Burning Down the Houses - Earth Liberation Front tries to stop urban growth in rural Long Island

E: The Environmental Magazine, May, 2001 by Karen Lee Ziner

As to who lit the matches, in mid-November Jared McIntyre, a high school senior and the son of a local police sergeant, pleaded guilty to arson in the case. McIntyre, who says he is an ELF member, also reportedly agreed to cooperate with a wide-ranging group of investigators. The FBI has brought together "a complement of people from the Joint-Terrorist Task Force," according to FBI Special Agent Jim Margolin, and teamed them with agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and members of the Suffolk County Police Department.

At Island Estates, most residents are loath to talk. "We personally would just rather put it behind us," says one resident who stood with a group of neighbors in a driveway. But artist David Stein welcomed a reporter in for a brief tour of his new customized home. Stein says that, as a Baby Boomer who took part in anti-Vietnam demonstrations, he's somewhat sympathetic to the professed goals of the perpetrators, but he disagrees with their tactics. "Whatever their point was, they could have laid down in front of the bulldozers," Stein says. "Do they really think that, once we've moved in, we're going to get up and move away?" CONTACT: Earth Liberation Front, (503)478-0902, www. earthliberationfront.com.