Letter of Apology to Wally Cuddeford and An Anonymous Woman from Nikki Miller and Holly Carter

In the past month many of you may have heard rumors that questioned the actions of Wally Cuddeford toward a woman who will remain anonymous for many reasons that will remain undisclosed. This rumor originated from us. The reasons for the original concerns are no longer important. The point is that the situation was handled in an irresponsible manner.

Instead of asking Wally or the woman what had taken place on said night, we (Holly and Nikki) took our worries elsewhere. We want to make it clear that it was not Wally’s character that is in question. We failed in our handling of this incident. What resulted was a malicious rumor about Wally’s possible sexual assault of the before mentioned woman. We apologize for the reckless acts by ourselves that led to this. We apologize for the pain, suffering, and anguish that this has caused to Wally and the anonymous woman. We

recognize that no one should have to endure the trauma of being wrongly accused of sexually violating another person.

Wally is an integral part of the Olympia organizing community.  His hard work and commitment is invaluable. It is an injustice that his reputation has been harmed by our irresponsible handling of this situation. We look forward to continuing working with Wally on social justice projects. We feel that the violation of trust that took place due to our actions has been successfully restored over the past few weeks. We are happy to have Wally as a comrade, he is a great person and an invaluable part of our community.

How can you get involved in the protests around the use of Olympia's port to prolong the illegal war in Iraq? Let's be clear. This shipment is not going to soldiers already in Iraq. This is a shipment of stryker vehicles and weapons for the 3rd stryker brigade that is soon to be deployed. This shipment is a shipment of death to innocent Iraqis. We have to stop being complicit in allowing our community's facilities to support the occupation of Iraq!

There will be a vigil at the corner of State and Plum from 4pm to 6pm every day until the ship arrives and leaves. This will be the starting point for vigils at the port when the ship does arrive. Join us.

I was one of the people arrested at the port today. In fact I was the first one arrested, as I was crossing the cross walk. I was in motion moving toward the sidewalk as the officer snatched me. We were peacefully and lawfully protesting the military shipments by holding signs while crossing a crosswalk that had no pedestrian traffic signals on marine drive. We did not break any laws!

During our arrests, Holly and I were manhandled by officer Watkins of the Olympia Police Department, resulting in injury.

When I was being arrested, I sat down on the ground. Holly put her body over mine and held onto me. Instead of simply removing her hands, two police officers proceeded to use cruel and unusual tactics to remove her. A thurston county sherrif put his boot on Holly's back. Officer Watkins proceeded to pinch the underside of her arm. She has a massive bruise which is getting worse than what you will see in the picture.

I was drug to the car and thrown up against it by Officer Watkins to be searched. Once the back of me had been searched by a female police officer, she told him to roll me over. He slammed the other side of me onto the police car. He proceeded to do this one more time when the search was complete. I have a dull pain starting in my shoulder and continuing down into my elbow.

SEE attached photos for evidence

We believe we have to stop this war, we have to show our complete rejection of the American Empire, we have to show our support for the lives of U.S. troops by making it harder for them to be deployed to Iraq, where they will face death, and permanent mental and physical scars and at the same time commit crimes against humanity.

Striker vehicles and cargo containers carried by semis from Ft. Lewis arrived in the port today. We were told by the Olympian that 300 vehicles will be brought in today and tommorrow, and that the ship is expected to arrive Wed, Thurs, Fri. Meet at the port, we will most likely be around marine drive. tomorrow from 9-evening, whenever you can

Some of the materials for the departing Ft. Lewis stryker brigade, vehicles and cargo containers arrived today. More are expected tomarrow. Some Olympians met the vehicles and utilized disruption tactics to slow down the shipments. The ship is expected to arrive sometime in the later part of the week.

Olympia: We cannot be complacent to our community's role in the war in Iraq and the American Empire. We have to end the militarization of our port. We need a massive and continuous response to do this.

People are meeting tomorrow morning at 9 am at the watchtower. After that people will be roaming along marine drive which is the road that vehicles are taking to get into the port. DIRECTIONS TO MARINE DRIVE: Coming up 4th from downtown, turn left on Plum. Go across on 4th on Plum which turns into Eastbay Drive. Take the first left, which is Marine drive. You will find people along there or at the port. Bring signs and noisemakers.

SEE YOU AT THE PORT