Day 8: VICTORY!

After 8 days outside the Downtown Ford dealership; a flood of television, print, and radio coverage; and a deluge of calls and faxes to Ford from all of you, FORD MOTOR COMPANY HAS AGREED TO SAVE THE REMAINING ELECTRIC VEHICLE PICKUP TRUCKS ON THE ROAD!



Dave, Bill, and Ray will be able to buy their pickups from the company for $1. The other 85 vehicles will be sold on a case-by-case basis.

By keeping these electric vehicles on the road, we are showing the public that it is possible to build zero-emission, zero-oil automobiles that won’t contribute to global warming or petroleum-related violence.

This is an amazing victory, and it couldn’t have happened without your support and encouragement. This victory goes to show the power of non-violent direct action and the possibilities of what can happen when people put all of their energy on the line to create a more peaceful and sustainable world. It proves that by acting together we can force even the largest corporations to change direction and make a U-turn away from their misguided policies. It makes clear that we are on track toward breaking America’s oil addiction.

We're packing up now and heading home, but the fight's not over. We still intend to convince Ford to restart its zero-emissions electric vehicle program. As the automaker with the worst average fuel economy and worst greenhouse gas emissions, Ford should be building zero-emission vehicles not destroying them.

Thanks for your support of the clean energy revolution.

Day 7...continued...

Hi y'all! Stephanie here, sitting in Sacramento on this cold, dark inaugural day. Despite the fact that we have yet to hear if Ford will do the right thing and give these honest, hard-working Americans the titles to their non-polluting, fully operational & dependable electric trucks, we are having fun & deeply inspired by all the interest shown by local community members and business persons. At lunch time, people from the Sacramento Metro Air Quality Management District came by to show their support & discuss their own frustrations with the past repossesion of the Agency's EV-1s. Truly unreasonable!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Heather is consoling Brad Pitt over his seperation with wife JenniferAniston. It's been long rumored that Brad has a 'ranch refuge' nearby which he escapes & consults the cows. HE learned how to do this while shooting on location in INdia. Just kidding! Although, my joke is less absurd than Ford's cow-patty, illogical reasoning for denying us electric vehicles and the clean future we deserve! Let's hope Brad & Jen's future fares better than Ford's. I hope to have some positive truth to tell next post, instead of the same ol' b.s.
Bill Ford, where are you?

Day 7 - the vigil is growing...

Hello everyone - Matt and Dave here.

As many of you may have read - it was reported yesterday that Ford was reconsidering their refusal to sell the remaining EV Rangers. This could be great news - but until we see an official statement from Ford, we plan to sit tight and maintain our presence here.

Yesterday went well - the vigil has been growing, and we were joined by the driver (and owner!) of another Ranger EV. He has 1 on lease that he is battling Ford over, and actually owns 1 that he purchased outright several years ago. A number of other EV drivers and supporters came throughout the day, bringing coffee and tea, great conversation, and just illuminating the public support for EV vehicles. We ended the night watching "Groundhog Day" - which had some funny similarities to our daily-routine here!

We woke up this morning to find a great editorial from the Sacramento Bee newspaper. This is the 3rd day in a row that they have covered our vigil - all very positively. Check out the article called Caution! Sharp turns: Ford learns about ranchers the hard way

Reinforcements arrived this morning--Sarah, Sara, and Stephanie arrived from SF to add some girl power and glitter to the vigil.

And as always - we appreciate your support. Feel free to come join us at 16th and Basler - and be sure to contact Ford and let your voice be heard!

Day 6: Ford Rethinking Scrapping of Electric Rangers

Whoo hoo! From the LA Times today, Ford Shifts Gears on Its Plan to Scrap Electric Pickup Trucks (Eric Bailey):

"Buffeted by criticism from environmentalists, Ford Motor Co. officials said Tuesday that the automaker is reconsidering a decision to scrap its last few electric Ranger pickups — and that it erred a day earlier in saying its hand was being forced by a federal agency."

We're not packing up yet, but we are feeling cautiously optimistic. We'll keep you posted.

Day 5.... Still going with lots of support!

Hello folks - this is Matt. I've worked with RAN for few years on the Ford campaign, and am spending the rest of the week up here at the Ford Ranger EV vigil...


Matt, long time RAN supporter, has been camped
out with Dave and Heather all week

Things are going well today. We woke up this morning to a visit from a local Republican "activist" who had seen the vigil on the news, and just wanted to show some support. He was quite friendly (despite some differing opinions on some issues), and said he has been a vocal proponent of alternative fuel technologies for years.

And throughout the rest of the day we've just had a barrage of visits from community members. Lots of people said they saw us on the news and just came by to show their support. Some people were existing EV drivers, many were quite well-read on EV and fuel technology issues, and some were just intruiged and wanted to see what we were all about. Everyone has been very supportive, and we've had at least 4 or 5 people stop by in the past 15 minutes alone!

The weather is holding up OK - no rain but it's still very cold (forecasted to dip into the 30's tommorrow!). Spirits here are high, and while we've had solid support - we'd love more visits! If you are in the greater Sacramento/San Francisco area - feel free to come by! (hot food is always appreciated)

-Matt

Day 4: Day starts @ 5:30

Hi there, Dave again,

Was awake @ 5:30 this morning because of a call from KMAX, UPN Channel 31 in Sacramento, this morning. The producer wanted us there live with the truck @ 7:15. I was tired, but it was fun. The crew from Good Day Sacramento is a fun lovin bunch. We found out even the security guard at the front does the Movie Reviews. They call his segment Movie Survelliance by Captain Ron. Good Day Sacramento is the #1 show in th Sacramento. The reporter Nick asked some great questions and it went well overall. Here is their website. http://www.upn31.com/goodday

Channel 10 (ABC) and FOX40 came out later and also did longer segments. We hope to maybe even see it on the national news tonight. Definately on the local news though.



Reporters from the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com) and the Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com) came out as well. Keep an eye out for the articles.

Right now is 4:00 and we are hanging out. Coffee is warming up and yes I am freezing again. luckily the keyboard is sending some heat from the processor so my hands actually are feeling warm :)



Photographers are expected to arrive in the next hour or so. Hopefully those of you out there reading this can come on down and support us. We are watching T.V. and DVD's each night!

Day 3: Sunshine!!!!

Sarah keeps busy by knitting scarves for all the vigilees.

Hey there everyone. It's Sarah from RAN checking in.

We couldn't believe our luck today--what a gorgeous, sunny afternoon.



Our solar panels (which you can see from this photo of our urban camp site) sucked up the sunlight--they probably collected enough to power us for months. Although we hope that Ford will give in sooner, we are prepared to keep vigil as long as neccessary. Especially with all this great support from the folk of Sacramento. Supporters have bought us delicious vegetarian lunch and dinner everyday. Today for lunch we had a hot zuccini casserole and gourmet sandwhices.

For entertainment, we chat with the friendly neighbors and their chihuahuas, knit, read, send emails, and watch tv. And to top off a great day, Dave, Sarah, Jen, Tracy, and Scott hunkered down in front of the solar powered tv to watch "Desperate Housewives" and then catch the clip of ourselves on the Fox 10:00 News.

As you can see from this photo, we continue to get together every day at noon for a rally. If you are in the area, come join us!

Day 2: The Media Arrives

Hey this is Dave and Heather. Were the folks with a ranch in Catheys Valley, CA.



Didn't get much sleep last night, but heather did. A homeless guy came by around 5:00 a.m. and luckily I was awake watching the Terminal on the DVD player as I couldn't sleep. I felt bad for the guy since it was about 32 degrees out. Gave him a couple bucks. The local media arrived starting @ 10:00 and had folks come throughout the day.



As we watched the T.V. in the evening from power provided by the batteries we saw the newscasts and it was good to see things begin. I also brought some power bands to do some semblance of a work out while watching T.V. and to keep from freezing. Great conversation and people out here!!

channel 13 led off their newscast with our story and did a great job. All the others also had smaller but good pieces. We'll see how things go...
D&H