Protesters went too far

To be or not to be? That is the question. The question this week is fair or unfair? A group of military protesters were stopped in Olympia, Washington for blocking trucks carrying military equipment on the way to a base.

The equipment came from Iraq. Some believe it was not fair for the protesters to be stopped or the police should not have used pepper spray to clear the crowd; however, we must look at the surrounding circumstances.

For one, there is a city ordinance involving pedestrian interference. Several members were arrested for this but later released.

Two, protesters brought small children and toddlers into a dangerous atmosphere involving human truck blockades and police with pepper spray. It is one thing for you to protest, but bringing small children into an atmosphere where danger could occur is basically child endangerment. What if the truck did not see someone in time and ended up running them over?

One of the protesters said she did not feel bringing children to the protest posed a problem. That "war is what kills children, not bringing them to anti-war demonstrations."

Although I agree with her somewhat, I would never dream of taking my children to a demonstration where it could turn ugly. Would any of you have taken your children to the protests back during the Vietnam era?

Lastly, the protesting should have been done more effectively. The men driving the trucks were not even military personnel, and all the protesters were doing was keeping the men from returning to their families and getting the job done.

To be more effective, I think the protesting should have been done in a different area for the actual military personnel to see what they think. Even in that case, most of the military personnel could care less about what protesters have to say.

They are doing what they are told to do, and to get them to change, how about marching in Washington D.C.? Storm the White House. That would gain some definite and more justifiable attention.

For those that think the pepper spray should not have been used, the police asked the protesters to move and they would not. The police did not use any amount of excessive force to get the protesters to move.

In my days of living in a larger area, I have been around police using pepper spray to control large groups of people. That gets an area cleared out quickly. Since they were violating the city ordinance, the police had every right to use the pepper spray when they did not comply with the orders.

In conclusion, I am a huge supporter of our military, but I also want peace and ending with this war.

I like the idea of protests, but I do not think this one was demonstrated effectively. So to answer the question, it was not unfair to stop the protesters in Olympia, Washington and I hope that later on this group will rethink involving the children.