by Brian Watson, Ground Zero Center

Sixty people gathered January 15 to act on the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. at the gates of the Bangor Trident Submarine Base, Pacific Ocean home of the Trident nuclear submarine fleet.

In successive waves, three groups of people symbolically closed the Bangor base by stretching long banners across the 3-lane entry road. A total of 20 people were arrested for blocking the road, 15 for blocking the road on Kitsap County property, and five for blocking the same road on the federal, Bangor base property. All 20 people were taken into custody, booked, and released, with the five federal arrestees all given lifetime ban & bar letters. The 15 arrested by Kitsap County Sheriffs were not cited.

The symbolic closure of the Bangor base followed a ceremony at the gate, where people, including Ground Zero Center co-founder Jim Douglass, read passages from King's speeches and writings. The ceremony ended with people hanging thousands of origami peace cranes on the chain-link, barbed-wire fence. The cranes were from Uzbekistan and were hung on the fence as a gift and a plea to the workers at Bangor.

Fourteen-year-old Jacob Milner was arrested alongside his father Glen on the county side of the line, but separated from the rest of the group and taken to Juvenile Detention, where he was held amongst the general juvenile detention population for two hours before being released.

For more information, contact the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, 16159 Clear Creek Road, Poulsbo, WA 98370, (360)377-2586, email: info@gzcenter.org web: www.gzcenter.org.