Ecomafia Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5: Charlie Parkfield
Charlie Parkfield not only specialized in blowing up old bombs, but also specialized in operating heavy machinery. He put both skills to good use in the mining industry, but after awhile couldn’t take the gaping open pits in the earth, fouled streams and groundwater, and disregard for wildlife that most mines in Western Nevada spread. The demolition job he now had with the Hawthorne Army Depot was nice because it blew up the same spot over and over, and actually protected a pretty large area surrounding that spot by keeping people and miners out.
He liked to fish and hunt, and between the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in Walker Lake and the Desert Bighorn Sheep in the Wassuk Range, he had more than his share of trophies. The plight of Walker Lake bothered him, however. It had dropped over 130 vertical feet due to upstream agricultural diversions, and the Walker River dried up miles from the receded lakeshore. In a few years it would get so small and saline that the fishery would collapse, and it would eventually dry up into a salt flat like Owens Lake to the south. The Western U.S. had a long tradition of drying up lakes: Owens, Winnemucca, Tule, Carson, Humboldt, Tulare, Buena Vista--and he figured that that was enough. He was ready to take matters into his own hands. You don’t mess with a demolitions expert.
They ordered their meal from the business-like waiter, deciding to take it to go, and when the food was brought and paid for they all walked out to the van.
“Let’s go down to the lake.,” said Charlie. They all got in the van and drove out of town on US 95 to the north, passing the McDonald’s, the Safeway, the bowling alley, and the Army Depot. After a few miles they turned onto a dirt road that took them down to the lakeshore. Pelicans and cormorants were beginning to arrive from the south, and several stood and swam nearby. The large black and white birds were striking together. The four idealists sat down on the beach, facing the slowly receding lake, and opened up their Chinese take-out.
“So we’ve got some things to talk about,” said Charlie. His countenance was serious.
“Yes,” said Jason. “We do.”
“We are going to start solving some of these problems?” Charlie said.
“I think the time has come to start being more effective,” said Jason.
“Let’s just blow some shit up.” said George, his eyes twinkling. He chuckled. “Hey Charlie, you can get some explosives pretty easily, right?”
“Yep.”
“Well, I think we should start with Weber Dam. Get some more water into this lake,” said George. Mel stared across the lake at the Gillis Range, dry and desolate, with colorful rocks breaking the monotony. She could almost imagine the water level perceptibly dropping, and with it the life draining out of all the creatures in it.
“We can do that. But we have to be careful,” Charlie said, looking over his shoulder at the empty expanse between them and the van. “We don’t want to get caught.”
“I think we are smart enough to avoid getting caught. But you are right, we need to be careful.” said Jason. “We need to pick our targets carefully, and carry out our actions methodically.”
“How many targets do you guys have in mind?” Charlie asked. “I’ll be happy to help get water in this lake any way we can to keep it from dying. Those bastards upstream are just ignoring us and don’t care if our lake and economy dry up and blow away. We can give them a taste of their own medicine. But I’m not sure if I’m as enthusiastic as you guys are about ‘other targets’.”
“We’ve got a few in mind, and you don’t have to help with any more than you want to. We’ve got other methods than explosives of getting things done.”
“Like what?” asked George. “I think we should just blow shit up.”
“Like what we did last night. Small stuff. But significant. We can make a point,” Jason replied.
“I guess,” said George. “But we’d be way more effective with explosives. I was just starting to think big lately.”
“We can be creative and still think big,” ventured Mel. “But what is the hurry? We can come up with ways of doing things as we go.”
“Yeah, we can plan as we go. Right now we need to find out what Charlie is willing to help us with,” said Jason.
“You guys ask, and I’ll tell ya. What did you guys do last night?”
“Knocked out a couple of bright lights in Lee Vining.”
“That’s pretty small potatoes. You don't need my help for that stuff. Give me an example of something bigger.”
“We were looking at the power lines by the state line on the way out here.”
“No shit. The big ones? Somebody already blew those up a few years ago. They never did find out who did it.”
“It is so remote, it is no wonder someone got away with it,” said Mel. “That is the sort of thing I think we could pull off with your help.”
“I’m not sure if I’ve got a beef with those power lines,” cautioned Charlie. “Unless you guys just want to be revolutionary against any good target. But I think you need a good reason before you go blowing things up.”
“How about the deadly sprawl and growth of L.A.?” asked Jason. “The power lines feed it. We can help slow it down.”
“I bet they had those power lines back up in a week. The grid is so redundant they probably didn’t even have any blackouts. All you would do is cost the utility a few bucks.”
“And make a point. We can leave notes. Get people thinking instead of just following like sheep. Make people question the validity of what the power structure tells them,” said Jason.
“Hold on, the minute you start leaving notes, that is when you start getting an ego and you get caught. No notes for anything I’m involved in,” said Charlie.
“Okay, it was just an idea. But if people...”
Charlie interrupted, “Look, the people that are doing the destruction aren’t the kind of people that are going to give it a second thought because of a note left on some vandalism. They are the kind of people that will dig in their heels and fight harder and yell louder for you to hang when you get caught. The whole point of this, to me, would be to make a difference. Blow up some key locations that will be hard to rebuild or costly and take time. During that time, things are better. If they rebuild it, blow it up again.”
“It sounds like we agree,” said Jason.
“It does,” said Charlie. “But we can’t just going around getting all cocky hitting targets like some kind of mafia. We’ve got to be careful. No stupid shit. We’ve got to plan and be systematic about this.”
End Sneak Preview of Chapter 5
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Gregory J. Reis
