Saturday, December 10, 2005

Ecoterror suspect has history of protesting

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN

The Associated Press

Sarah Kendall Harvey, one of two Arizonans charged with ecoterrorism attacks in the Northwest, previously pleaded guilty twice concerning a logging protest and a railroad trespass.

In a job application, Harvey acknowledged having pleaded guilty in 1997 to three misdemeanors after being arrested "at a nonviolent anti-logging protest," saying an attorney had counseled her to enter the plea "because I was in a very conservative area."

She said she was "making pancakes and serving them to other protesters."

The 1999 conviction was for trespassing on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad company property, she said.

Harvey, 28, was arrested Wednesday and charged in connection with a December 1998 fire at U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, Ore. The blaze caused damages estimated at $500,000. Conviction could bring Harvey a 20-year sentence.

Harvey began working this fall at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff after stints with two nonprofit organizations in Tucson and before that, in Eureka, Calif.

NAU spokesman Tom Baurer said Harvey was hired at the university Oct. 28 and had been granted admission into its graduate college but had not signed up for classes yet.

Using the name Kendall Tankersley, Harvey took a job this fall as an administrative secretary with the Human Development Institute at NAU. The institute functions to improve services for and support people with disabilities statewide.

According to a job application filed with NAU in September and obtained by The Associated Press, Kendall received a bachelor's degree in cellular and molecular biology from Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., and also studied at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Before her move to Flagstaff, Harvey worked for three years as a medical receptionist and assistant with Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, then spent nine months as a program coordinator with Operation Wingspan in Tucson, a center for the gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

Her supervisor at Wingspan, Cathy Busha, declined comment, and officials at Planned Parenthood were not in the office yesterday and could not be reached immediately.

Harvey's application, obtained through a request under Arizona public records law, said she left Wingspan to accompany a person employed at NAU as a visiting professor. The person's identity and position were redacted.

The Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff reported that after her initial appearance in federal court Thursday, Harvey turned to a gallery member and mouthed the words "I love you."