There are more photos from the air show, courtesy of flickr user "spooky the cat" here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat/sets/72157605640304009/

Olympia Port Militarization now has a website. It's still a work-in-progress, but please check it out to get the latest news on upcoming port actions and information on how to get involved, as well as current fundraising efforts for the legal defense of port activists. There's also a mailing list, and there will be a collaborative community site online soon, as well as an image and video gallery.

Interesting editorial in today's Olympian newspaper.

"Published March 09, 2008

Activism must not cross line to harassment

Legal costs at the Port of Olympia have skyrocketed from $90,000 in 2003 to an average of $410,582 in 2006 and 2007. Those dollars, spent in defense of multiple — mostly unsuccessful — lawsuits come directly out of the pockets of Thurston County taxpayers.

Port Commissioner Paul Telford calls the legal maneuvering “harassment.”

A Supreme Court commissioner recently fined two litigants $500 each for what the commissioner said were frivolous complaints that lacked merit. “Petitioners make numerous assertions in their complaint that have no grounding in fact,” the commissioner wrote. Not surprisingly, the two litigants have appealed.

And therein is the cautionary tale that is playing out at the Port of Olympia. The question is this: At what point do residents cross the line from citizen activists holding government officials and agencies accountable into an arena of obstructionists and harassers? ... "

You can read the entire article here.

Jeff Brigham

Olympia Port Militarization (PMR) held a meeting this Sunday, March 2nd at the Olympia Free School, 610 Columbia St., Olympia. The meeting was scheduled for 4:30pm. I am going to leave any comments of mine till later and for now try to stick to the reporting part of this. During the meeting I refrained from making any comments or involving myself in the discussions.

I arrived at approximately 4:20pm. Two people were standing outside the Free School waiting for the person with the key. We were let in by a person next door to the Free School. The meeting started at 4:40pm with a facilitator talking with the participants and developing an agenda. Apparently there was no agenda prior to the meeting. Introductions were made. I introduced myself by name and stated that I was going to do an article for OlyBlog. I have always felt that if you are going to record or interview for publication, ethics require that the person(s) be told that. So everyone there knew that I was taking notes and would be reporting on this meeting. One person raised a question on whether they wanted reporting done on their meeting. This was discussed and the members decided to allow it. There were eleven members present.

A number of announcements were made for other “community” or “progressive” events. Drew Hendricks spoke of a presentation he will give concerning the INS and plans for the removal of illegal aliens, at 6:00pm on March 5th, Seminar 2 Bldg, room A1107, Evergreen College. Alison Bodine, who was recently banned from entry into Canada for two years, requested a speaker from Oly PMR for an event in Seattle. Drew Hendricks volunteered to speak at this event.

This is part 1:

I am posting the second half as a comment.

I also added this as a comment to my previous post.

Here's a link to video that was posted recently on the Portland Independent Media Center's website: link.