Posted on 9-1-2003

No Highway To Iraq
Published on Sunday, January 5, 2003 by The Bellingham Herald
www.bellinghamherald.com by Mark Porter

FERNDALE - Dorothy MacSlarrow remembers seeing a steady stream of people
holding "No Iraq War" signs on Interstate 5 overpasses while on a family
trip two weekends ago. "Visually, it was overpass after overpass from here
to Seattle," she said. "It was exciting to see the solidarity." Heartened
by seeing "like-minded people," the Ferndale resident and her husband,
Jack, decided to spend this Saturday at Ferndale's Main Street I-5 overpass
holding anti-war signs. "It can make a difference," she said, standing with
a sign facing northbound I-5 traffic and enduring high winds and a downpour
along with ive others. "I can make a difference."

A once-local overpass peace vigil has now spread to Seattle and Portland,
Ore. ,as anti-war activists across the region use the method to voice
opposition to a possible U.S. war against Iraq. Peace groups in Skagit,
Whatcom and Snohomish counties started it two Saturdays before Christmas
and supporters say it will continue at least through Jan. 18. Whatcom
County overpasses from Blaine through Alger are being covered, according to
supporters.

Those on the overpasses say their efforts have been met with an
overwhelmingly positive response. Lynne Pendleton, who has spent four
Saturdays at the Ferndale overpass, said she spent the first day counting
responses from vehicles traveling up I-5. The favorable responses -
honking, thumbs up and peace signs - out-polled obvious negative responses
like raised middle fingers 20 to one, she said. "When they see stuff like
this they honk and wave," Pendleton said. "This is one way for people to
express themselves."

Peace activists from Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties were at a large
anti-war rally in Seattle at Garfield High School on Dec. 8 when they
brainstormed the idea of I-5 vigils, said Stonewall "Stoney" Bird, a Skagit
County activist who helps organize the Skagit vigils.

There are between 50 and 75 people on overpasses, according to supporters.
"The general idea is to cover them (overpasses) all," Bird said. "The idea
was that lots of people would see the signs. We figured that in the two
hours about 12,000 cars would go by and that meant 15,000 to 20,000
people." Even the majority of truckers are giving sign-holders the thumbs
up and honking, he said. "It's my belief that lots of people have the same
feelings but they don't know if there is someone else who agrees with
them," Bird said. "If you stand up and say what you think, that encourages
all the people who say the same thing." "Every time we do it, people see
what we are doing and then just stop and come and join us," he said.

Christine Vacca of Bellingham spent her first Saturday with an anti-war
sign on the Sunset Drive I-5 overpass. "I'm an American who is upset about
our democracy and our process," Vacca said, watching one of her fellow
protester's signs ripped from her fingers in high winds. "It just feels
like this is when we should let our opinion be known." The negative
responses are sparse and kind of "anti-climatic," she added.
"I'm looking and thinking, 'Is that the peace sign or the finger?'"

While the middle finger is the most prevalent sign of negativity,
Bellingham protesters did have one man turn up recently at a Bellingham
area overpass with a sign that said something to the effect of "Nuke Iraq,"
said Dottie Dale of Bellingham. Dale, who stands at the Sunset overpass on
Saturdays, said the vigil is one more action for peace. "It's one more
action for people to use their sanity and not to buy all the
lies that the media are giving us," she said. "We are reaching so many
thousands of people, being up there on the overpasses, and their positive
response - it is saying we both stand for peace."

Nineteen-year-old Western Washington University student Julie Goodwin said
she has been at the Ferndale overpass holding a "No Iraq War" sign for the
past four Saturdays. "I have the hope that the American people will stand
up and do the right thing," said Goodwin, wearing a peace sign pin on her
knit cap. "I hope it shows other people that it's not unpatriotic to not go
to war - my main thing is that this keeps them thinking."