Honor Vets at Occupy 11.11.11

From Wall Street to Oakland, from Minneapolis to Chicago, Veterans around the country are standing with the Occupy movement:
www.thenation.com/article/164553/veterans-occupy-wall-street

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To the people of Humboldt County

Pat Kanzler/For the Times-Standard
11/11/2011

The Occupy Eureka site at the county courthouse on the corner of I and Fifth streets is being told to immediately take down our tents and cease camping. The fear we are attracting criminal activity and unsanitary conditions.

I would like to address the first viewpoint. Occupy Eureka intends to stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and all the thousands in America and the world. We have a right to demonstrate and protest peacefully as stated in the first amendment. The tents are part and parcel of where we stand vigil for 24 hours and contain many of the items we need to pronounce our intentions, sign material, markers, sheets, cardboard, blankets, tarps, duct tape, rain gear, clothing, etc.

We have zero tolerance toward any drug or alcohol use in the area and signs to that effect.

We have zero tolerance for abuse of public property.

Chanting and yelling will be kept to a minimum during the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. although we cannot stop the noise of traffic.
We encourage all participants of Occupy Eureka to respect health and sanitary conditions and will direct all participants to utilize appropriate off-site sanitary facilities as the country has locked its doors to us.

We will continue to keep a dialog with country and city, although the city locked its doors last night to us during its normal hours for meeting.

We will have a community relations speaker on site at all times to answer questions by community or organizations.

Note: we are trying to establish sanitary facilities off-site as the county has locked their doors to us, and we have made compost and recycling bins ourselves. There are people who will donate portable toilets and other large items we need. We always need donations and we encourage the people in Eureka to Occupy Wall Street together.

Occupy Wall Street is a grassroots, people-powered movement financed by no political affiliations. We have had liberals, conservatives and Tea Partyers in solidarity with us besides many others Occupy Wall Street began on Sept. 17, 2011; many cities around the globe followed, and Occupy Eureka began Oct. 8, 2011. We are fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and large corporations over the democratic process and the role in Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in early America and aims to expose the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.

We use a tool called a people's assembly to facilitate collective decision-making in an open manner. We welcome all to join us!
The consensus of Occupy Eureka is here to stay.

Pat Kanzler resides in Eureka.