Oympia, WA (9-11-18) -Yvonne McDonald, 56, was found unconscious on Division Street Northwest on Aug. 7, 2018. Her murder remains unsolved and Olympia residents have begun to protest the slow pace of the investigation into the crime, suggesting the murder of a black woman is receiving a lower priority than the hunt for the area’s serial cat killer.
The NO ON ‘MISSING MIDDLE’ neighborhood advocates hostile to massive zoning changes showed up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting in force, as did supporters of Yvonne’s grieving family. Their heartfelt pleas telling the Council of the emotional trauma her family continued to endure over her unsolved murder brought many listeners to tears.
The hearing room was maxed out, as was the lobby and even the large outdoor entry portico to city hall. Cee Davis, a current candidate running for 22nd District State Representative arrived too late to hear the testimony which had provoked so many tears. His inadvertent but inherent flippancy caused a stir and confrontation wherein threats were made against his person. He is running as a fiscal conservative, advocate for private property rights, and Constitutionalist focused on the issues rather than identity politics.
The Missing Middle opponents appeared to lose ground as the Council racked up a plethora of votes clearing the way for ultimate passage of the extensive zoning changes which would allow for profound fundamental changes to long established neighborhoods by permitting increased urbanization and housing density as a ‘solution’ to lack of affordable housing within the city limits.
The Council’s attention was not drawn to the failing public bathroom policy within the municipality, nor with much effect to the need of shelter or a lawful place for the homeless to sleep–many of whom showed up to participate in the street protest outside alongf with a faction of @narchists. Enforcement of the municipal ordinances criminalizing homelessness within the city appeared to be on hold while its attorneys sorted out the limits imposed by a recent 9th Circuit decision ruling holding such ordinances in the face of viable alternatives (NOT to include faith based exclusionary ones!) were UNCONSTITUTIONAL, and therefore barred.
A number of old faces were seen at the rally, along with many new and fresh ones, including Peter Bohmer, Arthur West, Kirsten, Food-Not-Bombs organizers, Noah (an articulate young man), Phoenix, Joshua, and the ever-changing assortment of young feckless @narchists. Moses, unfortunately, wasn’t in attendance. A number of Antifa disciples, however, were in their ever vigilant hunt for Nazis, even the closeted or imaginary ones. A soliloquy was offered to one such, a diminutive teen girl inquiring why she had overheard the word Jews and Nazis in the same sentence, then seen reporting back to her companions. The example of the ACLU successfully defending the legal right of the American Nazi Party to receive a parade permit in Skokie, Ill. (where many jewish Holocaust survivors had settled after WWII) on 1st Amendment grounds was cited as a notable instance of defending someone’s right to express their views, no matter how repugnant, was NOT tantamount to agreeing with them. The girl seemed faintly satisfied or perhaps faintly disappointed. It surely wasn’t nearly as exciting an exchange or likely to produce street credits as beating up an alleged/suspected Nazi. In America, gratuitous Nazi witch hunts serve as substitutes for post soccer match European hooliganism and mosh pits.
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- Pete Bohmer, TESC prof
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- Arthur West
A rally protesting Olympia’s criminalization of the homeless and the locking up of the downtown public Artesian park.
