Protesters tape mouths to get message across
By Jim Szymanski
The Olympian
OLYMPIA - Nine people wearing tape over their mouths staged a silent protest Monday regarding a new Port of Olympia public-meeting policy.
The policy, in effect, blocks public comment at one of the port's two usual monthly commission meetings. The port operates, in part, on county property taxes.
The new policy leaves one monthly meeting for commission votes, where public comment is welcome, and the other for deeper commission discussion of various port issues without commission action. Public comment is prohibited at the latter meetings, dubbed "workshops," such as the one Monday night.
Workshops were established to give the public a deeper airing on the background of issues, port executive director Ed Galligan said. His hope, he said, is that members of the public would be better informed about issues after attending a workshop before they commented at a voting meeting.
But Monday's demonstrators disagreed. Some of them represented groups that have protested the port's policy of accepting military shipments connected to the war in Iraq. One, Jan Witt, has sued the port over its deal to bring a Weyerhaeuser log export facility to the port from Tacoma later this year.
"This is just an attempt to silence people more than ever," said Rod Campbell, who wore a piece of tape over his month saying "no war."
Campbell said the demonstrators, representing members of the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, Students for a Democratic Society and the Green Party of South Puget Sound, planned similar silent protests at future port workshops.
"They won't listen to us," Campbell said of the commission. "So we decided to make our disagreement with them more visible."
At Monday's meeting, commissioners discussed their plans for concerts at Port Plaza, a remodeling project for Olympia Regional Airport and landscaping plans for port property.
Commissioner Steve Pottle defended the new policy. He said city councils in Olympia and Tumwater conduct similar public workshops at which public comment is not taken. The port's attorney, Bob Goodstein, said public bodies are not legally bound to take public comment at public meetings.
Galligan and commissioner Bob Van Schoorl said they were generally satisfied with Monday's trial run of the policy, despite the protest.
"A lot of good information has come out tonight, a lot more than the public is used to getting," Van Schoorl said. "It's a good first step. We'll keep tweaking it."
The demonstrators differed on whether the meeting worked.
"Not being able to talk at a tax-funded meeting blows me away," said Miriam Calkins. "People gotta be heard."
The commissioners urged the demonstrators to write, call or e-mail the port as a substitute for commenting at commission workshops.
And Pottle left open the possibility that the commission might change the policy.
He said the commission wanted to see whether conducting workshops without pubic comment, such as Olympia and Tumwater city councils, could work at the port.
"We've seen them do it, and we thought we'd like to give it a try," he said.
Jim Szymanski is business editor of The Olympia. He can be reached at 360-357-0748 or
[email protected]
Enlarge Photo
Steven M. Herppich/The Olympian
Protesters attended the port commission meeting Monday night with their mouths taped because the commission had changed its policy about public comments, limiting them to one of the two monthly meetings. Those protesting were from The Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, Students for a Democratic Society and The Green Party of South Puget Sound.
Related Articles:
Olympia council crowd applauds anti-war acts (6/7/06)
Councilman defends port protest appearance (6/3/06)
Deputies guard port from anti-war crowd (5/30/06)
Protesters at port to meet military ship (5/29/06)
Web Links:
Nov. 18: Gallery - Protestors rattle port as military ship loads
Video: Port protesters yell at police, get arrested
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