2 pm Salmon Creek. Helicopters (one army green, one huey) circling below 500', appears to be landing in his field. 2:15 flew over house at about 150' . This is second incident. This man's mother has Altzheimers & used to be an army nurse. She is quite disturbed by hearing the helicopters. After the prior incident Deputy Downey went to the house and spoke with him. The man feels they had an agreement not to fly over again, and they have broken this agreement.
19-13 Sep 1996 Friday.
Sometime during this week we had two serious incidents. We believe they involve one of the officers who was at the Farron Road incidents.
Cut waterline and damaged spring box of line which obviously went to house. Couple discovered vandalism when storage tanks ran dry a week later. Can't easily repair, can't water garden. Similar vandalism by law enforcement several years back. Thought institutional memory would protect them.
Family held at gunpoint, ordered to leave their property. CAMP dragged cut pot onto land, using it for LZ. When confronted by family, deputy pulled gun on them, threatened to arrest them for the pot he had just brought to their land, ordered them to leave.
6 Sep 1996 Friday.
Noon-1pm. Redway. Green helicopter circling the ridge just south of town for quite a while.
Morning: Briceland Road - Ettersburg. Convoy seen heading west on Briceland road. Helicopter activity on Ettersburg Road 1.5 miles past jct with Briceland road. No reports of these two connecting up.
5 Sep 1996
12:30pm. OREGON, Greafleaf - Nelson Mountain Road. Helicopter bright orange/red. Circling very low over homes, vehicles, residents.
Shelter Cove. White airplane and helicopter working again. Convoy seen going there.
3PM Redway. Helicopter, red/orange with white diagonal stripe, apparently circling over residences in the town c. 100'. Observer was parked at D'amatos.
10:40AM Laytonville (Mendocino County). Circling around North Road (in the town?) with a guy hanging out the door wearing fancy headgear.
4 Sep 1996 Wednesday.
<2-4pm> CHP stops on US 101 between Ukiah and Branscomb of "new looking trucks" driven by people with "pony tails". Is this an early version of "Operation Harvest Sweep"?
29-30 August: Thursday & Friday
CAMP convoys and helicopters reported working a thinly populated section of the Alderpoint Road between Bridgeville and Blocksburg. No complaints reported.
28 Aug 1996 Wednesday
Laraby Ranch, Blocksburg area 2:45pm Helicopter dark gray w/ orange stripe circling all the ranches in the area very low (100-200')
27 Aug 1996 Tuesday
Scattered surveilance and raids. Two bird complaints.
Branscomb, outside Laytonville. 10:35 am. A small helicpter, white bubble shaped, feet and tail sky blue with two armed men hanging out of the door on each side flew over while taking out two loads of light green vegetation in a net. Local birds disappeared from customary haunts, didn't return till 6:30pm, where they would usually be around all day.
Barley Hill outside Redway 11 am blue/orange & red helicopter made two passed at eat 200-300'.
McKinleyville- Murray Road Area. 11:30am Large green helicopter an small red chopper making "high pitched stealth noise" flying at treetop levels. Emu rancher reports injuries to birds resulting from running into fences in panic.
26 Aug 1996 Monday
CAMP reported in the Blue Slide area, also at Cato peak.
Did law enforcement accidently start the Forks fire at Clearlake? According to the Napa Sentinal's Harry V. Martin the answer is yes. The Press Democrat today published a Forest Service denial of the story made Sunday by Susan Exline, spokesperson. Estelle Fennel, news director at KMUD, was told by Martin's source that the story comes from private contract helicopter pilots who were fighting the fire. We are pursuing this.
22 Aug 1996 Thursday
Reports of convoy and helicopter using Duggans Mill as LZ, flying the North Palo Verde subdivision East of Garberville. No complaints recorded.
21 Aug 1996 Wednesday
Reports of ground crews in Honeydew. Mid morning helicopter action upridge from the con camp by Redway. Is it too much to hope that CAMP has gone to fight the forest fires? We vividly remember that Operation Greensweep pulled out and abandoned us and much of the King Range to the forest fires of 1990.
20 Aug 1996 Tuesday
Reports of helicopter activity from several sites. Reports of ground crew near Panther Gap. Reports too of a ground base on French's Ranch near Etterburg. No complaints.
Aug 19, 1996 Monday
At Noon Humboldt County Sheriff Dennis Lewis met about 85 members of the public at Garberville's Masonic Hall for a two hour discussion of law enforcement problems. The meeting was set up by Diana Hahn, a local business owner. CLMP made a presentation, as did the Chamber of Commerce, Attorney Hannah Nelson, and realtor Sid Lehman. KMUD/KAKD broadcast 2 hours of the meeting. A surprising range of community members feel that law enforcement is not doing its job properly.
Crooked Prairie. Fred Bauer reports that a helicopter did not fly too close to his aviary. Steve Cobine from MET called after the flight to be sure it did not disturb him. This is a commendation not a complaint.
Aug 18, 1996 Sunday
Helicopter activity - probably connnected to Pratt Mountain wildland fire which left 1 mile of frontage burned.
Aug 17, 1996 Saturday
Aug 16, 1996 Friday
Lots of calls, ground crews reported in Whitethorn and Perry Meadow, but our complaints are concerning helicopters.
Miller Creek 12:30 pm Helicopter circling over house at about 350 feet.
Miller Creek/Elk Ridge 12:40pm. Helicopter low over houses.
Briceland : 12:55pm Low, slow, and circling over "downtown" while moving North
Perry Meadow 1:10PM Helicopter extremely low
Perry Meadow 2PM Helicopter grey with orange on bottom circiling below 500' near house. Possible video.
Aug 15, 1996 Thursday
Elk Ridge - North end. Afternoon. Helicopter flying low over house.
Aug 14, 1996 Wednesday
No problems reported from today's raids. If you experienced problems please contact us.
A 5-6 vehicle convoy went up the Alderpoint Road heading east out of Garberville this morning. The green military type helicopter (#511)was also seen flying East along the road past Windy Gap. As the day went on the helicopter operated on the ridge between Dean Creek and the Rancho Sequoia. The ground crew is believed to have gone into the Rancho. No reports of problems during these raids, yet.
Leggett: Morning. A black and white helicopter with a bundle beneath it was spotted at a distance. No indication of where it is working. It made several trips while the observer was watching & we believe these raids were within 10 miles south of Leggett. Anyone with info about problems?
Bell Springs Ranch area. We learned today that during the past week this area has been overflown by fixed wing planes on several days, and the planes appeared in some cases to be operating unsafely (turning on edge to get into narrow canyons).
Aug 13, 1996 Tuesday
Raiders today in Lower Salmon Creek (North of Garberville)
10 am White helicopter with blue and gold trim flys low and frightens horses.
Lower Salmon Creek - time unknown. Dark green helicopter so low citizen could see faces of passengers overlfew her house and caused her horse to panic and cut itself on the fence trying to escape. Same person reports upon return home from work Thursday (15th) the horse was badly spooked.
10:10-20 am Convoy reported on ground.
Noon : Helicopter flying low wakens sleeping child, frightens birds
12:45 - 4:15 PM. Low flying helicopter again awakens Altzheimer's patient. Very disturbing to patient who used to be military nurse. Helicopters flying over home aproximately every 10 minutes at 250-300' altitude, apparently on flight path from one location to another. Son called MET but got no relief. I called MET for him at 4:15 pm but the MET secretary, who is our phone connection to CAMP in Humboldt County, goes home at 4 pm no matter how long the raids continue. See second incident September 13.
2PM Reports of two helicopters in use. Second larger and army green, doing surveilance
>
Aug 12, 1996 Monday
Activity in Upper Salmon Creek -Thomas Road area. (North of Garberville)
All morning reports came in of two helicopters and a ground convoy working on the south fork of Upper Thomas Road in Salmon Creek.
11 AM Green (Huey?) flew directly over the Mateel Center and our office on the North edge of Redway. Elevation probably 1000' or more, but directly over the town instead of the forest to the north. Seemed to land at Con Camp.
Noon: Salmon Creek. Joy Call, a CLMP board member was standing by road watching the helicopter fly over. Steve Cobine, head of MET, came up behind her. He said they were looking for a place to refuel. She said the numbers on the helicopter appeared to have been spray painted over except for "511". He did not reply, and left.
Noon plus a little. Upper Salmon Creek. CAMP drove 3 vehicles across a "tinder dry" meadow of high grasses for 100 yards to reach a point accessible by road. They parked in the grass. The fire chief cited dangers from grasses getting caught on the exhaust systems and catching fire, when speaking to Sheriff Lewis Aug 19.
Low flying helicopter awakens Altzheimer's patient. Very disturbing to patient (see Aug 13)
3:40pm Crooked Prairie. Dark green helicopter overflies aviary at low altitude. Aviary raises rare and exotic birds under gov. license. Nesting birds on eggs disturbed. Happens every year despite repeated consultations with law enforcement.
Salmon Creek: Horses frightened at riding school. Details to come.
Salmon Creek: Disruption of Volunteer Fire Company water supply. CAMP cut the lines used by the volunteers to refill the fire truck This is a rural company far beyond city water lines, and no alternate source of water exists. Company had to respond to a fire the next day Tuesday 13th. Fortunately they were able to put it out with the fire truck supply of water. This is especially bad because there are massive forest firest burning in the state which have drawn off almost all of the firefighters in the county. There is essentially no back up for these small volunteer companies.
Aug 9, 1996 Friday
Surveillance:
9:53 AM Southern Trinity County on the East Side of Wool Mountain - helicopter.
Blue Rock Road - Benbow (South of Garberville) fixed wing plane fying very low in back and forth pattern over houses.
Upper Thomas Road - East of Clark Butte - Salmon Creek
Aug 8, 1997 Thursday
Lots of activity today in the Briceland area, and some very serious incidents involving law enforcement people on Briceland's Ferran road exectuting what has been described as a Federal warrant.
Ferran Road: At about 8:am two men identifying themselves Humboldt County Deputies drove a white Bronco with Humboldt County insignia on the doors up 1/2 mile of driveway and into the front yard of a modest home. They searched the curtilage and entered the house, waking the two residents up, demanding ID. The deputies questioned the people, and did a visual search of the house. There was no warrant, there was no arrest. The incident lasted about 15 minutes. The Deputies are reported to have said "We are checking to see who is up at this time in this neighborhood".
Ferran Road : late morning An innocent person driving by a raid in progress was stopped at gunpoint, handcuffed and detained for a half hour. His dog, which was confined in his vehicle, was maced.
According to Attorney Hannah Nelson of the PJC in Redway a family was ambushed by law enforcement as they left their property in the morning, handcuffed and returned to their home for 7 hours of terror during which time the house suffered a very destructive search. Friends coming up to rescue the family's 2 year old child were lied to and turned away by law enforcement. A phone call from Hannah, identifying herself as an attorney, was taken by the answering machine but not returned and the family was not allowed to answer the call. Upon leaving the couple was told not to leave their home or make any phone calls or else the deputies would come back and take them to jail. (The deputies deny this last statement). The raid yielded nothing.
This incident resulted in a lawsuit filed in 1997. We'll keep you updated.
Elk (Mendocino County) 3PM. CAMP raiding on LP lands near a homeowner, then came and accused him of being the gardener. They did not search the home and did not arrest the person but he did not enjoy being threatened and called a liar on the front porch of his own home.
Whitethorn 4pm. CAMP convoy traveling to adjacent parcel, accompanied by helicopter, comes thru land of elderly couple. Too close to house. Dust everywhere. Man recovering from quad-bypass. Wife told "We're the police, we can go anywhere we want." She is returning her husband to the VA hospital due to the stress of this incicent.
Additionally, there were helicopter sightings in the Hideaway Hill area of Salmon Creek, along Thomas Road.
A good thing A woman in China creek was out watering her garden & the helicopter saw her and immediately went higher and left the area. I'd like to report more of these events.
Aug 7, 1996 Wednesday
Yesterday and today CAMP has been in the Ettersburg/Whitethorn/Briceland area. Many overflights have been at around 200-300 ft.
Aug 6, 1996 Tuesday
6 vehicles and a trailer with quads in the back, in the Ruby Valley area, around 10:45 on Tuesday.
Helicopter circling the Whitethorn store around 12:15 Tuesday.
Overflights in the Elk Ridge/Sealy Creek area on Tuesday.
Overflight over woman swimming in her pool in Ettersburg, right over the house, around 2:45 in the afternoon on Tuesday.
Low flight by a small 2-seater "spotter" helicopter in the Elk Ridge area, over home and garden on Tuesday late afternoon.
6-vehicle convoy and helicopter in Eubanks Creek area on Wednesday; cut 2 locks on private property drove up abandoned road thru high grasses to reach a springbox. High fire danger. The helicopter flying at around 100 ft. Helicopters have been flying over this property for several days. CAMP parked at site overlooking house and spied on residents and friends for several hours with binoculars
Aug 5, 1996 Monday
Today was the first day of CAMP operations. CAMP has a small helicopter variously described as navy blue or dark grey, with red and orange stripes. It should be quite distinctive and may be Sheriff Lewis's response to our request for something easy to identify.
We got a bunch of complaints today. The helicopter flew out of the con camp just west of Redway this morning, and spent the day going over much of the territory most heavily raided in 1995. Possibly this is to evaluate how the tactic of focusing the raids in one area works. Perhaps it was simply looking where they found marijuana last year, generally speaking.
Summary: The worst day of the year. CAMP is here, and they are not following the consent decree limits (which are permissive at this point, but CAMP and Humboldt County Sheriff Lewis both said they would abide by them.). Watch this space for further developments.
Woods Ranch to Sealy Creek: 11:20-12 Noon. Several sightings but no complaints. A hopeful morning.
Miller Creeek 1:30 Circled house at estimate 250-300' (consent decree calls for 500')
Briceland Road: 1:45pm CAMP/Sheriff's convoy threw cigarette butt out window. Caller concerned for fire danger (no rain for months, high dead grass everywhere)
Whitethorn area: 2:40 Flew low over aviary. Lost two birds last year right after Reggae (like today) when low flying helicopter panics birds, they flew into wire net at top of cage and broke their necks. Suggested owner call MET and tell them.
Whitethorn Junction area 2:45 Helicopter flew very low near house (not directly over). Trying to get photographs.
Whitethorn Jct area 2:48. Caller held phone up. I could hear the helicopter in the background. Flying very low near house.
Whitethorn Jct area 3:15 Saw a blue fixed wing plane and the helicopter. Not sure if the two were connected - ie was it just someone in a plane coincidentally in the air at the same moment.
Blue Slide & Perry Meadow 3:30. Helicopter heading east at legal limit. Last reports of day so presumably going back to con camp lz.
Aug 2 1996. Friday.
Upper Matole: c 9:30AM Helicopter, olive drab, reported near Kathy's Peak on the Upper Matole.
Redway: 9:40AM. Helicopter, olive drab, boom on front. flew directly over town of Redway heading West towards Con camp LZ. Estimated altitude 1000'. This is a violation of safety standards and consent decree. There is a path over forest just 1/2 mile north. Later reports indicate this helicoper came up from the south and flew over Reggae this morning, then Garberville, and finally Redway.
Branscomb:11:50AM helicopter flying over Wilderness Lodge road
Salmon Creek: 2:30-4:30 and on going. Helicopter heard but not seen.
Today's reports outside of Salmon Creek are possibly all sightings of one helicopter, and probably working for COMMET. MET denies having anything in the air altho they did acknowledge flying earlier this week.
Aug 1, 1996 Thursday.
Salmon Creek:Time uncertain Helicopter, "bell ranger type" , circled over Salmon Creek School. Overflights of schools are especially dangerous, and unnecessary. They are the subject of many complaints, and keep right on happening each year. Schools are used as landmarks by the pilots we believe. Similar report from the Beginnings School in Briceland
Elk Ridge : 3pm Helicopter, olive drab. Flew over Elk Ridge estimated below 500' when it crossed the ridge top. Seen on the upper Matole "in the afternoon". Buzzed the Reggae on the River site just south of Garberville late afternoon. FAA forbids useless flying over crowds of people. We think this is the National Guard working for MET. A contact in the Humboldt County Sheriff's office suggests it was the CHP counting the crowd. The CHP was rather reckless in flying over the Headwaters Demonstration Sept 15, 1995 with repeated low flights over the 2000 environmentalists, so this suggestion is consistent with what we know.
