SNOHOMISH — A ringing phone jolted Andy Skotdal awake early Friday morning.
His father was scheduled for bypass surgery and for a moment the radio station manager thought the worst.
It turned out to be bad news of a different sort.
Around 3:30 a.m., someone toppled two radio towers owned by his family’s Everett radio station, KRKO 1380-AM.
“When I heard it wasn’t him, I was thrilled,” Skotdal said. “Now we’re concentrating on putting the pieces back together.”
That won’t happen quickly.
Federal agents still are investigating, but it appears someone stole an excavator on the site and used the massive earth mover to knock down the towers, located along Short School Road south of Snohomish.
Within hours, a group that engages in ecoterrorism laid claim to the act.
The damage could be in millions of dollars and it will likely take several months to fix, Skotdal said. Meanwhile, the 50,000-watt AM sports station will continue to broadcast using a backup transmitter site.
The toppled towers were among four built last summer in the Snohomish River valley. Located adjacent to farmland and homes, they have drawn controversy for years. Many neighbors, concerned about potential health effects and aesthetics, tried to stop the project in court but lost. The towers knocked down Friday have been in use since July 2008.
“It has been a long legal battle and I’m upset to see this kind of violence happen here,” said Lee Bennett Jr., president of Citizens to Preserve the Upper Snohomish River Valley. “This is not the way to handle it.”
Two more broadcast towers were expected to be built by the end of this year, bringing the total to six. The new towers have been planned as 200-foot tall AM structures capable of transmitting a new signal. Friday’s damage will only serve to speed up the project, Skotdal said.
Friday morning, the toppled towers looked like a toddler pummeled a gigantic Erector Set. The claw of the track hoe excavator was still tangled in the steel of one of the towers. About 50 yards away, a cloth banner hung on a fence with a spray-painted message: “Wassup? Sno Cty? ELF.”
The sign also featured a hand-drawn heart and appeared to include the message: “P.S. Skotdal Abandon This…”
ELF is the acronym for the Earth Liberation Front.
What did Skotdal think of the message?
“Other than the fact they don’t know how to spell?” he said.
Skotdal said he is offering a $25,000 reward and is confident those responsible will be caught.
“We’re going to find these people and we’ll use our airwaves to do it too,” he said.
A neighbor called 911 early Friday morning to report that someone appeared to be using heavy equipment to knock the radio towers over, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
Deputies arrived to find a 349-foot tower and a 200-foot tower toppled. A police dog was used without success to try to track those responsible, Hover said.
The deputies “found some other evidence at the scene,” she said. “That’s something that only the suspect or suspects would have information about.”
The FBI is taking the lead in the investigation.
“We certainly have reason to at least consider ELF a suspect in the incident,” FBI spokesman Marty Prewett said.
ELF itself has provided reasons for scrutiny in the case, Prewett said. Intentionally interrupting communications can be prosecuted under federal laws.
The Web site of the North American Earth Liberation Front posted a story about the radio towers’ toppling.
“We have every indication to believe that it is in fact a legitimate ELF action,” said Jason Crawford, a spokesman for the ELF press office in Washington, D.C.
Crawford said he didn’t know who was responsible, nor had he heard directly from those claiming responsibility. Still, the action had the trademarks of his group, he said.
“When all other legal channels of opposition have been exhausted, concerned citizens have to take action into their own hands to protect life and the planet,” Crawford said.
Ecoterrorists have a history of targeting property in Snohomish County. They are blamed for the multimillion-dollar fire that destroyed the Street of Dreams development near Echo Lake in 2008.
It doesn’t matter if the people responsible for the radio tower vandalism were directly linked to ELF, said Gary Perlstein, a professor emeritus at Portland State University who has studied the domestic terrorism group.
“If it goes along with their philosophy, then they will claim responsibility,” Perlstein said.
Friday’s action appears to be consistent with ELF’s effort to curb urban sprawl, he said. Like other ELF acts, it appears well executed and likely was coordinated weeks in advance, Perlstein said.
“These are not spontaneous acts,” he said. “They’re planned.”
While ELF typically doesn’t condone violence against people, communiques have said ELF members “wouldn’t hesitate to pick up the gun,” Perlstein said.
That Skotdal apparently was named on the sign that was left behind is a reason for concern, the professor said.
“I hope the police are watching his home,” Perlstein said.
Friday morning, the crime scene drew curious opponents of the towers such as Elizabeth Grant, who has lived in the valley for 12 years.
“I just don’t know what to think,” she said. “It is hard to say who would really be responsible for this. It just goes to show people did not want this to happen in the valley.”
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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