Potential arrest no deterrent for dozens in Tacoma

By Jeremy Pawloski | The Olympian • Published March 10, 2007

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TACOMA - Some Olympia residents among a group of about 50 war protesters in Tacoma on Friday said they are not afraid to get arrested during this weekend's port protests.

"I'm planning on getting arrested," said Chris Stegman, 55, of Olympia, who identified himself as a founder of the local Green Party in Olympia. "It's a good cause."

Stegman and others were gathered at the federal courthouse on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma. They conceded that this weekend's protests, which are aimed at getting the military to stop using the Port of Tacoma for military shipments, might not stop Army cargo from being sent to Iraq. But the protests are important, he said, so people "know globally that there's resistance going on."

Stegman compared the war protesters in Tacoma to the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in China in 1989.

"We've got the same thing going on here: a dictatorial regime," he said.

Another Olympia protester in Tacoma on Friday, Ray Kavick, said he, too, is not afraid of getting arrested for the cause.

"I'm certainly not asking for it," said Kavick, 22. "But if I get into a position where I have to, I will."

Kavick and a friend were unfurling a large banner emblazoned with "REVOLT" in large, black lettering over a footbridge above the highway behind the courthouse at rush hour Friday when police ordered them to take it down.

Kavick said he would be ashamed of himself if he didn't do something to protest the war. He, too, said it is important to protest "to show the rest of the world that we're not all for this, and we want to actively resist and we want the government gone."

The protesters who gathered outside the federal courthouse held signs reading "Bring Troops Home Now," held papier-mache puppets and chanted anti-President Bush and anti-Dick Cheney slogans. Protesters included Olympia City Councilman TJ Johnson and New York civil-rights attorney Lynne Stewart, who has been convicted of providing material support to terrorists, making false statements and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, according to stories on CNN's Web site.