Activists say submarine not welcome
Navy quiet on whether USS Olympia will visit

JIM SZYMANSKI AND HEATHER WOODWARD THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- The possibility that a nuclear-powered submarine will visit
Olympia this year has peace groups trying to block its arrival.

A peace activist asked Thurston County and port commissioners Monday to
cancel any planned visit, and activists vowed to make the same request of
the Olympia City Council today.

Though a Navy spokeswoman has declined to discuss whether the USS Olympia
plans a visit here, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Sam Reed said

office has received a Navy message about a possible visit by a vessel this
year or next year.

"They (Navy) may be making a port call," Patrick McDonald, an assistant to
Reed, said Monday. "It's all secret squirrel stuff. That's all we've kind
of heard."

McDonald said the e-mail message suggested no dates for an Olympia visit.

Jim Wright, a liaison to the port for the Navy League of retired
servicemen, said he was unaware that any decision has been made regarding

Navy vessel's visit to Olympia.

The USS Olympia attack sub, named after a Navy cruiser decommissioned in
1922, has visited the city five times since 1984. The latest was in 1998.

It launched in 1983 and calls Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, its homeport.

During the 1994 visit, a group of about two dozen protesters held a peace
vigil near the boat. An estimated 3,000 people toured the boat on its 1998
visit to Olympia.

Lt. Barbara Mertz, a Navy spokeswoman for its submarine group, said Navy
policy is not to confirm the arrival of a sub sooner than 48 hours before
its arrival. She cited heightened national security concerns following the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Peace activist Lawrence Mosqueda, who teaches at Evergreen State College,
asked Thurston County commissioners and port commissioners on Monday to
consider blocking any visits by a sub to Olympia.

"I'm sure a lot of people in the community are upset about this," he said.
"This is like bringing a weapon of mass destruction to Olympia."

Mosqueda said he was concerned about safety and wondered whether a visit
would include the presence of nuclear weapons.

John Wolfe, the port's executive director, said he could not confirm any
information regarding an Olympia visit by the boat.

"There is interest in the call," he told Mosqueda, but declined further
comment.

Mosqueda asked county and port commissioners to declare the county a
"nuclear free" zone. Mosqueda is a member of the Olympia Movement for
Justice and Peace. He and other peace activists have declined to discuss
why it is that they suspect a visit.

"Especially now, when we're engaged in a terrible and brutal war against
the people of Iraq ... Olympia should not be celebrating a war machine,"
Mosqueda told county commissioners.

Though county commissioners did not respond to Mosqueda, port

did.

If a boat calls, Wolfe said, "there would be multiple layers of security."

Commissioner Bob Van Schoorl said he expected protests if a Navy boat

on Olympia.

"I think it's a given," he said.

Commissioner Steve Pottle said the region is divided about its support for
the military and combat.

"There are people who oppose it and people who support it," Pottle said.

think we'll be very careful if they come. I just don't think we're in a
position to disinvite them."

County Commissioner Cathy Wolfe told Mosqueda that she and her colleagues
rarely take positions on matters over which they have no direct control.

For the past week, Olympia peace activist Alice Zillah has been urging
sympathizers by e-mail to lobby elected officials to stop any plans for a
visit by the Navy. Zillah has protested the presence of nuclear submarines
at the naval base in Bangor.

"I'm very concerned about it for reasons of safety," Zillah said on

"And I don't feel that Olympia officials should be celebrating a machine

war while this terrible conflict is on in Iraq."

During the 1994 visit, a group of about two dozen protesters held a
peace vigil near the boat. An estimated 3,000 people toured the boat
on its 1998 visit to Olympia.