My father he was wild and my mother she was green
FBI Probes Claim That ELF Set Western Md. Fires
(AP) HAGERSTOWN, Md. The FBI said Monday it is investigating a claim that someone representing the radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front set fire to four unoccupied townhouses in a new development.
The fires early Sunday destroyed one of the units at the Hager's Crossing subdivision, Hagerstown Fire Department Chief Hawbaker said. No one was hurt.
The project's developer estimated the damage at more than $225,000.
The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail newspaper reported Monday that it had received an e-mail claiming the fires were set by ELF to "warn all developers that the people of the Earth are prepared to defend what remains of the wild and the green."
A copy of the message obtained by The Associated Press indicated the e-mail was sent from the e-mail address "tree--beard1234yahoo.com" by someone named Joe Smith. Messages that The Associated Press sent to the address and to the ELF Web site weren't immediately answered.
The newspaper said in its story that it showed the message to Hawbaker, who said he then notified law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
"We are responding and will coordinate with those agencies that have already begun the investigation," said Barry Maddox, a spokeswoman in the FBI's Baltimore office.
Hawbaker, who is leading the investigation, said the other agencies involved are the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office and the Hagerstown Police Department.
Hawbaker said no other recent fires in the area fit the pattern of the Sunday blazes.
According to the ELF Web site, it is an underground movement with no public leadership, membership or spokesperson.
ELF has not previously claimed responsibility for fires in Maryland, said W. Faron Taylor, a spokesman for the state fire marshal.
The FBI has said ELF is responsible for more than $100 million in damage since 1996. Its members communicate over the Internet and their identities often are unknown even to each other, officials have said.
In May, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, John Lewis, testifying before a Senate committee, named the ELF as one of the environmental and animal-rights groups that represent the nation's top domestic terrorism threat.
Hager's Crossing is a 930-unit subdivision being developed by The Rachuba Group of Eldersburg. Vice President L. Ray Rachuba said the four damaged units had been sold, with the one that was destroyed scheduled for settlement around Christmas.
Rachuba said he was disheartened to hear of the ELF claim.
"Here they go. They're coming down and they are destroying people's property," Rachuba said. "A lot of hard work went into those houses."
He said the destroyed unit, valued at about $200,000, was on one end of a four-unit structure built by Ryan Homes of Frederick, a division of NVR Inc. of Reston, Va. The adjacent unit sustained $25,000 to $30,000 worth of damage, Rachuba said.
Two units in a neighboring structure built by Patriot Homes of Columbia sustained slight damage totaling less than $10,000, Rachuba said.
He said he will hire security guards to keep watch over construction of the project, which is about 30 percent complete.
The subdivision, begun in the spring of 2003, is being built on 230 acres of former farmland near a big-box shopping center at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Interstate 81.
It is among the first large-scale planned residential communities in Hagerstown, a city of 38,000 people that's about 70 miles northwest of the nation's capital. Development is accelerating in the area as capital-area workers seek affordable housing far from their work places.
Text of e-mail sent Sunday to The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail that claimed the Earth Liberation Front was responsible for setting fires at four unoccupied homes at a new development:
"Last night we, the Earth Liberation Front, put the torch to a development of Ryan Homes in Hagerstown, Maryland (off of Route 40, behind the Wal-Mart). We did so to strike at the bottom line of this country's most notorious serial land rapist. We warn all developers that the people of the Earth are prepared to defend what remains of the wild and the green. We encourage all who watch with sadness while developers sell out the future of us and our children to join us in resisting them in any and every possible way. The Ents are going to war."
On the Net:
Earth Liberation Front: http://www.earthliberationfront.com
Hager's Crossing: http://www.hagerscrossing.com
DAVID DISHNEAU
(AP) HAGERSTOWN, Md. The FBI said Monday it is investigating a claim that someone representing the radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front set fire to four unoccupied townhouses in a new development.
The fires early Sunday destroyed one of the units at the Hager's Crossing subdivision, Hagerstown Fire Department Chief Hawbaker said. No one was hurt.
The project's developer estimated the damage at more than $225,000.
The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail newspaper reported Monday that it had received an e-mail claiming the fires were set by ELF to "warn all developers that the people of the Earth are prepared to defend what remains of the wild and the green."
A copy of the message obtained by The Associated Press indicated the e-mail was sent from the e-mail address "tree--beard1234yahoo.com" by someone named Joe Smith. Messages that The Associated Press sent to the address and to the ELF Web site weren't immediately answered.
The newspaper said in its story that it showed the message to Hawbaker, who said he then notified law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
"We are responding and will coordinate with those agencies that have already begun the investigation," said Barry Maddox, a spokeswoman in the FBI's Baltimore office.
Hawbaker, who is leading the investigation, said the other agencies involved are the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office and the Hagerstown Police Department.
Hawbaker said no other recent fires in the area fit the pattern of the Sunday blazes.
According to the ELF Web site, it is an underground movement with no public leadership, membership or spokesperson.
ELF has not previously claimed responsibility for fires in Maryland, said W. Faron Taylor, a spokesman for the state fire marshal.
The FBI has said ELF is responsible for more than $100 million in damage since 1996. Its members communicate over the Internet and their identities often are unknown even to each other, officials have said.
In May, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, John Lewis, testifying before a Senate committee, named the ELF as one of the environmental and animal-rights groups that represent the nation's top domestic terrorism threat.
Hager's Crossing is a 930-unit subdivision being developed by The Rachuba Group of Eldersburg. Vice President L. Ray Rachuba said the four damaged units had been sold, with the one that was destroyed scheduled for settlement around Christmas.
Rachuba said he was disheartened to hear of the ELF claim.
"Here they go. They're coming down and they are destroying people's property," Rachuba said. "A lot of hard work went into those houses."
He said the destroyed unit, valued at about $200,000, was on one end of a four-unit structure built by Ryan Homes of Frederick, a division of NVR Inc. of Reston, Va. The adjacent unit sustained $25,000 to $30,000 worth of damage, Rachuba said.
Two units in a neighboring structure built by Patriot Homes of Columbia sustained slight damage totaling less than $10,000, Rachuba said.
He said he will hire security guards to keep watch over construction of the project, which is about 30 percent complete.
The subdivision, begun in the spring of 2003, is being built on 230 acres of former farmland near a big-box shopping center at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Interstate 81.
It is among the first large-scale planned residential communities in Hagerstown, a city of 38,000 people that's about 70 miles northwest of the nation's capital. Development is accelerating in the area as capital-area workers seek affordable housing far from their work places.
Text of e-mail sent Sunday to The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail that claimed the Earth Liberation Front was responsible for setting fires at four unoccupied homes at a new development:
"Last night we, the Earth Liberation Front, put the torch to a development of Ryan Homes in Hagerstown, Maryland (off of Route 40, behind the Wal-Mart). We did so to strike at the bottom line of this country's most notorious serial land rapist. We warn all developers that the people of the Earth are prepared to defend what remains of the wild and the green. We encourage all who watch with sadness while developers sell out the future of us and our children to join us in resisting them in any and every possible way. The Ents are going to war."
On the Net:
Earth Liberation Front: http://www.earthliberationfront.com
Hager's Crossing: http://www.hagerscrossing.com
DAVID DISHNEAU
posted by professor rat at 12:17 AM
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