by Austin Kelley

World Vision International, despite it's voluminous PR machine, has long been notorious as a right-wing Christian charity with an extensive history of working worldwide with the CIA, the State Department, and other such agents of US Imperialism. "Salsa So Fresh," made in Shelton, and sold at the Olympia Food Co-op, proudly advertises World Vision as benefiting financially from each sale, and goes on to advertise worldvision.org on each tub of this salsa fresca, for allegedly being an organization that is getting at "the root causes of poverty."

by Chris Allert

You may recall that back in 2002 the bus shelter at Harrison & Division was removed, and then replaced a short time later. On Sunday, September 24, I noticed that the shelter had been removed again. I remembered reading about the issue in Works In Progress at the time, so I looked it up on the WIP web-site ( http://www.olywip.org ). I learned that what happened in 2002 is that the owner of the pharmacy adjacent to it complained about the litter, and so Intercity Transit removed the shelter. In response to the Works In Progress article, enough people complained to both . . .

by Dave Jette

On May 13, the Green Party of Washington State held its semiannual convention and by a 43-1 vote nominated Aaron Dixon as its candidate for the U.S. Senate. Aaron is a former Black Panther Party leader, and he is well known among African-Americans in Seattle for his decades of service to the community. While in the Black Panther Party, he started the Free Breakfast for School Children Program and a free medical clinic which continues to this day. More recently, he has worked for nonprofit organizations that serve the public in a variety of ways, from preventing drug and gang . . .

PRESS RELEASE- "The primary tools of death and destruction for the Iraq/Afghanistan occupation and war are contained at Indian Island," says Marion Ward, associate member with Veterans for Peace.

A group of 500 very diverse people gathered at HG Carroll Park, near Port Townsend, to protest the occupation of Iraq. Over 200 marched on a 3.7-mile walk to Indian Island Naval Weapons Depot, the largest on the west coast. Surrounded by 200 peaceful supporters, 37 non-violent, law-abiding folks were arrested.

by Grace Cox,

Co-op staff collective member

Product selection at the Co-op is guided by two articulated values statements. First, the Co-op mission statement gives the following mandates:

MISSION

The purpose of the Cooperative is to contribute to the health and well-being of people by providing wholesome foods and other goods and services, accessible to all, through a locally-oriented, collectively managed, not-for-profit cooperative organization that relies on consensus decision making. We strive to make human effects on the earth and its inhabitants positive and renewing and to encourage . . .

Marie Crystiana Smith, a former WIPworker passed away peacefully of natural causes September 8 in Lacey.

She was born in Bemidji MN to Daniel and Emma (Hendrickson) Schulz April 10, 1916. A graduate of St Cloud Teachers' College, she taught in rural one-room schools before moving to the West Coast during WWII.

In Seattle she met Vernon Smith, a merchant marine who was part of the war effort to supply ships in the Pacific Theater. They married December 1, 1944 and settled in West Seattle to begin their family.