Earth Liberation Front Terrorist

How can she be a terrorist if she's not a vegetarian? That seems to be what her father is asking. It almost seem as if most people take it for granted that vegetarians are violent left wingers these days!

SWEET HOME, Ore. - Federal authorities have an alleged eco-terrorist in custody identified as a suspect in the fire bombings on Vail Mountain. The woman, Chelsea Gerlach, 28, of Portland, was named a suspect in the $12 million Vail arson case Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore., during a hearing to set bail on two federal eco-terrorism charges against her in her home state stemming from a 1999 fire at a meatpacking plant.

She remains in the Lane County Jail while a grand jury meets this week. She has not been charged with any crimes related to the torching of the original Two Elk Restaurant and other structures at Vail.

"She's not even a vegetarian. That's the weirdest thing about accusing her of arson for animal rights," said her father, Harry Gerlach, 54, who lives in the small timber town of Sweet Home, which his daughter occasionally visited.

The Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group, issued a "communique" three days after the seven synchronized fires on Vail Mountain, saying it was protesting the ski operator's corporate growth and defending "the last, best lynx habitat in the state."

The ELF and Animal Liberation Front, a group with a similar agenda, claimed responsibility for many of the fire bombings and arsons for which Gerlach and five others were arrested in a nationwide sweep.

Gerlach, whom the FBI identified as "Country Girl" in the arrest warrant related to the Oregon fires, graduated from high school in Eugene, about 50 miles and a world apart from Sweet Home.

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