Wiebo

There have been some recent bombings of a sour gas pipeline near Dawson Creek B.C. The government is calling this an act of terrorism, and are seeking the terrorists. As a result Wiebo Ludwig, eco-terrorist or hero and everything between, depending on your politics is back in the news.
Wiebo Ludwig (born December 19, 1941) is the leader of a religious commune in Alberta, Canada, who is best known for his legal problems arising from his conflict with the oil and gas industry. Ludwig has been accused of being an eco-terrorist for sabotaging oil and gas wells. Ludwig accuses the industry of poisoning his family and farm, and being responsible for his daughter's miscarriages, through its attempts to extract toxic sour gas from the Peace River region of Alberta.

In April 2001, Ludwig was convicted on five charges related to bombings and other forms of vandalism against oil and gas installations causing millions of dollars of damage. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison, and was paroled after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

A recent news story interviewed Ludwig on the Dawson Creek bombings. I got shivers when I read the final quote of the story. It had a Johnny Cash fatalism to it, a Tom Joad sort of 'rising up' ring that really stopped me in my tracks and caused me to write this short post in tribute.

In response to the frustration and fear the people of Dawson Creek are feeling, Ludwig had this to say.

"That drives people to the point where they have to take the law in their own hands and they don't even take the law in their own hands, they take something more than the law in their own hands," he said. "Something to do with justice that is beyond the law because our laws don't embrace it."