Beware "using pesticide in a manner that causes harm"

A Tennessee man is showing up in court for such an offense, along with vandalism and trespassing, for poisoning his neighbor's Maple tree.

"He (Barbarotto) came on my property almost every day for three months," Burger said, in a Thursday evening interview with The Daily News Journal. "I have indisputable video proof that he drilled holes in my tree and injected the poison using a turkey baster."

|Meredith Rodriguez

Man who swats at bee requires rescuing

Nearby workers rescued an 18-year-old northeast Oregon man after he swatted one bee and was swarmed by others that stung him more than 200 times.

The workers said he was so covered by bees that they couldn't see his face.

|Meredith Rodriguez

Company knew about asbestos pollution for decades, prosecutors say

Story is from Montana, where the W.R. Grace operated a vermiculite mine for several years in the town of Libby. Prosecutors say the company knew its operations were also releasing asbestos into the community, causing about 1,200 people to die or get sick. Worse, authorities allege, the company knew what the result would be.

Five former executives are also on trial and could face prison time if convicted.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!

An eco-crime and 682 pounds of pot

Highlights of indictments by the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas:

• Sand-and-gravel business owner Hugh Barker, 50, faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for creating a dam made of broken concrete, woody debris, rebar and lumber fragments to divert water illegally from the East Sand Creek in Harper, KS.
• Lenny A. Horton, 34, Brighton, Colo., is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute approximately 682 pounds of marijuana. The crime is alleged to have occurred Dec. 18 in Wyandotte County.

4 guilty in Oregon in 5 years of eco-terror

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) _ Four environmental extremists pleaded guilty to arson and conspiracy Thursday for their part in a five-year wave of firebombings that caused $30 million in damage.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors said they would ask for five years in prison for one of the defendants, and eight years for the others. One of the defendants is a wildland firefighter and animal rights activist.
Authorities said ecoterrorists committed firebombings around the Northwest between 1996 and 2001 to stop:

• Logging
• Wild horse roundups
• Genetic engineering of plants
• SUV sales
• Expansion of a Vail, Colo., ski resort into endangered lynx habitat.

The Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attacks.
''I'm hopeful that this will conclude and destroy the arson cells of the ALF and ELF in the Pacific Northwest,'' federal prosecutor Kirk Engdall said.
The defendants are expected to be sentenced in the spring.
Six others charged in the case previously pleaded guilty.

Arrest in SoCal wildfire that killed 5

The firefighter who died Tuesday, Pablo Cerda, 23, had burns over 90% of his body:

BEAUMONT, Calif. (AP) _ A man arrested on charges of setting two wildfires this summer is considered a person of interest in a Southern California mountain fire that claimed its fifth victim.
Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on two counts of arson linked to June wildfires  and two counts of possessing fire-making materials. He was not named as a suspect in the blaze that started last week and roared across more than 60 square miles, but as a person of interest. Bail was set at $25,000.

Effort to turn Earth green punished in CO

Two guys hopped a fence and took some overripe fruit from the trash bin area of a grocery store in Steamboat Springs, CO. They were charged with felony second-degree burglary, but pleaded to misdemeanors and were sentenced to six months in jail.
The grocer was outraged - at the sentence, not the theft. But the prosecutor says the men, who were heading to a Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering to make the Earth green again, did the crime and now must do the time.

(Photo: Kelsey from Seattle summons earthy spirits at the Rainbow Family gathering in Steamboat Springs, CO, June 2006)

Hat tip to reader BS Steve!

KS beats CO out of $1M over water

...and they had it comin', those thirsty Coloradoans:

• Building on recent significant victories in its wate r case against Colorado, the state of Kansas collected an additional $1.1 million today from Colorado. Previously, Attorney General Phill Kline collected over $34 million from Colorado as damages in the long running water litigation over the Arkansas River basin. Kansas has proven that Colorado violated a 1949 river compact by over excessive pumping of water in the river basin.

Excellent background on this case, a special project of the Medill School of Journalism.

Photo: Dust Bowl victims

Water woes in the Western U.S.

"Whisky is for drinking. Water is for fighting over.”
- Mark Twain, 1884

Starlets in the mist: Darryl Hannah arrested

Helpful colleague has sent this link to a video of protesters, apparently including actress Darryl Hannah, being arrested out of a tree in California.
I see lots of green, no Darryl Hannah.

Yesterday's post:
Brave celebrities risk arrest in California

Brave celebrities risk arrest in California

Right: Daryl Hannah, fighting for justice in Attack of the 50-foot Woman, continues her battle in a  tree in California:

Celebrities join farm protest
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of sheriff’s deputies began evicting people from an 14-acre urban garden early Tuesday as protesters chained themselves to barrels of concrete and others, including actress Daryl Hannah, secured themselves in a large walnut tree.
“I’m very confident this is the morally right thing to do, to take a principled stand in solidarity with the farmers,” Hannah said by cell phone. Asked if she's willing to risk arrest, she said, “I’m planning on holding my position.”

Random crime-related wire stories

Guilty plea in genetics lab eco-terror case
SACRAMENTO, Calf. (AP) — One of three people accused of plotting to blow up a U.S. Forest Service genetics lab and other targets pleaded guilty to conspiracy, federal prosecutors said.
Lauren Weiner, 20, of Pound Ridge, N.Y., agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of her plea bargain.
That includes testifying against Eric McDavid, 28, of Foresthill, Calif., and Zachary Jenson, 20, of Monroe, Wash. They remain in the Sacramento County Jail and could face five to 20 years in federal prison if convicted of conspiring to use fire or explosives to damage property.

No more charges in rapper Proof shootout
DETROIT (AP) — The man who police say shot and killed rapper Proof in a nightclub shootout acted lawfully in defense of another man, the county prosecutor said. But Mario Etheridge still will have to face weapons charges in the April 11 incident in which Etheridge's 35-year-old cousin Keith Bender also was killed.

Homeless men in LA befriended, run over
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal grand jury indicted two elderly women accused of befriending transient men and then collecting on life insurance policies worth $2.3 million after the men died in hit-and-run crashes.

 

Feds will pay for barn they knocked down in Hoffa search
MILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The past two weeks weren't easy for Deb Koskovich. Her driveway was lined with satellite news trucks, her street was clogged by FBI agents and her grass was ruined by gawkers trying to see if the FBI had found Jimmy Hoffa's remains at a neighboring horse farm.

KCK recycler fined $50,000

             KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A recycling company hired by Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad to scrap locomotives will pay a $50,000 fine for causing a diesel fuel spill in the Shunganunga Creek in Topeka., Kan.
        Erman Corporation, Inc., has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., to one count of negligent violation of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

                          Full news release

 

Awful-smelling turkey offal

I had to look up a word in the Star story today about the smelly plant in Carthage, MO:

• Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt on Wednesday ordered the temporary shutdown of a Carthage plant that turns turkey offal into oil because of the stench it emits.

Turkey what? But, according to the plant, this stuff is golden. It's not just turkey innards they can turn to oil, parent company Changing World Technology says. Other stuff they can make into oil:

• Tires
• Plastic bottles
• Harbor-dredged sediment
• Old computers
• Municipal sewage sludge
• Cornstalks
• Paper-pulp effluent
• Infectious medical waste

This is great. Now if they can just hold the smell down. And, maybe, hold the infectious medical waste?

Illegal dumping: Just throw that anywhere

By Greg Reeves

Does this look like the ravine behind your house? (Click photo for larger image). If so, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources would like to talk to you. The agency has posted an interesting collection of illegal-dumping videos that resulted in 14 guilty pleas to 23 counts of littering in Saline County. But outlaw dumping is a statewide problem.
"It happens everywhere", DNR's Dan Fester tells Crime Scene KC. "There’s no place exempt."
The agency places hidden video monitors around known dump sites to collect evidence. A camera may be coming to our area soon, who knows. We'll keep you posted.
 

Here's DNR's general page on illegal dumping in Missouri.
Thanks and a hat tip to Star environmental reporter Karen Dillon.