Activists say they set fire at Idaho fur seller

[IDemo]

Source: Associated Press

By JOHN MILLER
updated 2 hours 30 minutes ago 2011-09-26T23:14:51

BOISE, Idaho — Animal rights activists said they pumped fuel into an Idaho fur and fireworks retailer before setting the place ablaze early Monday, and federal agents said they were taking the claim seriously.

Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office in Los Angeles, said he received a message from activists shortly after the fire began at the Rocky Mountain Fireworks & Fur Co. on Monday morning.

"A hole was drilled into their storage space, and several gallons of fuel were pumped through, as well as multiple other charges being set beneath an adjoining structure," Vlasak said, citing the message. "Ignition devices were set to finish up our work, once we were safely on our way."

In addition to fireworks, the business in Caldwell, outside Boise, buys coyote and bobcat pelts and sells trapping supplies, including equipment that helps drown beavers. It also sells knives, predator calls and scents to help lure bobcats.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44678340/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

[boppers]

1. Fur... and.... fireworks?

Uh, okay.

[MADem]

16. That caught my attention, too.

I think fur coats smell bad, but I think this kind of vandalism is outrageous and horrible.

[quakerboy]

17. First thing I noticed

How do you come up with that particular retail combination?

[Major Hogwash]

27. Yeppers, that's how they do it out here in the wild, wild West.

Beaver pelts and bottle rockets.

I almost said something I might have regretted later.

LoL

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Uh huh.

That'll sure get everyone on their side.
:sarcasm:

[Doremus]

3. It gets me on their side.

Equipment that drowns beavers and lures bobcats to their death ... I'm glad that business is out of commission.

[1620rock]

4. Good! I would like to see more of this.

[Maine_Nurse]

8. So you advocate class A felonies?? Nice.

[hack89]

36. I support them going to prison for a very long time. nt

[wordpix]

57. which ones? The wildcat killers who drown beavers or those who put the killers out of business?

When you have a "great frontier" mentality with people thinking this wildlife is nothing but varmints and sports targets, you get violent acts against wildlife by humans who can wipe out entire species completely.

Not advocating violent acts but these wildlife killers are even more violent than those who set fire to their store.

[hack89]

60. The criminal arsonists.

they endanger humans - they are orders of magnitude more violent and dangerous.

[GreenStormCloud]

5. Arson carries the chance of becoming murder.

Sometimes there are people inside buildings that the arsonist thinks is empty.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. Yep

You called it right.

The rest of you, it's easy to talk tough on a message board. Show your face and say that. You won't.

[DRoseDARs]

10. Nighttime watchman, janitor... very easy for this to have become murder.

You protest, you blockade, you educate. You do NOT commit acts of senseless violence.

[Yo_Mama]

15. Fireman!

Fighting fires is dangerous. Fighting a fire in a place that has explosives in it is really dangerous.

Jerks and criminals did this (or claimed they did it).

[bitchkitty]

22. Shac 7 protested, blockaded, educated

and ended up with prison sentences anyway.

[DRoseDARs]

24. Seeing as they used their website to try to incite violence, I don't think that example exemplifies

...what you think it does.

[LeftyMom]

25. No they didn't.

It's a non-violent movement, but thanks for playing.

[hack89]

37. That is not as clear cut as you would think

What would you think if similar words and actions were directed at an abortion clinic?

During the three-week trial, defense lawyers acknowledged that a Web site run by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty posted home addresses and other personal information about animal researchers and others. But the activists said they were simply trying to shame their targets into dissociating themselves from the company, Huntingdon Life Sciences, and they disavowed any involvement with the vandalism, death threats, computer hacking and pipe bombs against those on the Web site.

Although federal prosecutors presented no evidence that the defendants directly participated in the vandalism and violence, they showed jurors that members of the group made speeches and Web postings from 2000 to 2004 that celebrated the violence and repeatedly used the word "we" to claim credit for it.

Prosecutors also produced telephone records indicating that the president of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, Kevin Kjonaas, called a man charged with bombing a California biotech lab shortly after the explosion.

Jurors were also shown a videotape of the group's director, Lauren Gazzola, at a protest in Boston, making reference to the previous acts of violence and warning a target, "The police can't protect you!"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/nyregion/03animals.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1317130719-9epXwZ/tCS1OthO5R4KG3A

[roguevalley]

55. spray coats with paint.

[DRoseDARs]

43. SHAC maybe, but the SHAC 7 were specifically cited. n/t

[bitchkitty]

26. You are completely wrong.

They never incited violence against anyone.

[DRoseDARs]

44. Post #37 n/t

[bitchkitty]

49. They are not responsible for what others do.

I am active in the medical marijuana community where I live. Whenever some asshole who is working the program to his or her own advantage gets caught, selling marijuana or going way over compliance, a lot of another kind of asshole judges all of us by this one person's actions. That's moronically insane, and I'm frankly surprised that any human being would think this mindset justifies ruining these seven young people's lives for the sake of a fucking corporation.

[DRoseDARs]

51. Perhaps you should try rereading a few posts...

I don't give a shit about your pot use and frankly yes, it should be decriminalized, but that is irrelevant to this thread. As stated above, it was the SHAC 7 that were gone after because they made threatening comments and posted personal information of their enemies on their website, much like anti-abortionists do. The Feds didn't go after the whole organization, they went after the 7 whose actions warranted it.

[bitchkitty]

52. Post one source

for threatening comments posted by Kevin Jonas, Lauren Gazzola, Jacob Conroy, Joshua Harper, Andrew Stepanian, Darius Fullmer, or John McGee.

As far as the pot thing it was an analogy. Perhaps you should try rereading a few posts?

[DRoseDARs]

54. And again I direct you to post #37.

A jury of their peers felt the evidence presented in court against the accused was sufficient to warrant convictions. Threatening and violent comments, coupled with the publication of private personal information of the people their comments were directed at, apparently rises to the level of "inciting violence" which doesn't require the actual violence to occur. Have you objected to people being arrested and convicted of making threats against the President? They haven't actually done anything to the President and pretty much none of them realistically ever had the means to, but evidently it's enough for them to be prosecuted. That you don't understand this is nothing short of depressing; it's this kind of willful myopy that allows anti-abortionists to get away with the violence they do without it being called what it is: Terrorism.

[bitchkitty]

61. Kevin made a phone call, according to your article.

That's a dangerous act of terrorism?

HLS is an abominable organization, rife with cruelty and downright sadism that was extensively documented in undercover videos. When their clients found out what was going on there, thanks to SHAC, they started dropping them left and right. HLS almost went under - which would have been a glorious thing to happen.

SHAC 7 never bombed anyone, they never advocated hurting anyone - they exercised their right to free speech to help the truly innocent. It's fucking depressing that you don't understand this, and that you condone their arrest and imprisonment.

I watched those videos. I'll never change my mind.

[Maine_Nurse]

7. Ahh left wing terrorists, just what we need. nt

[Doremus]

11. Invoking the term 'terrorist'

Automatic fail.

[SpartanDem]

12. Bet you call them terrorist if this was an abortion clinc

burned down by some fundies, but it's ok to use violence to support a cause you like? Maybe you can tell me how you're diffrent than those people, because I sure can't see it.

[Maine_Nurse]

30. Well that is what they are. Supporting violence like this is a fail.

[No Elephants]

32. I can remember when we had peaceful demonstrators and criminals.

Since 2001, everyone's a terrorist terrorist, though. Even if the only victim is a toilet in the Pentagon, as was the case with Bill Ayers.

[bongo_x]

13. I don't think of them as Left wing terrorists

I don't think of them as Left wing terrorists, I think of them as animal rights terrorists. They're not part of my Left. Maybe they're animal rights people who believe in unrestrained free markets and are anti-union.

I'm tired of people making animal rights, gun control, abortion, God, &c as part of the Left-Right struggle. They're not, and that's how the bad people manipulate us, by making the arguments all about those things.

[No Elephants]

33. Agree in part and disagree in part.

What do you think IS part of "the Left-Right struggle?"

Human life? Money? War? Equality? Freedom--and if freedom is the only issue appropriately included, wouldn't that be Libertarianism?


Who decides what is or is not part of the Left-Right struggle?

[slackmaster]

45. They fall on the Authoritarian side of the Libertarian/Authoritarian scale

Their goals are changes that inherently take choices away from people.

I'm tired of people making animal rights, gun control, abortion, God, &c as part of the Left-Right struggle. They're not....

I agree for the most part. They're mainly issues of freedom vs. oppression rather than the classic left/right dichotomy of economic systems.

[wordpix]

58. Ahh, terrorists who kill wildlife for sport and pelts, just what we need

See, this works both ways, if you know that animals are just as important and sentient as people. But it seems you don't.

[Major Hogwash]

28. Hahahaha!!! Burned up some skins, and almost set off half a ton of fireworks.

Now, that's something you don't see every day reported on the news!!

[Old Codger]

9. Idiots

All well and good to take action on your beliefs but endangering innocent others in the process is wrong in so many ways as to be totally indefensible. ELF did that here and burned down a local sawmill office, endangering our local volunteer fire fighters in doing so.... Someone has to fight those fires in order to keep them from spreading to houses in the area and possibly killing someone in them or causing the death of a fire fighter... Al I can say is they are the worst type of cowards, in line with the terrorists that have done so much other damage such as McVay (sp) and others... no better that any mid east terrorist, not one bit better.

[No Elephants]

34. Just adding that the Middle East is not the only origin of Muslim extremist terrorists.

[saras]

14. The Weather Underground did it effectively, notifying authorities so no one will be in the building.

Wikipedia sez: The bombing attacks mostly targeted government buildings, along with several banks. Most were preceded by evacuation warnings, along with communiqués identifying the particular matter that the attack was intended to protest.

I'm not recommending it, mind you. It's probably looked on even worse now than it was then.

But it serves to point out that there's a profound distinction between destroying property and terrorism.

[jberryhill]

20. I'm glad there is an Emily Post guide to destructive etiquette.

[No Elephants]

35. You're not glad that people took pains to make sure no human was hurt by their war protests?

I understand not condoning damage to property.

If events continue in the direction they have been going, I am not so sure I will always condemn damage to property. People like Tom Paine and John Adams did not always condemn it. And the "representation" before taxation for which their generation fought so hard for is becoming more and more a joke. So, I don't know.

But I can understand someone's condemning it. But sarcasm about taking pains not to hurt people is misplaced anyway, IMO.

[hack89]

39. And when the firefighters show up to fight the fire?

if one gets killed, whose fault is it?

[jberryhill]

42. If a rapist uses a condom, it is a considerate thing to do, I suppose

[Old Codger]

40. HMMMM

Destroying property in order to instill fear to make a point is terrorism no matter how you attempt to dress it up.

[LeftyMom]

18. Excellent.

That makes my night. :D

[alittlelark]

19. OMG!!! they are ANARCHISTS!!!!!!

They do all that kinda shit..... OMG!


Fur and Fireworks. Honeymoon. Sadness when flames erupt....


WTF? How can there be a story here?

[jmowreader]

21. This is not going to turn out well for the arsonists

The story said the arsonists made a demand: close the store permanently or we'll be back.

We have 44 counties. Each one has a sheriff. None of the 44 would bother pressing charges against a store owner who defended himself against a stated threat by shooting these people when they come back to do him more damage.

[Maine_Nurse]

29. Arson is defensible with deadly force in some states like mine. nt

[jberryhill]

23. I hope his accounting records weren't destroyed in the fire

Because it would really be a double tragedy if he was having financial troubles before his store was burned down.

There was a business like that in a town where I lived. Every time he got into money problems, dang if he didn't have a fire.

One time, the fire department got there so quickly that he didn't think the fire was big enough to bother them, bless his soul, so he suggested they wait to see if he could put it out himself first.

[No Elephants]

38. Had a couple of fires in empty buildings in downtown Boston that were suspicous, at best.

In one, the property owner had already been granted permission to demolish the small, one floor building he had rented to a tiny Dunkin' Doughnuts and replace it with a much taller building, with condos and retail space.

The fire, which broke out overnight, was determined to have been set.

It was said at first that someone had died in the fire, probably a homeless man.

The owner and his wife were vacationing outside the country, so the motive for the arson was not clear.

A few days later, though, the man who died in the fire turned out to have been the brother of the owner.

Did the brother die setting the fire, or trying to investigate it? And, if the latter, how did he learn of a fire that had broken out in the wee hours of the morning?

No one was ever charged with anything.

I don't know if the insurance company paid or not.

[bigworld]

31. If we're gong to condemn violence when it's carried out against abortion providers

we have to condemn this as well. This place was carrying out an absolutely legal activity.

[jberryhill]

41. You don't understand

The vast majority of people, independent of what their political views may be, are perfectly happy with fear, force and violence as long as it is directed against those they consider to be "wrong".

As soon as you reach the point where you are 100% "right" and the other side is 100% "wrong", well, you know, there's just no reading with "people like them".

The only person you can really change is yourself. And I wish everyone else would do that to my satisfaction.

[wordpix]

59. yah, killing fur bearing wildlife is a legal activity that mostly repuke legislatures sanction

We don't need to kill wildlife for furs anymore, we're not living in the Stone Age and if we were, we wouldn't be killing them with the kind of inhumane high tech weapons these Neanderthals use, anyway. At least the animals would have a chance and wouldn't be wiped out by the thousands.

[slackmaster]

46. I hope the arsonists go to prison for a long, long time

Fuck them. I want to go out and buy a new pair of leather shoes just to spite those assholes.

[RebelOne]

47. I am an animal rights advocate, but I do not condone this. n/t

[closeupready]

48. Despicable.

:mad:

[and-justice-for-all]

50. Good...nt

"Caldwell, outside Boise, buys coyote and bobcat pelts and sells trapping supplies, including equipment that helps drown beavers. It also sells knives, predator calls and scents to help lure bobcats." Fucking disgusting.

[Exultant Democracy]

53. Make your enemies rich with big insurance payouts. Stupid ass strategy.

[sylveste]

56. not to mention

the damaged furs will be replaced by new ones, so even more dead animals. seems a bit shortsighted

[LeftyMom]

62. They'll probably go out of business.

It's understandably rather expensive to insure your property if you're in the fur business. ;)

Seriously though, if they get a payout they'll probably take it and go quietly. Some relatives of mine whose business burned down in an ALF action did.

[chrisa]

63. Epic Fail - They'll just order new ones = More dead animals.

Time to go order a steak now. ;-)

[MrSlayer]

64. Does this not border on domestic terrorism?

Or is it just that without the border? The fur trade is legal whether people like it or not. Destroying other people's property and endangering the lives of others is not a good way to get your agenda passed. These idiots are going to be caught and prosecuted.