4:20 p.m. on Memorial Day. A memorial and wake is scheduled for Saturday, June 15, near Nederland. While mourning, Kriho is contemplating a new-for her-form of activism: advocating a healthy, cancer-preventing diet consisting mostly of "lightly steamed vegetables and brown rice." That was the type of fruit and vegetables diet that the IBC Hospital in Tijuana immediately placed Bailes on when he checked in: the nutritional regimen eliminated sugar and salt, and limited animal proteins. The IBC doctors stopped the chemotherapy he had begun in Colorado. As a younger man, Bailes had worked around farm chemicals, had been a pesticide applicator and had removed asbestos as a construction worker. He also smoked tobacco and ate processed foods, like sugar. "Tim smoked cigarettes his whole life, and it didn't help," Kriho said. "But I don't think cigarettes caused his cancer. It all came back to diet. Cancer is cancer." Bailes' cancer began in his lungs and then metastasized throughout his body. In Colorado, doctors recommended chemotherapy, but Kriho thinks the highly toxic treatments shortened Bailes' already short life. "Traditional chemotherapy destroys your immune system," Kriho said. "You'd live longer if you didn't treat cancer in the traditional way at all." Bailes initially responded positively to the new diet and Laetrile treatments, gaining weight and strength. But his lungs were producing too many fluids and phlegm, and he succumbed to heart failure after about a month of hospitalization. The months-long ordeal has definitely changed Kriho: She gave up eating red meat. "Yeah, I went back to Chicago (after Tim's death) and had some red meat, and got sick to my stomach," she said. "We uncovered a lot of information in the last three or four months. Cancer thrives on sugar and animal protein." The only medical treatment Bailes was denied in Mexico was cannabis, Kriho said. "Eating pot definitely helped Tim. The pot-laced cookies were helping him to reduce phlegm." After the 2000 election, Kriho had decided to limit her activism. Over the past 12 years, Kriho has made local and national headlines advocating hemp legalization, medical marijuana and jury nullification. In 1996, she was convicted of contempt of court for talking about jury nullification during jury deliberations in a Gilpin County drug case; in 1999, her conviction was overturned. "Tim's constant, unconditional support was a tremendous help that allowed me to be an activist," Kriho added. "Now we've got this issue-this medical freedom of choice issue," she said. "Why should we have to run to a Third World country to get decent medical care?" Even in other nations where alternative medicines are used, "medical cannabis is illegal," she complained. Before leaving for Mexico, Bailes consulted with Boulder herbalist Brigitte Mars, obtained some relief from acupuncture and tried supplements intended to reduce cancer. But it was ironic that Mexico-a major supplier of marijuana to the U.S.-denied Bailes access to the one additional treatment that might have prolonged his life. Stroke victim Marie Matlock of Weed, Calif., recently e-published a cookbook titled Krafty Cannabis Eatables featuring recipes for a range of marijuana-based foods from lasagna to mayonnaise intended for medical marijuana patients such as Bailes. She wanted more than the traditional brownies and cookies or smoked marijuana to alleviate her intense pain, and developed the cookbook's recipes to make cannabis an everyday part of her diet. Fifty cents of each book she sells at www.1stbooks.com will go to support the medical marijuana movement in America. Kriho will return to work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research after Bailes's memorial service on Saturday. She said she hopes she can speak and make it through the memorial service without breaking down and crying. "Sometimes it just hits me, how alone I am. I'm sure it'll hit me when all my friends are around." Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
From journalist to novelist by Wayne Laugesen As a journalist, Boulder Weekly Managing Editor Pamela White is known for her outspoken, no-holds-barred, progressive feminist views. As a novelist, she's Pamela Clare-the author of steamy romance novels with sex scenes so vivid they could make Hugh Hefner blush. White, whose first novel won Best Historical Novel in the Heart of the Rockies contest, landed a major two-book publishing contract with New York-based Leisure Publishing. The first book is already written and will hit book store and supermarket shelves next year. "I've wanted this for so long I can scarcely believe it's true," White says. White spent eight years writing the first novel, set in 18th Century colonial Virginia, while working full time and raising two sons. The second book will be a sequel to the first. White received news of the book deal from her agent on June 10. "She said, 'Get some champagne. You've got an offer,'" White said. "At first I was so excited I couldn't remember how to use the telephone to call my friends and tell them." White says romance novels are inherently feminist, presenting the world from a purely female point of view. Contemporary novels tend to feature strong heroines and strong sensuality. "Romance novels are all about women getting what they want, both in and out of bed," White says. "If that's not feminist, I don't know what is." White may have chosen a lucrative genre in which to write fiction. Romance novels make up 55 percent of all paperback sales. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com |
by Owen Perkins
by John Peabody
