Vandals hit car at tree-sit

KNEELAND--A Garberville woman who joined tree-sitter Nathan Madsen in his lofty perch near here was terrified when she looked down early Sunday morning and saw vandals destroying her car.

"I wasn't going to go down and do anything, because they had so much anger," 36-year-old Susan Moloney said. "It is better that it was just a piece of metal and not a tree, animal or a person."

The piece of metal is a 1985 Toyota Tercel, which sat idle with dents on its roof, smashed windows and who knows what other damage to the inside and the engine," she said Sunday afternoon. Moloney was with her friend Madsen, who is sitting atop a 160-foot tree off Kneeland Road to protest Pacific Co. logging practices in the area.

"I don't know why they would have done it, but I parked where most people do when they visit Nate," Moloney said. "It could just be mere coincidence that they went after my car or else they targeted me."

At about 1:30 a.m. Sunday the couple was startled out of sleep when they heard a banging noise, Madsen said via cell phone. They looked down to see about three or four young men pounding on the car. There was a truck parked nearby.

"I yelled, 'hey, hey,' which startled them,' Madsen said. "They were surprised and stopped, jumped in the truck and headed out. But (they) came by an hour later with another truck and four more guys."

This time the group carried bats or crowbars, and started pounding on Moloney's car, Madsen said. They smashed the windows, forced their way in and took the emergency brake off, he said. The lights of the trucks were pointed on the car, illuminating what they were doing--this also allowed a good view from the tree, Madsen said.

"I grabbed my video camera and got the best shots I could, then I called the police and a friend in Freshwater," Madsen said. "Then I couldn't believe what I saw--they pushed the car off the side of the embankment with one truck."

Madsen said his friend from Freshwater waited in front of his house down the road with cell phone in hand as the two trucks sped by with their lights off.

Soon, Humboldt County Sheriffs Department deputies arrived to take the report, which they classified as a misdemeanor vandalism case.

"This is nothing out of the ordinary, just a minor misdemeanor case of vandalism," said sheriffs Sgt. Hanson, declining to give his first name. "Nobody was hurt."

But deputies did determine who was responsible, Hanson reported. He said there were no arrests and that the sheriffs office has requested warrants from the Humboldt County District Attorney.

Madsen has been in the tree, sleeping in a hammock, for nearly three months. He is receiving support and supplies from area residents. This isn't the first time Madsen has reported incidents to the Sheriffs Department.

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Last updated March 20, 1999

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