Subject: PMR Press Release #4 From: Sandy Mayes Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 Contact: TJ Johnson 360-943-4596 tjjohnson@scattercreek.com Linda Frank 253-537-1405 workforjustice@comcast.net Tacoma, WA, March 5, 2007 – Three people were arrested early this morning at the Port of Tacoma. Caitlin Esworthy, Wally Cuddeford and Jeff Berryhill were arrested shortly after 1:00AM while protesting the movement of Stryker equipment from Fort Lewis in preparation for shipment to Iraq. Several eyewitnesses report that all three were protesting peacefully at the time of their arrests. Among the dozens of people demonstrating, several report that Berryhill was shot at close range with some type of non-lethal ammunition. According to lawyer Larry Hildes, all three are charged with 3rd degree felony assault, and are scheduled for a bail hearing tomorrow at 1:30PM at the Pierce County Courthouse. They are each being held on $10,000 bail. Esworthy and Berryhill are students at The Evergreen State College. Cuddeford is a US Navy veteran. The demonstration was part of an ongoing vigil at the Port organized by the newly formed Tacoma Port Militarization Resistance (Tacoma PMR). Activists from Tacoma PMR initiated actions to block shipment through the Port of Tacoma after the army abandoned plans to ship the Strykers through its preferred port in nearby Olympia. The Army’s decision not to use the Port of Olympia was the result of an aggressive opposition campaign organized by Olympia Port Militarization Resistance (OlyPMR). For the past month OlyPMR had been conducting an aggressive public education campaign, and was organizing the community to block military shipments through the use of massive non-violent civil disobedience. “The Army understood that shipping equipment bound for the quagmire in Iraq through the Port of Olympia would have been a logistical and public relations nightmare,” said TJ Johnson, an Olympia City Councilman who helped organize the OlyPMR campaign. Military equipment began arriving at the Port of Tacoma around 10:30PM on March 2, and additional equipment arrived late into the night on March 3 and 4. Since then, members of TacomaPMR and OlyPMR, along with activists from throughout Western Washington, have held vigil at the Port of Tacoma. Activists from both groups have been discussing ways to prevent the equipment from being loaded onto a transport ship bound for Iraq, including the use of non-violent civil disobedience. “The fact that they had to choose a different, less accessible port and then sneak the equipment in under cover of darkness shows just how little public support there is for the ongoing quagmire in Iraq” said Wes Hamilton, a Vietnam veteran and member of the Olympia chapter of Veterans for Peace. A rally protesting the Port of Tacoma's participation in the occupation of Iraq is planned at the Federal Courthouse on Pacific Ave at noon on Tuesday, March 6. Following the rally, supporters of the three people arrested this morning will go to the Pierce County Courthouse for the bail hearing. There will be a meeting to plan additional events at 2:30PM in the Main Student Center at the University of Puget Sound. The following individuals were all at the Port of Tacoma last night and witnessed the demonstration which led to the arrest: Rachel Graham: A student at the Evergreen State College who was arrested at the Port of Olympia in May 2006 and was serving as a “street medic” on the scene at the Port of Tacoma. She was standing near Jeff Berryhill when he was shot and arrested, and witnessed the arrest of Wally Cuddeford. Graham observed that many of the police seemed inexperienced and poorly trained. Quote: “After the shot went off I saw the guy who was holding the gun and he was about 4 to 8 feet away.... I saw the cops beat the crap out of Wally ... They were really rough and took Caitlin down really hard and piled on top of her. We were shouting 'Get off of her, she's not resisting!'... Once the media showed up things really calmed down.” Contact info for Rachel Graham: 320-492-5769 rgraham1014@hotmail.com Jeff Englehart: An Iraq veteran who was in Iraq from 2/2004 through 2/2005. He has spoken more than once on Democracy Now! exposing the US military's use of white phosphorous in Iraq. Englehart witnessed the arrest of Wally Cuddeford and Jeff Berryhill. He and another Iraq veteran, Thom Cassidy, used a bullhorn to address soldiers as they drove by, telling them, “You don't have to go!” Contact info for Jeff Englehart: 719-482-4004 heckle17@gmail.com Miriam (“Mimi”) Calkins: An Evergreen student who witnessed the shooting of Jeff Berryhill and his subsequent arrest. She said that protesters were lined up along one side of a white “fog line” and that police were staggered in two rows on the other side of the line. The first row of police directly in front of the protesters were holding batons, the second were carrying and in some cases, pointing, rifles or other weapons. Nearly all were wearing body armor. All of this occurred a little after 1:00AM. Calkins said Berryhill was shot at close range by an officer standing directly in front of him. Contact info for Mimi Calkins: 360-359-5261 calmir16@evergreen.edu Zoltan Grossman: Zoltan Grossman, an educator who was on the scene. He did not witness the arrests but took a video of the scene immediately after. The video is available at YouTube (The men heard on the audio, speaking on a bullhorn in the background, were Iraq vets Jeff Englehart and Thom Cassidy.) See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PdJDRzQEU0. Quote: "We are told that we are fighting for democracy in Iraq. Yet last night in Tacoma, three Americans were arrested for nonviolently protesting the war, carrying only signs. A man was shot by a rubber bullet for exercising his First Amendment rights. Is this what America has become? “The root of last night's brutality was in the training procedures of the Tacoma Disorder Response Team. They had obviously been hyped to view civilians as a potential enemy, just as many soldiers have been trained in Iraq. They were trying to preempt any civil disobedience by the protesters, just as the war in Iraq was preemptive. But unlike soldiers going to Iraq, the police can examine their consciences without the risk of court martial. “The majority of the protesters were from Tacoma-- the Disorder Response Team aimed shotguns and TASERs at people, but did not use them in those instances.” Contact for Zoltan Grossman: 360-359-8871 (cell) 360-754-9123 (home) Wes Hamilton: Hamilton is a Vietnam veteran and member of the Olympia Chapter of Veterans for Peace. He was near Jeff Berryhill when he was shot. According Hamilton, the demonstrators were staying on the shoulder side of the white “fog line” on side of the road. The police were lined up on the other side. “I heard the gun go off and I saw Jeff go down. He was immediately pounced on by 3 to 4 officers. He was laying without movement of any kind as if dead in the street. Police were on him immediately and gathered around him, so no one could see him. There were at least 40 police officers; most were wearing body armor, and carrying power weapons and batons.” Contact info for Wes Hamilton: 360-791-7484 stopwar@riseup.net OlyPMR is endorsed by the Veterans for Peace #109 (Rachel Corrie Chapter), Olympia Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Green Party of South Puget Sound, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, Students for a Democratic Society, Olympia Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee. Tacoma PMR includes members from United for Peace Pierce County, and Students for a Democratic Society. For more information contact: Sandy Mayes 360-956-1136 sandy@zhonka.net Molly Gibbs 360-412-1519 kayck@olywa.net Caitlin Esworthy 413-522-6558 Phan Nguyen 360-352-4172 Tom McCarthy 253-250-9290 wandertom@yahoo.com Patrick Edelbacker 925-518-9060 sharkeye@riseup.net