This first part is provided for background information!

Feature from Houston IMC on December 21, 2003

Heading into the affluent neighborhoods around Memorial park last weekend, Dirty South Earth First! went to the gated residence of MAXXAM boardmember Robert Cruishank. While a guard shack sits at the front of the Sugarberry Cr, it remains a PUBLIC street and DSEF! took full advantage of tax payer owned property and 1st amendment rights to march, chant, drum and protest through Cruishank's neighborhood, where his neighbors where having a holiday party. Many of the party-goers and neighbors that asked the purpose of DSEF!'s visit where given flyers and politely told about Maxxam's destructive brutal practices in the forest of Humboldt County. The security guard at the guardshack called Houston's finest to prevent DSEF! from marching and protesting on public property, but they never showed up. Read more...



In addition to home visits, carolers with SACRED greeted Maxxam's Houston headquarters on Monday. Hear audio, see photos, read lyrics.

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Letter sent to community members in Houston in April, 2004.


Dear Community Member,

In Humboldt County, California, Houston-based Maxxam Corporation and its subsidiary, Pacific Lumber Company, have been clear-cutting the remaining 3% (approx. 100,000 acres) of old growth forest that remain in the continental United States. Maxxam-owned Pacific Lumber has decimated populations of already endangered species and created hazardous conditions that have led to floods, forest fires and mudslides that continually endanger area residents.

Charles Hurwitz, Maxxam CEO, has faced numerous criminal charges and civil suits for looting and crashing the United Savings Association of Texas in 1988, costing American taxpayers $1.6 billion. Hurwitz simultaneously raided Pacific Lumber’s worker pension fund, removing $55 million from the retired loggers and mill workers’ nest eggs, and selling off much of the company’s other liquitable assets for the quick cash he desired. Hurwitz has lost seven environmental lawsuits over his incessant, illegal logging in the ancient redwood forests of Northern California.

Most recently, Maxxam and Pacific Lumber funded a quarter of a million dollar recall campaign against Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Gallegos irritated logging giant Pacific Lumber (PL) by bringing a suit charging PL with filing a false timber harvest plan in order to obtain a global logging permit for their property. The company, Gallegos charges, withheld information about the environmental impact of PL’s logging proposal that they were legally obliged to give to California authorities. PL retaliated by backing and funding a recall effort against Gallegos, utilizing fear tactics and a deceptive propaganda campaign against PL workers and residents in the area. While Gallegos won the recall effort, Maxxam/PL’s most recent attempt to obstruct justice further demonstrates the lengths to which they will go to stifle any/all opposition to their profitable, destructive operations.

Houston, TX-based Dirty South Earth First consists of committed forest defenders, as well as persons interested in corporate accountability. Our goal is to preserve the precious few old growth redwoods remaining in our country, for the benefit of future generations, as well as to maintain the ecosystem’s delicate balance. In order to place personal accountability upon the executives profiting from these appalling activities, transforming the faceless corporate façade, we have been in your neighborhood demonstrating against ____________________, ______________ of Maxxam Corporation. We are non-violent protestors fed up with what these companies have done to their workers, the ancient redwoods in Humboldt County, non-violent protestors defending the forests and the American taxpayers. While we use confrontational tactics against the executives of Maxxam and Pacific Lumber, we have no ill intentions toward any neighbors; we merely want to raise community awareness about what these people do for a living.

As an executive of Maxxam Corporation, your neighbor ______________________, is currently profiting from these destructive policies - making a living through environmental devastation and human misery. We hope that you will take time to consider what _________________ is doing to the earth and the people working to defend it, as well as Pacific Lumber’s own employees. If you would like to know more about Maxxam, Pacific Lumber or this campaign, please visit the following websites: www.jailhurwitz.com and www.dirtysouthearthfirst.net.

In defense of Mother Earth,
Dirty South Earth First!

P.S. Got any dirt on your neighbor? Let us know at dsef (at) riseup.net
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The above letter was sent to neighbors of the following executives:

Dianne Dudley (VP & CPO)
4130 Villanova
West University, Texas 77005

Robert Cruikshank (Boardmember)
303 Sugar Berry Circle
Houston, TX 77024
713-266-5784

Josh Reiss (Director of PR)
2314 Wroxton Rd.
Houston, TX 77005
713-523-9586

J. Kent Friedman (Boardmember)
8707 Pasture View Lane
Houston, TX 77024
713-664-9787

Paul Schwartz (President)
1000 Uptown Park Boulevard #252
Houston, TX 77056