by Aaron Hartwell

Three naval vessels that had agreed to attend Olympia's yearly Capitol Lakefair on July 20 and 21 have since declined to attend due to the inability of Lakefair planners to meet their security requirements. The ships that had originally accepted Lakefair's invitation to attend included the USS Ingraham which is armed with one Mk 75 76mm/62 caliber rapid firing gun, along with mk 32 asw torpedo tubes (two triple mounts), and one Phalanx ciws (an automated anti-missile system comprised of a 20mm M61 Vulcan Gatling-type rotary cannon linked to a radar system). The other two ships . . .

Veterans for Peace contingent at the Lakefair Parade, July 21, 2007. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

by Jane Troutbeck

First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment? Who cares? The people who've stolen our country are quietly turning the public into a mass of voiceless peons, who are too busy slaving at low-paying jobs and watching television to notice their rights being stripped away.

A squeaky wheel

Back cover of August 2007 issue of WIP

Click here for a printable version of this image as a pdf file

by Gar Lipow

On July 10 and July 17, the Olympia City Council addressed an issue in which the city and the Olympian stopped an 85-year-old woman from handing out brochures in the Olympia Center public areas.

The result: The City Council said that there is definitely a right to hand out literature in lobbies and foyers of public buildings so long as it is done in a non-disruptive manner. This also includes the right to carry signs not on sticks -- again subject to common sense, like not blocking traffic or visibility. The exclusion of people with literature and flimsy cardboard signs from the . . .

Ruth Lipow (with umbrella) marching in the Lakefair parade. Her son Gar Lipow is on the far left, holding a sign that says "We have public fire depts., why not public health care? (Photo by Jane Blanding)

Marco Rossaire Rossie marching with the Veterans for Peace in the Lakefair Parade. (Photo by Janet Blanding)