Thanks for the Update.

We watched a team of three men get into a small Honda Civic, 241 VCH, and drive out of the Port's quay. Later we saw them drive into the lot of the Columbia Street Building, 724 Columbia. They parked and walked out to the plaza area and two of the men snuck under the dock at low tide. They appeared to be acting as a "tiger team" or friendly adversary versus the team which was on patrol. They soon left, and a Securitas guy came out to the plaza on foot. He opened the gate to the Observation Deck, climbed it to check it out, and left. But when he left, he left the door wide open. Weird. I did not take the bait.

Then. as I walked through the Phoenix Inn parking lot, I saw that three men in US Coast Guard gear were leaving the hotel (it was 3:30-3:45AM) and get into their large trucks with US Government license plates. One was G41 4377B and the other was DHS 17976. They did not really even look at me, which I found to be odd.

Soon, I was walking southbound on Capitol in front of the Phoenix Inn. I saw a police car heading toward me at a high rate of speed. It slowed but did not stop, as it became obvious that I was stepping to the curb to observe it. It passed me at something like idle speed and went a block or two further down the street v e r y s l o w l y.

Another car approached, and another. Soon I had four cops circling and then stopping me. Jeff Herbig, Sean Lindros, and Charles Gassett all stopped and spoke to me. They said I was named by "someone down at the port" and that the person reported I had "thrown a rock" at them at hit one person. They described two people who were in the area as well at the time and implied I was "with" them. The whole time I was down at the port, I never even reached down to the ground, much less picked up a rock, still less threw one. What would be the point of that? I was alone, without my car, and without a bike. Everyone and his brother's dog knows I'm Drew Hendricks on sight - I'm not an obscure person.

After a while, the person on one of the bicycles arrived and a little while later, one of the three men who had been on the "Tiger Team" drove by, gave a thumbs up sign, and turned as he drove off. Charles Gassett made the claim that "it was all on film." He added that "if I was on the film" he would take great pleasure in coming to my place to arrest me. I reminded him of the address, and he 'corrected' it to a general description of a trailer I don't live in with some "little friend" who had been "arrested up behind St Mikes." I asked him what he was talking about and he dismissively said I should leave. I asked him if he was sure, since the witness spoken of had not arrived. He hadn't even asked the first mysterious henchmen for their ID. The second of the mysterious henchmen had not even arrived yet.

Then they followed us home, in a very round about way. Not directly, but obviously. (We had more police cars pass us in that walk than one sees in a normal day of following cops around!) So far, they have not walked up to the porch to tell me I'm under arrest for being on someone's phoney film, So far. But it's a quarter till five in the morning and I should not leave anything to chance.

Oh, and that hard drive failure I got when I was serving WSP with lawsuits last month? Died again, tonight, as I tried to sit down to type this. Exactly the same way it did before (same message).

And people say I'm paranoid.

reposted , 12.10.2006 02:49 to Olympiaimc.org

Wednesday, October 11 2006 Contributed by: Collin Sick from news.infoshop.org

U.S. missile interceptor equipment was moved to an American military base in southern Japan on Wednesday after being delayed for three days in port because of protests by local people, NHK public television said. Television showed riot police carrying shouting protesters away to allow a convoy of trucks that local media said probably contained 24 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles to leave the port at Uruma on Okinawa island.

"OKYO (Reuters) - U.S. missile interceptor equipment was moved to an American military base in southern Japan on Wednesday after being delayed for three days in port because of protests by local people, NHK public television said.

Television showed riot police carrying shouting protesters away to allow a convoy of trucks that local media said probably contained 24 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles to leave the port at Uruma on Okinawa island.

Local police said they had removed about 80 protesters from the scene peaceably, but made no arrests.

The demonstrators said the installation of missile defense equipment would heighten tensions in the region, domestic media reported.

A spokeswoman for the Kadena air base said she could not confirm the contents of the trucks, except to say it was related to PAC-3 interceptors. The delay in the arrival of the equipment was for safety reasons, she said.

Okinawa plays host to around half the 50,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan. U.S. military bases are unpopular with local residents, who complain of crime, noise, pollution and accidents.

As I reported earlier in this thread, I was subjected to some false accusations by the Olympia Police Department. Turns out that a person calling himself Jeffrey T Raymond was told by someone (he does not remember whom) that I had thrown rocks at the US Coast Guard personnel on the quay. He called the county wide dispatch, CAPCOM, and told them "just what he had been told," at about the same time I was standing on the sidewalk next to the parking lot of the Phoenix Inn. I was there looking at three USCG personnel getting into trucks G41-4377B and DHS-17976. I know this, because I keep those kinds of observations tied to date/time info I get from my cellular telephone when I take my notes.

So was this payback? The USCG folks were walking calmly, not approaching me, but exiting their lair at exactly the moment I crossed the parking lot opposite the back door of the hotel. One could assume they had some awareness of my presence, since the call came so soon afterward (like 90 seconds afterward) and the trucks which left came back to the same lot while I was surrounded by three OPD officers on the sidewalk, on the other side of the Hotel. They had been gone a total of maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

Officers responding to the scene were: Jeffrey Herbig, 2P43 (primary officer) in car 2112, and Sean Lindros, 2P38 (backup officer) in car 2113. Also responding were Shelby Nutter, 2P14 in car 2129 (did not exit her vehicle, searched for people on bikes) and Jacob Brown, 2P67 in car 2125, who was redirected to a call at an alarm, also in the area (we heard this on the radio at the time). Also out of his car (2135) was Chuck Gassett, whose radio number 2P56 was apparently borrowed from Cliff Maynard (who works days) or whose designation was misquoted at CAPCOM. So the US Coast Guard, in their attempt to bring me into a confrontation with our Police Department, managed to waste the time of five officers for about 15-20 minutes, at $27.50 per hour each.

What other activity (such as the alarm just a block or two away) escaped the attention of officers because of this distraction, we may never know. What is apparent to me is that Chuck Gassett had a conversation with a witness (Jeff Raymond?) who let him know that they were videotaping us on the Plaza, and that the incident either was not real, or was not serious enough to prosecute. Officer Gassett did not even try to ID my friend on the bicycle, so I can assume that when he returned from his contact with the witness, he knew it was all over already.

So in short answer to your earlier question, Norm, I guess I was part of the excercise after all!

"The greatest hoax played on the masses is that their individual voice is nothing amidst the cacophany of world events." - enpen, an Olyblogger (2006)