Ocean View Farms VSV
Originally published Jan. 18, 2011 Reporting from Mar Vista, CA on a community garden and one of its gardeners.
No More Deaths Report
Originally published Feb. 28, 2011
LOS ANGELES, CA – A volunteer with a faith-based humanitarian organization said Thursday that he didn’t do anything wrong, even though he was arrested and convicted in federal court for leaving jugs of water out in the desert for thirsty illegal border crossers.
Emrys “Walt” Staton, a member of the group No More Deaths and a graduate student at Claremont School of Theology, told a small audience at the University of Southern California that he was ticketed and arrested because of water bottles. He told the story of how he was cited for littering in December 2008; he put eight 1-gallon water jugs out in the Arizona desert near the U.S.-Mexico border. He said he regularly put water out to keep migrants from dying of thirst when crossing the border.
Staton said a federal court convicted him in June 2009 and sentenced him to 300 hours of community service. He said he appealed his conviction and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco eventually overturned it. He said his littering charges were finally vacated last month. (more…)
Tim Disney Profile
Originally published Feb. 20, 2011
LOS ANGELES – “It’s a David and Goliath story,” said Tim Disney, the executive producer of the environmental documentary “The Last Mountain.”
The movie is about the Coal River Valley, West Virginia citizens’ fight to save one last Appalachian Mountain ridge from being blown up and strip-mined for coal. He said the movie was a “project of passion.”
Disney, who considers himself an environmentalist, told a group of USC Annenberg students during an interview session that the movie’s purpose was to give the people of Coal River Valley a voice.
“We tried to tell the personal stories of the locals who lived on the mountain. That was what was most compelling,” said Disney. “I’m very proud that I’ve been given the opportunity to do something like this.” (more…)
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