1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,400 Speaker 1: Rip Current is a production of iHeart Podcasts. 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 2: The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 2: of the host. 4 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,119 Speaker 3: Producers or parent company. 5 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 4: Listener discretion is it vised. 6 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: A year after she was critically injured by a bomb 7 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: placed under the driver's seat in her car, and though 8 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: still in considerable pain from her injuries, Judy Barry went 9 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: to speak at Mendocino High School, which was firmly in 10 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: Redwood Country. 11 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 5: I had one close encounter in person with her, and 12 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 5: that was my freshman year of high school. She was 13 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 5: a guest speaker in an environmental studies elective that I 14 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 5: was taking. That was in the spring of nineteen ninety one, 15 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 5: so it was just about a year after the bombing. 16 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 5: She wasn't much getting out in public at that point, 17 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,279 Speaker 5: but she came and spoke to the class and they 18 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 5: was open to the whole school. The classroom was packed. 19 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 5: My name is Josh Morsel. I years ago worked as 20 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 5: a paralegal or Judy's trial team and the trial in 21 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 5: her civil lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police. 22 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 5: So I grew up in the general region where Judy 23 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 5: was organizing. I grew up on the Mendocino Coast of 24 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 5: northern California, just right in the middle of redwood timber country. 25 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,119 Speaker 5: And I should say that the community here, my whole life, 26 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 5: has really been kind of divided into two cultures. The 27 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,320 Speaker 5: timber culture, families that have been here for maybe for generations, 28 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,199 Speaker 5: working in the timber industry or working in fishing as well. 29 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 5: We called them the rednecks, and then they called, you know, 30 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,839 Speaker 5: the other side, the hippies. Then the hippies came mostly 31 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 5: with the Back of the Land movement. So Judy spoke, 32 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 5: and she stood at the front of the classroom, which 33 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 5: is kind of remarkable to me because I know she 34 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 5: had more or less constant pain for the rest of 35 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 5: her life after the bombing. She didn't show her pain. 36 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 5: I know she trained herself to not grimace while speaking 37 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:05,559 Speaker 5: to people because they found it distracting. She emanated confidence, 38 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 5: She spoke a rapid clip. She seemed to be enjoying herself. 39 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 5: She made a lucid case that the timber industry was 40 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 5: cutting unsustainably and that within a generation there would be 41 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,399 Speaker 5: a huge plunge in jobs and you know, the trees 42 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 5: would be gone. You know, we'd have to wait a 43 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 5: generation after that, for the trees to grow back, for 44 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 5: the possibility of a timber industry to come back. 45 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: Students who are members of timber family sat in the back. 46 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: They challenged Judy with the kind of pointed questions that 47 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: high schoolers ask. 48 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,119 Speaker 5: They'd say, Judy, isn't your house made of wood? Don't 49 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 5: you use toilet paper? What do you expect us to do, 50 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 5: you know, without wood? And she said, yeah, my house 51 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:51,519 Speaker 5: is built of wood. I'm a carpenter. I work with wood, 52 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 5: and I want there to be wood sustainably. I want 53 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 5: there to be jobs in the wood products industry sustainably. 54 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: She finished her presentation, but her day at the high 55 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: school was not quite over. 56 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 5: After she spoke, she went back to her car and 57 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 5: she found that somebody had put a piece of cardboard 58 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,119 Speaker 5: on the windshield and had written the word bomb on it. 59 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 5: It was very upsetting to her. She received death threats 60 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 5: before the bombing. She received more threats after the bombing. 61 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,399 Speaker 5: The bomber had never been caught. She lived in fear 62 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 5: the bomber would strike again, and she interpreted this potentially 63 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 5: as a threat. 64 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: It turned out that the message had been placed on 65 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,639 Speaker 1: her windshield by a student. He was identified and confessed. 66 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: He apologized to Judy. 67 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 5: I think that that incident also underscores that a lot 68 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 5: of people in the timber community believed the allegations that 69 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 5: she was a bomber, and they took it personally because 70 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 5: it's a small community. She was a charismatic, high energy speaker, 71 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 5: and this is an issue that we all really cared 72 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 5: about on a person. On a level, the timber industry 73 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 5: was I mean, it was the number one industry in 74 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 5: the area and had been for generations. But more than 75 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 5: it was the culture. It was the way of life, 76 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 5: and you know, it was something that had been that 77 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 5: people were proud of until all of a sudden, the 78 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 5: hippies started telling the logger is that they were cutting 79 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 5: unsustainably and were ruining the world. That was kind of 80 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 5: an identity crisis for people, you know, to sort out, well, 81 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 5: wait a minute, is there something to that is there not? 82 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:29,799 Speaker 5: So there's strong feelings that people paid attention. 83 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: I'm Toby Ball and this is rip current episode two arrival. 84 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: Though she is known for her work in California, Judy 85 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: spent her early years on the East Coast. She was 86 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: born in November nineteen forty nine. The very end of 87 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: the nineteen forties. Her family lived in a Maryland suburb 88 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: of Washington, d C. Her mother was a mathematician and 89 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: her father was a diamond setter, journalist and filmmaker, Steve Talbot. 90 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,280 Speaker 6: Judy, you have to remember, was a lefty. She was 91 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 6: a red diaper baby. She came from a family of 92 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 6: communists and anarchists, and she was a leftist, and there 93 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 6: was a part of her that was very romantic, and 94 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 6: she had kind of big ambitions. 95 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: She stayed near home for college, attending the University of Maryland. 96 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: In an essay written later, she equipped that she majored 97 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: in anti Vietnam riots. On May third, nineteen seventy, she 98 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: was one of more than twenty people arrested during what 99 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: the Baltimore Evening Sun called the most destructive protest in 100 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: the history of the University of Maryland OROTC. Offices were ransacked, 101 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: a temporary annex built for architecture students was burned, a 102 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 1: dorm was set on fire, and windows were smashed. The 103 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: protests began with about three hundred people opposing President Richard 104 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: Nixon's decision to send troops into Cambodia. 105 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 7: Good Evening, my fellow Americans. I announced the decision to 106 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 7: withdraw an additional one hundred and fifty thousand Americans from Vietnam. 107 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 7: I was making that decision despite our concern over increased 108 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 7: enemy activity at laos, in Cambodia and in South Vietnam. 109 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 7: North Vietnam has increased its military aggression in all these areas, 110 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:42,040 Speaker 7: and particularly in Cambodia. I have concluded that the time 111 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 7: has come for action. 112 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: The University of Maryland protests went through several phases as 113 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: the day progressed, including blocking traffic on Route one in 114 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: College Park, home to the university, and engaging in clashes 115 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:04,840 Speaker 1: with police. Eventually, just before ten at night, about five 116 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: hundred protesters were dispersed with tear gas. More than twenty 117 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars worth of damage had been done. But 118 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: this was just the beginning of Judiu's activism. Author of 119 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: Defending Giants Darren Space. 120 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 8: She left school early and went to work at a 121 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 8: bakery and joined the union there. Got fired from the 122 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 8: bakery for like decorating one of the cakes with the 123 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 8: hammer and sickle and said, like, you know, no war 124 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 8: in Vietnam. She got fired, but the union fought and 125 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 8: got her job back. She also I think, tried to 126 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 8: like take over that union unsuccessfully. She left and went 127 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 8: and worked at the post office in the DC area 128 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 8: and joined the union there and was a union organizer 129 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 8: for the post office. 130 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: And in April twenty, nineteen ninety two interview with journalist 131 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: Chris Carlson, Judy talked about union organizing at the postal facility. 132 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 9: I had a job at a post office factory. Everybody 133 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 9: worked under one roof, and the conditions were outrageous. It 134 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 9: was eighty five percent black, mostly from the inner city 135 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 9: right across the Maryland line and the inner suburbs. We 136 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 9: didn't even bother with any of the three different unions 137 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 9: or their meetings. We did direct action on the workroom floor, 138 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 9: put out an outrageous newsletter postal strife that was really funny, 139 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 9: lampooning management. We weren't allowed to strike against the government. 140 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 9: That was illegal, and we get fired. So we had 141 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 9: a walk in where we met on both shifts and 142 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 9: walked into the manager's office. We had sickouts and slowdowns 143 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 9: and trash ins and sabotage days, and we got control 144 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 9: of the whole factory. Took about one and a half years. 145 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 9: It peaked in a wildcat strike, which was actually successful. 146 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: Judy had become an established union organizer and had thus 147 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: joined a larger environment of activists for labor and other 148 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: liberal causes, such as opposition to military involvement in Central 149 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: America and advocacy for abortion rights. This new role brought 150 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:24,599 Speaker 1: her to a labor organizing conference in California. 151 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,439 Speaker 8: To where she met Mike Sweeney, her soon to be husband, 152 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 8: and she moved out to California. 153 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: She told Tradeswoman magazine that she was quote sorry to 154 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: admit that she'd moved out to be with Mike and 155 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: have babies. As we heard in the first episode, the 156 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: marriage was short lived, ending in nineteen eighty eight. She 157 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,599 Speaker 1: and Mike and their two daughters moved north to a 158 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: property in Willits that they shared while living in separate houses, 159 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: it made co parenting the two girls easier. From this 160 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: spot in Mendocino County, Judy would join Earth First and 161 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: fight to save the Redwoods. But even before this move, 162 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: Judy had remained politically active. As a married couple. She 163 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: and Mike had settled in Santa Rosa, a small city 164 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: north of San Francisco, in nineteen eighty one, electronics company 165 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: Hewlett Packard proposed to build a factory in Rohnert Park, 166 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: a town just a few miles south of Santa Rosa. 167 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: Hewlett Packard said that the new factory would employ eight 168 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: thousand people, with. 169 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 10: Hewlett Packard, making your way to the top needn be 170 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 10: such a difficult feat. 171 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: As a board member of the group Citizens for Community Choice, 172 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: Barry became something of a spokesperson for the opposition to 173 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: the factory. In an article run in the Petaluma Argus 174 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: Courier just days before the election to determine the factory's fate, 175 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: she was quoted at length decrying the strain that would 176 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:06,079 Speaker 1: be put on the area's roads, sanitation systems, and water 177 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: supply if the plans were allowed to proceed. The article 178 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,440 Speaker 1: included a photo of her pointing at an open document 179 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,439 Speaker 1: of some sort. Judy was perhaps the person most publicly 180 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: associated with resistance to the plan. In letters to the 181 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: Santa Rosa Press Democrat, supporters of the factory's constructions sometimes 182 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 1: even identified Judy Berry by name. In the end, her 183 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:35,199 Speaker 1: efforts were unsuccessful, and the plan was approved with seventy 184 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:39,560 Speaker 1: percent of the vote in a record turnout. Citizens for 185 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: Community Choice then filed an unsuccessful lawsuit maintaining that the 186 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: environmental impact report for the project had been inadequate. The 187 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 1: Hewlett Packard activism was just one cause which Judy became 188 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: involved with through the nineteen eighties. She shows up in 189 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: news reports about protests against Reagan Arab policy in Central America. 190 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 6: A simple one. 191 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 11: Will we give the Nicaraguan Democratic resistance the means to 192 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 11: recapture their betrayed revolution? Or will we turn our backs 193 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 11: and ignore the malignancy in Monagua until it spreads and 194 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 11: becomes a mortal threat to the entire New World? Will 195 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 11: we permit the Soviet Union to put a second Cuba, 196 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,679 Speaker 11: a second Libya right on the doorstep of the United States. 197 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 1: She fought a plan to widen a California highway that 198 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:33,679 Speaker 1: would have meant cutting down up to seventy redwoods, led 199 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: a fundraising effort to send a tractor to a ten 200 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: family cooperative farm in Nicaragua, and organized the United farm 201 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 1: Workers protest at a local Safeway grocery store to oppose 202 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 1: the use of pesticides on grapes in California fields. 203 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 3: Every year, more than three hundred thousand farm workers are 204 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 3: poisoned in the United States, farm workers have the highest 205 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,319 Speaker 3: incidents of job related illness In California. Grapes the most 206 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 3: dangerous crop. Pesticides cling to leaves and are absorbed through 207 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 3: the skin. Eight million pounds of pesticides are used annually 208 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 3: on grapes, even though they can be grown commercially without 209 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 3: these dangerous chemicals. 210 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,440 Speaker 1: She was also a member of the Residence Coalition to 211 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: Close the Old Naval Air Station, a group that wanted 212 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: to shut down a small private airport in Santa Rosa. 213 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: This would become a bigger story, one that we will 214 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: revisit later this season. These efforts, along with her union 215 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: activism in Maryland, provided the experience she brought into the 216 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: Redwood Country of northern California, an area that she and 217 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: Earth First would later call Ecotopia. By December of nineteen 218 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: eighty eight, she was established referred to in the small 219 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: town paper, the Yukaia Daily Journal as an earth First spokeswoman. 220 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: It is with earth First that she would create her 221 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: legacy and also encounter opposition and danger that she had 222 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 1: not faced before. After the break, Judy arrived in Ecotopia 223 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: at a time when it was in flux. Timber was 224 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,360 Speaker 1: being challenged as the main driver of the economy by 225 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: the illegal marijuana industry. The marijuana industry itself had been 226 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: a target of the Reagan administration's War on drugs. 227 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 10: Leading medical researchers are coming to the conclusion that marijuana, pot, grass, 228 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 10: whatever you want to call it, is probably the most 229 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 10: dangerous drug in the United States. And we haven't begun 230 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 10: to find out all of the ill effects, but they 231 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 10: are permanent ill effects. 232 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: The economic and cultural identity of the North Coast seemed 233 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: up for grabs. 234 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 4: It was very contentious, and the rhetoric was really high. 235 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 4: My name's Hank Simms. I'm the editor of the Lost 236 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 4: Coast Outpost here in humbold County, California, a sort of 237 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 4: lifelong North Coast resident. There are at the time, at least, 238 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 4: there were sort of two broad cultural factions. There were 239 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 4: people who moved up to the North Coast after the 240 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 4: sixties and bought land in the hills and sort of 241 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 4: became culturally left liberal people. And then there were people 242 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 4: whose generations of families who have lived here and had 243 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 4: made their living in the timber industry. 244 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: The elements were there for conflict. Newly arrived counterculture people 245 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: looking for a simple lifestyle, living alongside families supported by 246 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: the timber industry, working jobs that were among the most 247 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: dangerous in the country, and all this in a rugged, 248 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: remote landlandscape outside the easy reach of law enforcement. This 249 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: is musician, record label founder and journalist Larry Livermore. 250 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,720 Speaker 12: The Redwood Empire, which became the Emerald Triangle thanks to 251 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 12: the marijuana connection, sort of stretches from northern Mendocino County 252 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 12: in southern Humboldt County, but it covers over one hundred 253 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 12: miles of very thinenlly populated mountains. 254 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: To give some sense of the geography and how it 255 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: relates to this story. During her marriage to Mike Sweeney, 256 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: Judy lived in Santa Rosa, which is in Sonoma County, 257 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: just south of Mendocino County. When they moved up to 258 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: Ecotopia or the Redwood Empire or the Emerald Triangle, all 259 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: these nicknames refer to the same territory. They drove eighty 260 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: miles up Broot one oh one to Willetts, which is 261 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: in Mendocino County. Many of the events in this story 262 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: take place in the towns along Route one oh one 263 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: from Willets, Yukaya is about a twenty five minute drive south. 264 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 1: If you head north on one oh one, in the 265 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: course of two hours, you drive past the succession of 266 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,879 Speaker 1: towns that played a part in this story. You'd pass 267 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:23,439 Speaker 1: in order Leytonville, Garberville, Scotia, and then Fortuna. Keep going 268 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: north and you hit Eureka and Arcada, and then the 269 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: Redwood National Forest. Back to Willets again. If you head 270 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: west over a windy mountain road, you eventually arrive at 271 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: the Pacific Coast and the town of Fort Bragg, the 272 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: site of a major demonstration. As we will see later, 273 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,919 Speaker 1: this area seems, for want of a better word, big, 274 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: fast areas with few people, rugged mountains and a coast 275 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: that is bordered in many places by high cliffs, and 276 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: where enormous rocks jut from the water. And then there 277 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: are the redwoods, taller than any photo can convey. 278 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 12: Up in the mountains were mostly hippies and a few 279 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 12: old time loggers and rednecks. And I don't use the 280 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 12: term red neck disparagingly, and everybody up there used it. 281 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:19,120 Speaker 12: On either side of the divide. Most of the towns were, 282 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,880 Speaker 12: you know, just basically a couple of churches and bars 283 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,640 Speaker 12: and gas stations on the culture at that time was 284 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 12: rapidly shifting because it had been a deprived region for 285 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 12: many years. Then logging was to the principal industry and 286 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 12: it was starting to fade away. My father when he 287 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 12: visited for his time, he said, this is exactly like 288 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:46,360 Speaker 12: Alabama North And around that time Hank Williams Junior had 289 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 12: a song called country Boy Will Survive, and he actually 290 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 12: one of the lines, as we come from North California 291 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 12: to South Alabama. 292 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 13: Little towns all around. 293 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,160 Speaker 12: I didn't see it as much as my dad did, 294 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 12: but my dad had been around a lot longer. 295 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,439 Speaker 1: These counterculture refugees were part of the back to the 296 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: Land movement, which advocated a return to a simpler lifestyle 297 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:17,920 Speaker 1: of subsistence farming and self sustainability. Originally, people would grow 298 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 1: marijuana for personal use, along with other crops to be 299 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: used for food. The introduction of more potent marijuana, in 300 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: part from Afghanistan, made marijuana a suddenly viable cash crop. 301 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: The economic impact was felt quickly. This is from a 302 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: program that includes an interview with Mendocino County Agriculture Commissioner 303 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 1: Ted Erickson in the late nineteen seventies. 304 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 14: Marijuana money can help local economies. The recession hit hard 305 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,879 Speaker 14: in northern California, and in many counties such as Mendocino, 306 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:56,640 Speaker 14: marijuana is an important source of income. County Agriculture Commissioner 307 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,919 Speaker 14: Ted Erickson was criticized by his superiors when he in 308 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 14: included marijuana and his official annual report. I mean it 309 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 14: goes to his estimate of the crop's worth goes up 310 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 14: each year, I. 311 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 7: Would say in nineteen eighty and is probably going to 312 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,240 Speaker 7: be an excess of one hundred and twenty million. 313 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 12: That's in this one county, in one county. 314 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 14: If you were an estimate the size of the marijuana 315 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,520 Speaker 14: crop in California, the state as a whole, her biggest oh, I. 316 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 7: Would think over a billion dollars. 317 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,640 Speaker 12: They originally started growing caught up there just to survive, 318 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 12: but discovered that they could get quite rich, and quite 319 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 12: a few people did because none of it was taxed 320 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 12: or visible. 321 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: The growth of the marijuana industry brought problems associated with 322 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:51,400 Speaker 1: the sheer number of people involved in illegal activity, arrests, paranoia, violence, 323 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:54,679 Speaker 1: but there were benefits to communities from the influx of 324 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: money as well. 325 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 12: The plus side was that all sorts of community institute 326 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,119 Speaker 12: were able to spring up that you wouldn't expect in 327 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:08,399 Speaker 12: little tiny towns, like health clinics and cultural centers, and 328 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 12: gradually environmental centers too. 329 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: These environmental centers would become important in the resistance to overcutting. 330 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 12: Many, if not most of the towns had like some 331 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 12: kind of environmental center where they organized. The underground media 332 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 12: was just it was amazing, like every other person seemed 333 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 12: to publish some kind of magazine or journal. This was 334 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 12: pre Internet, of course, pre cell phone. I mean a 335 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 12: lot of us up in the hills did not even 336 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 12: have any kind of telephone connection because we were beyond 337 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 12: the grid myself included that no electricity except solar. The 338 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,719 Speaker 12: people and the cultures of the mountains who previously had 339 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 12: been pretty isolated. I mean, he might be up there 340 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 12: a week or two and then go to town to 341 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,439 Speaker 12: the post office and pick up a few papers and 342 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 12: stuff like that, but there'd be times when you'd go 343 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 12: quite a bit of time without seeing anybody except her 344 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,920 Speaker 12: closest neighbor, and maybe not even them. So by the 345 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,639 Speaker 12: time that the environmental movement really got going and Darryl 346 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,679 Speaker 12: and Judy sort of really made their big appearance on 347 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 12: the scene. That was kind of the backdrop to it. 348 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,720 Speaker 12: The culture was rapidly transforming. A lot of the old 349 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,960 Speaker 12: timers who'd been up there logging sometimes for generations, were 350 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:30,560 Speaker 12: not necessarily thrilled, and when the environmental was started talking 351 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 12: about shutting down or greatly limiting logging all together. Obviously, 352 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 12: just like anywhere else, if you went to Detroit and 353 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:41,600 Speaker 12: said you're going to ban cars, people would probably not 354 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 12: welcome it with open arms. 355 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: So this was the environment that awaited Judy when she 356 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: moved to Willitts. 357 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 2: She was a mother, had two young girls, lovely girls, 358 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,880 Speaker 2: and she was going through a divorce with her husband, 359 00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 2: Mike Sweeney. 360 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 1: This is Andy Caffrey who's been involved with Earth First 361 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: for forty years. 362 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,400 Speaker 2: When I came up here in the spring of eighty eight. 363 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 2: That was right at the time that Judy got involved 364 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 2: and Daryl was running for Congress. 365 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: Darryl ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in nineteen 366 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: eighty eight. He came in fourth out of four candidates 367 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: with six percent of the vote. 368 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 2: And the district that we're in includes both Humboldt and Mendocino. 369 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 2: And that's when he met Judy Barry and they became 370 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 2: a couple. So when I moved up here, Judy had 371 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 2: just come in and very shortly after that. I mean 372 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:43,159 Speaker 2: she had lived in northern California, but she hadn't been 373 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:46,399 Speaker 2: involved in Earth First until she was introduced to Darryl. 374 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: She began to accompany Darryl as he did his activists work. 375 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: This included establishing relationships with local journalists, including Mike Janella 376 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:58,679 Speaker 1: of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. 377 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 13: Time I met Judy Barry was Darryl Turney comes into 378 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 13: my office. We were establishing that contact and he would 379 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 13: stop in and bring me his press releases or his 380 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 13: two cents. And he walked in with this woman. Now, 381 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:17,879 Speaker 13: I have to tell you it was a boys club 382 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 13: at that time, the environmental Earth First, tree sitters, saboteurs. 383 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 13: It was all guys, macho Timberman versus macho environmental radicals. 384 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,680 Speaker 13: So she comes in and that coup my attention right 385 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,479 Speaker 13: off the bat. They were on the same plane in 386 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:41,200 Speaker 13: the sense of struggy, Oh, now, who's this tourney? Introduces 387 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:46,399 Speaker 13: me as quote his sidekicked unquote. But by the end 388 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,920 Speaker 13: of that hour, probably an hour long conversation, I came 389 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 13: over with two things. One, this was a terribly bright, savvy, 390 00:24:54,720 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 13: and I even since then tough woman, and she's what 391 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 13: is she doing here kind of thing. So I would 392 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 13: call her for a comment or a thought as much 393 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 13: as I would the boys. 394 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: It was a relationship that would become important in the 395 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,400 Speaker 1: years to come, as Judy and Earth First would use 396 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,439 Speaker 1: the press to get word out about the timber industry's 397 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,199 Speaker 1: plans to increase the speed of their timber harvesting and 398 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: the devastating environmental and economic effects that would have. It 399 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: was the most effective way they had to explain the 400 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: reasons behind their actions. 401 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 13: And Judy almost within six months she and I were 402 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 13: having conversations about, well, besides sabotaging and flogging equipment and 403 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:49,200 Speaker 13: chaining yourself to the company gates, where does this get 404 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 13: beyond that? 405 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: What do you do when time is running out and 406 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: the damage will be irreparable? The timber industry and ecotopia 407 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: changed the nineteen eighties. Sustainable forestry was out, cunning as 408 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,920 Speaker 1: fast as you could was in and it was mostly 409 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: because of a man in Texas who, as Mike Janella 410 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:11,720 Speaker 1: put it. 411 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 13: He didn't know one in or redwood from the other. 412 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: Next time on. 413 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 9: Rip Current, Rip Current was written and hosted by Toby Ball. 414 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 9: Our executive producers are Trevor Young and Matt Frederick, with 415 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,639 Speaker 9: supervising producer Remett el Kylie and producers Nomes Griffin and 416 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:37,159 Speaker 9: Jesse Funk. Original music by Jeff Sanoff. Our voice actor 417 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 9: for Judy Barry is Gina Rickikey. Editing and sound design 418 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,960 Speaker 9: by Nomes Griffin, Rima el Kylie and Jesse Funk. The 419 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,879 Speaker 9: show is mixed by Rima el Kylie. For more podcasts 420 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 9: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 421 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,960 Speaker 9: you get your podcasts