OCCUPY BREMERTON FORECLOSURES

Excerpts from:
Another Occupy arrest
at Kitsap County foreclosure auction
By Rachel Pritchett

PORT ORCHARD — A week earlier, they used a megaphone.

(Last) Friday, seven Occupy Bremerton protesters loudly blasted a choir of whistles to call attention to their cause at the regular 10 a.m. foreclosure auction outside the Kitsap County Administration Building.

"Stop illegal foreclosures! Occupy the auction!"

Their yells pierced the frigid air. About 20 bankers, trustees and clients split into small huddles to hear auctioneers drone the long legalese of that morning's foreclosure announcements. Hand on hip, one proclaimed, "Going once, going twice, going three times." Protesters closed in to within a couple of feet from their faces, their whistle blasts and shouts carrying their message.

"The banks got bailed out! We got sold out!"

Within five minutes, a Port Orchard policeman rolled up and warned some of the protesters that they'd be arrested if they didn't stop. Soon, a second officer came. And for the second week in a row, police arrested Todd Penland, 48, of Manchester.

The group's designated arrestee walked peaceably to the police car, a look of patience and injustice on his face. The officers used restraints to bind his wrists behind him. Two cop cars and a third unmarked car circled and rolled away.

"He shouldn't lose his right to assemble!"

Also like last week, the arrest was for disorderly conduct. Penland was booked into jail and released, no payment required, all in an hour. He's to appear in Port Orchard Municipal Court on Monday.

"Shame! Shame! Shame!"

A woman drove by and honked support. Penland's mother, Phyllis Penland of Port Orchard, was holding a trembling little black dog in her lap as she propelled her wheelchair through the gathering over to a blond woman reading from foreclosure papers...

"You're conducting an illegal sale!"

Link to complete article:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/dec/09/another-occupy-arrest-at-kitsap-county-auction/