Olympian Photojournalist Loads 2A as 1A @ttacked
By Dave Workman – JUNE 13, 2011
Threats, harassment and intimidation by anarchist thugs against an Olympia photojournalist apparently hit the outer limits when Tony Overman revealed to MyNorthwest.com over the weekend that the most recent attack, at his residence, left him alarmed and armed.
Tony Overman
The story has been repeatedly reported Monday morning on KIRO-FM, which interviewed Overman during the 7 o’clock hour. There was no discussion about Overman’s earlier-reported reach for a shotgun, but here’s the MyNorthwest.comquote:
“I sat up all night with a 12-gauge shot gun by my side.”—Tony Overman, photojournalist for The Olympian newspaper.
Anarchists have been in and out of the news in Washington State since the WTO protests more than a decade ago. The protest then made a hero of former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert when he was caught on camera, unarmed, chasing some of the anarchist vandals down a Seattle street. Say what you will about Reichert, but at the moment he was in foot pursuit of those vandals, you didn’t want to be one of them if he caught you.
In Overman’s case, published reports say he has been wrongly identified by anarchists as a police photographer. It’s a smear that has caused him nothing but trouble, and now the vandals have tracked him down to his own home. He is getting universal support from other journalists, and from the press community at large.
The reason for the attack was apparently because Overman had dared to do his job–he took photos of the anarchists while they were marching in public, seeking attention… In both instances, the notion that these anarchists are using the same truth-suppressing, thuggish tactics that they supposedly despise seems to be lost on the fools.—Seattle Weekly
Washington State citizens enjoy, as this column has frequently noted, one of the best self-defense statutes in the country. Considering the high profile of Overman’s current troubles with anarchists, the likelihood of him ever being prosecuted for acting in self-defense seems remote.
The reports suggest that Overman has considerable backbone and is sticking to his guns, professionally and personally.
But what does it say of the anarchists who are harassing and trying to intimidate him?
Anarchists are evidently cowards who do not wish to be held accountable for their criminal actions. They wear masks. They demand anonymity. They believe they should be invisible from the press when they rampage. They skulk to someone’s home and vandalize it, and his vehicle. They are, as the Tacoma News Tribune observed editorially this morning, “domestic terrorists.”
Destruction that targeted The Olympian and Overman’s home were deliberate acts by self-described anarchists for the purposes of retaliation and intimidation. Retaliation for journalists’ exercise of their First Amendment rights and intimidation to make them hesitate to exercise those rights in the future.
That’s not vandalism; it’s domestic terrorism. And in a free society, it cannot be justified or tolerated. We trust that the authorities are treating this case in that light.—Tacoma News Tribune
Social protest is protected by the same First Amendment under which Overman photographs news events, and whatever else a violent protest happens to be, it is first, and foremost, news that the public has a right to know about.
Readers can follow Overman’s work in the pages of the Daily Olympian. They can follow anarchists by the trail of silvery slime they leave in their wake.
