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Eco-terrorists pledge action against 'guilty' From staff and wire reports The eco-terrorists who claim to have torched the Medford headquarters of U.S. Forest Industries last month are an off-shoot of Earth First! that has pledged to take direct action against corporations deemed guilty of environmental crimes. The Dec. 27 fire caused $500,000 damage to the four-mill corporation's 2611 Whittle Ave. administration building, the fifth arson fire set by the group in Oregon since 1996. Founded in England in 1992, the Earth Liberation Front declared solidarity of action with the Animal Liberation Front the next year. Both groups believe in nonviolent criminal actions, harming no people or animals, says Portland activist Craig Rosebraugh, a spokesman for ELF. "There's no sort of membership base, where you can have a business card that says I'm an ELF member," he said. "That's particularly crucial to why the organization continues to run with very few individuals being caught." "They have a clear political and social purpose, that's to end the exploitative and abusive industry practices at hand," he said." "I receive anonymous communications from the ELF and act as a conduit ... to let people know these are not just random acts," Rosebraugh said. The most recent ELF communique said the Medford fire was a "payback and it is a warning to all others responsible, we do not sleep and we won't quit." The communique said the fire was set "in retribution for all the wild forests and animals lost to feed the wallets of greedy" corporations. Last May the Medford timber manufacturer was targeted for picketing by ancient forest activists opposed to company plans to log 23,000 acres on a privately owned ranch in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains of Colorado. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA