Six former members of the now disbanded Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front have pleaded guilty to firebombing charges relating to 16 attacks between 1996 and 2001. The groups targets included logging, wild horse roundups, genetic engineering of plants, sport utility vehicles sales and the expansion of Vail ski resort in to what they considered endangered lynx habitat. The expansion in to Blue sky Basin, which had been fought by environmental groups through the courts for ten years, went ahead the following year.
Six people have now admitted to being part of the group with another three currently described as fugitives. William Rodgers, believed to have been the leader of the group, committed suicide in jail in Arizona just before he was to be sent to Oregon to face charges.
Chelsea Gerlach and school friend Stanislaus Meyerhoff, both now 29, agreed to plead guilty to setting fire to buildings at Vail in 1998. In a statement read in court apologizing for her actions, Gerlach said;
“These acts were motivated by a deep sense of despair and anger at the deteriorating state of the global environment and the escalating inequities within society. But I realized years ago this was not an effective or appropriate way to effect positive change. I now know that it is better to act from love than from anger, better to create than destroy and better to plant gardens than to burn down buildings.”
The prosecution recommended sentences of 15 years for Meyerhoff and 10 for Gerlach.
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