Thursday, October 28, 2010

HERO PROFILE #53: The Fox


Illustrations by David Beyer, Jr.

Operated out of
: Aurora, Illinois and along the Fox River

Alias: Rey Fox

Died: 2001, age 70

Activities: The Fox staged a battle against industrial polluters of the Fox River, using direct action like capping smokestacks, clogging sewage drains, leaving dead skunks on the front doorstep of company executives, hanging handmade banners and signs, a sticker campaign, and even a mock funeral for the river.

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LegendoftheFox

Author's notes: I wrote a lengthy article on The Fox for the Riverwest Currents, a local monthly community newspaper. You can find it free at businesses throughout Milwaukee. The article is largely based on a blog entry posted previously on this blog that reviewed The Fox's 1999 autobiography. The article is also posted on a Facebook fan page that documentary film maker Matthew Pniewski and I set up for The Fox HERE, which will also be updated with links to other articles on The Fox.

Needless to say I've found The Fox to be an interesting and brave character. He mentions in his autobiography that someone produced a comic book about him in 1971, so I'm keeping my eyes open for leads on that.
Included here are illustrations by David Beyer, Jr. who will be drawing a few graphics for the book.

Photobucket

6 comments:

  1. Terrorism in the name of justice is still terrorism.

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  2. One's man terrorist, is always another man's freedom fighter.

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  3. I do have to agree with Anonymous on this one. It's all a matter of perception.

    ...But there is never an excuse for furries.

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  4. I don't see The Fox as a terrorist. He might have been guilty of vandalism and property damage, but I don't think much on the latter. The sewer drains were unclogged, the smokestacks unplugged, the dead skunks scooped up by someone with a clothespin on his nose.

    He wasn't leading a campaign of terror or the threat of violence- he was annoying corporations and hitting them in the pocketbooks.

    I think the thing that convinces me he isn't a terrorist is the part of the story where he sends flowers to a receptionist he is concerned he might have scared...what kind of terrorist does that?

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  5. Terrorism is just a technique.

    When causing terror amongst people who cause massive amounts of pain and cause many deaths, when there is no other technique the common man has to utilize, that is only logic.

    The alternative is lethargy. Doing nothing when something must be done.

    -Z

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