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Statement
from Cindy Allsbrooks
Mother
of David "Gypsy" Chain ~ June
17th 1974 – Sept. 17th, 1998
In April of this year we lost a wonderful young woman,
Beth O’Brien, when she fell from a tree in Oregon. I remember
getting the phone call and how devastated I felt. On October the
9th, I received yet another phone call from a friend in Austin who
sadly gave me the news about Robert Bryan. I immediately thought
of Robert’s mother, wishing I could somehow comfort her from
Texas with a spiritual telepathy. Another young person gone, the
heart slowly breaks and we can’t seem to find answers to our
questions.
One thing I have learned as a mother who buried her only son just
four short years ago, is that even a parent who has lost a child
does not know any magic words to stop the pain for another parent.
My son David died for his cause, and my life changed forever. Like
Robert, David was only 24 years old. The questions, the shear loneliness
of the grief process, are one’s personal journey and must be
walked alone in many ways. I will never forget however, the tremendous
amount of love and support, which came from the environmental community
and uplifted me many times when I was down. That is what we must
do for one another now.
Like so many of you, I did not know Robert Bryan, but I do know
that this young man was on his journey and that journey led him
here. Something compelled him to the forest with a desire to do
something about the endangered trees. I would that there would be
no more tree sits and no more young people dying but I will never
condemn their noble cause or the choice they made.
There are so many young people who have made choices to kill and
be destructive. Our young activists who are devoted to non-violence
and the preservation of the earth are not criminals. I will honor
this young man and pray that his family will find the peace and
acceptance of his untimely death, somewhere down the road.
(In case anyone
reading this does not know, David "Gypsy" Chain was killed
by a tree in Humboldt felled by a logger working for Pacific Lumber.
David was 24, the same age as Robert Bryan. Though audio recording
of the logger threatening forest defenders was captured by David’s
friends moments before his tragic death, neither the Humboldt Sheriffs
Dept., the D.A.s office nor the California Attorney General ever
did a serious investigation. Cindy Allsbrooks filed and won a civil
suit against Pacific Lumber [Maxxam, Hurwitz] and won. Sadly, that
could not bring her brave, loving son back.)
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