Page 6 - the NOISE January 2013

NEwSbriefs
Forest service
Files “Absurd” FederAl chArges AgAinst
“The irony is that the Forest Service has au- thorized Snowbowl to spill more than one million five hundred thousand gallons of treated sewage effluent per day onto a rare and pristine alpine habitat,” maintains Mr. Hawbaker. “Yet they feel its appropriate to call hazmat when a pail of wastewater is al- legedly poured onto their polished tile floors.”
The three activists (there was a fourth, but he happened to be out of town when charg- es were filed) were arrested, kept in a cell for five hours in shackles around their waists, hands, and feet. While in custody, the activ- ists claim to have been interrogated by US Forest Service agents without their lawyers present.
All four protestors are facing multiple counts of a misdemeanor charge for alleg- edly interfering with a US Forest Service of- ficer. The offending federal statute (Title 36, Section 261.3a) reads: “Threatening, resisting, intimidating, or interfering with any forest officer engaged in or on account of the per- formance of his official duties in the protec- tion, improvement, or administration of the National Forest System is prohibited.”
“It seems clear to me,” Mr. Benally stat- ed, “that the Forest Service is seeking to sup- press any further possibility of us speaking the truth for religious freedom and protec- tion of the holy San Francisco Peaks.” Mr. Benally also questioned the timing of the arrests, which coincide near the date the ski resort plans to open for the season, the first the resort will be able to use reclaimed wastewater to make snow artificially. “This is a politically motivated attack that was clearly timed to send a message to anyone who cares about the Peaks from protesting Snowbowl snowmaking with treated sew- age effluent.”
Another apparent coincidence is that the arrests occurred on the same day that the Department of Agriculture released a 144- page report detailing USDA’s policy and procedures review and recommendations regarding “Indian Sacred Sites.” The report is based on more than 50 “listening sessions” with tribal communities which took place from 2010 to April 2011. “The fact that the USFS would bring these charges the same day they released their report on the protec- tion of sacred sites demonstrates that they are not acting in good faith,” said Mr. Benally.
A date for a bench trial is expected to be set after press time, on December 27, 2012 at 10AM.
the boom heArd
round the vAlley
by cindy J. cole | cindycole@live.com
If you’re reading this it means we got past December 21, 2012 without the world com- ing to an end. But if you were anywhere in the Verde Valley on December 4, you might have been wondering what our chances re- ally were.
Right around 4:47PM you may have heard what sounded like a huge truck barreling down the road. But, after looking around for the source of the loud rumbling, you may have been a bit bewildered when the source of the noise could not be located.
After what seemed like several minutes of this loud rumbling (but was probably only a few seconds), during which windows rattled and waves of vibration ran through your body, an even louder boom rang out before everything went still again.
This may have left you feeling confused and wondering what in the world could have caused the sounds and feelings you just ex- perienced. I know that’s how I felt, so I de- cided to see if I could get to the bottom of the so-called “booming incident” and find out what caused it.
Many people first thought that the sound and vibration might have been caused by an earthquake. So I contacted the national earthquake information center (NEIC) at the united state geological survey (USGS) and spoke with a couple of their geophysi- cists.
Earthquake analyst don blakeman con- firmed that there was no seismic activity re- corded anywhere in the Verde Valley for De- cember 4. He assured me that if there had been any activity below the surface sufficient to cause this event, it would have registered on seismometers in the area. He suggested that the booming was probably caused by a surface event that was not recorded by the instruments that pick up earthquakes — like- ly a sonic boom.
rob groninger at the sedona Airport confirmed a “few people present at the air- port that day reported hearing the sounds.” However, he said there are no aircraft capa- ble of creating a sonic boom — or coming close to flying at the speed of sound, for that matter — that are even able to use the Se- dona Airport.
lieutenant decamp at Luke Air Force Base confirmed that Luke did not have any aircraft in or around the Sedona/Verde Valley area that day. In fact, he said it is rare that planes from Luke Air Force Base ever fly into our region. According to Luke’s Range Man-
agement Office, their standard flight pattern goes as far north as the I-17/101 junction area and then breaks west. But, of course, Luke is not the only military base in the area that has aircraft capable of creating sonic booms. Lt. DeCamp suggested calling several other air- fields in the region.
A call to nellis Air Force base in Nevada was fairly inconclusive. Airman Young con- firmed that there were no complaints filed about aircraft noise or sonic booms on De- cember 4. She could not confirm there were no aircraft in the airspace over the Verde Val- ley without taking a formal complaint.
However, she said, “if there had been a son- ic boom, we would have gotten complaints.” She said that complaints were filed with the base on December 3 and 5, but not on the 4th. It seems unlikely that anyone in Northern Ari- zona would think to call an air base in Nevada, even if a plane had been observed.
In a preliminary search, Sr. Airman Dowdle did not uncover any records or evidence that aircraft from the davis-monthan Air Force base in Tucson had been in Northern Arizona on the day in question. At press time, no fol- low-up information to contradict this initial response had been received. The Marine Air Corp Station in Yuma could not be reached.
However, John bellini, a Geophysicist at the USGS told me that there had been an incident in Tampa, FL a few years ago where people over a large area had experienced similar booming to what was heard here in the Verde Valley. Calls came into the USGS reporting an earthquake and it was even enough to register on seismic instruments.
However, eventually local military admit- ted that there were F-18 fighters in the area that had, in fact, created a sonic boom. So far, nobody is owning up to that here but it is still a possibility.
To rule out atmospheric sources from weather systems, I also talked to Meteorolo- gist robert rickey at the national Weather service (NWS). He confirmed that observa- tions at Flagstaff Airport that day were clear skies and that there were no weather systems or evidence of thunderstorms in or around the Verde Valley area on their satellite records.
But so many people in the region experi- enced this disturbance that a long thread ap- peared on the Sedona Bulletin Board group on Facebook. Another explanation I decided to check out was a comment that it could have been caused by construction at the Cordes Junction interchange on I-17. The author of the post had travelled through that area the night before and remarked that traf- fic had been rerouted there.
A call to the Arizona department of
“Protect the
PeAks” Activists
by kyle boggs | kyle@undertheconcrete.org
On December 11, 2012, upon hearing word that the Forest Service filed federal charges stemming from a peaceful “Protect the Peaks” demonstration at a Forest Ser- vice office three months prior, three activists turned themselves over to US marshals. The warrants for their arrests were “sealed war- rants,” which means the full details of the charges are inaccessible to the defense, pre- venting any knowledge, for example, that there was probable cause for the arrests.
On September 21, 2012, a dozen individu- als — including children — staged a theatri- cal “quarantine” of a Coconino County Forest Service Office. This kind of demonstration, which has taken place in one form or anoth- er dozens of times in the past at various lo- cations, was used to foreground the presen- tation of a formal letter to Forest Supervisor earl stewart. The letter — presented to Mr. Stewart by Diné activist klee benally — also went out to President barack obama, Sec- retary of the Interior ken salazar, and Secre- tary of Agriculture tom vilsack.
During the demonstration, activists made clear their concerns regarding the impact of reclaimed wastewater to make snow on hu- man health and the health of native plants and trees, while others claimed that the For- est Service is complicit in what many regard as “desecration” of a holy mountain. Among other requests, the letter called for the For- est Service to cancel its Special Use Permit issued to the Arizona Snowbowl.
“I entered the building with a group of people and requested to speak to Forest Su- pervisor Earl Stewart,” said Mr. Benally. “We had a cordial conversation, he accepted let- ters regarding the sacred sites policy, we shook hands multiple times.” Three months later federal charges were filed.
According to the Forest Service complaint, an unknown individual allegedly tipped over a 5-gallon bucket full of a “clear liquid” in the lobby. Apparently Flagstaff Fire Department and a hazardous material team were called to address the “potentially hazardous” spill that was eventually determined to be treat- ed sewage effluent.
evan hawbaker, among those facing federal charges said the charges are “absurd.”
6 • JANUARY 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us