Crowd at City Hall decries 'chemtrails'
Protests cite a conspiracy by government
By Alayna Shulman
ashulman@redding.com 530-225-8372
Dozens gathered at Redding City Hall on Sunday to protest "geoengineer-ing," an alleged government plot to spray the air %ith dangerous chemicals that pollute the sky with white streaks they call "chemtrails."
Signs propped up outside City Hall showed the crowd's staunch opposition to chemtrails, with slogans such as, "CHEMTRAILS KILLHS and "Ignorance is not bliss. Educate yourself!"
The crowd listened to a host of speakers on chemtrails, "including pilots and an alternative medicine doctor who warned , of the^ato impacts pf the. .yo-ranfetfcrpmCTaflfr '
The event was part of an international series of protests against chemtrails on the same day.
Believers' theories on why the heavy metals — including aluminum and cadmium — are being sprayed tend to vary, from a governmental climate-altering regime to a more sinister plan centered on mind control or even mass ! murder.
Christine Miller, a' supporter of the anti-- chemtrail cause, said she believes the government — not just in the United States — is trying to control the climate by spraying metals.
"They're basically doing it without thinking about the harm they're doing to us [or the planet," Miller said.
Miller said, after she moved back to. Redding in 2005 from Hawaii, the difference she saw in the cloud patterns alarmed her.
"If you start to pay attention, you can start to recognize what's (natural) and what's not," she said. "We aren't told the truth all the time about what they (those in the government) do."
Kimberly Steele, of Redding, said she wanted to live in Redding because of its natural beauty.
But the strange cloud patterns began to disturb her, too.
"They weren't the clear blue skies after a few years. ... They were becoming littered with lots of crisscrossing (clouds)," she said. "This is probably one of the most critical things people don't know about."
Steele said people who want to know about the issue should go to www.
geoengineeringwatch.org.
But at least one man at Sunday's event wasn't buy-
Steve Funk, of Mount Shasta, wore an "It's a contrail" T-shirt to protest the protesters.
"It's something I do to be a good citizen,'' he said ""It kind of concerns me that people are so worried about this problem that there's really no evidence it exists, and, you know, one of the most serious things is every day on the Internet somebody says, 'We've gotta shoot these planes down,' and I'm afraid someday there's going to be some nut with a military background and some connections, and carries through on that."
Funk said he has a general science background as a forester and just wanted to show people that there are different perspectives.
"I don't know if I did any good by being here or not," Funk said.
The protest comes just weeks after chemtrail activists implored the Shasta County Board of Supervisors to look into the issue. Supervisors agreed to redistribute material worn a talk on chemtrails several years ago but haven't yet made a commitment to take any more action.