Occupy Centralia: International Protest Movement Comes to Hub City, Joins With Longtime Anti-War Demonstration

For 79-year-old June Butler of Chehalis, keeping a vigil at George Washington Park in Centralia has become a nine-year Saturday afternoon tradition. This Saturday was no exception as Butler was joined by a familiar group of like-minded individuals and some new faces, as well as local members of the growing “Occupy Wall Street” movement. 

“I’ve been with the group vigil since we started,” Butler said. “I am there as often as I can be. When we started, we were just hoping to not have wars and go into Iraq.”

The group, with no particular leader, includes members of the Fire Mountain Chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Veterans for Peace Chapter 109.

“Our main idea is to try to bring peace into the world and our more recent campaign is to try and bring military money back into the states for the things we need here we are not getting,” Butler said. “I understand the Pentagon has not had an audit for years and years. We really need to know what is being spent and why.”

For Erin Miller, 30, Centralia, who was accompanied by her 9-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, the vigil is a chance to “let our fellow community members know some people in Centralia don’t support the policy (of invading Iraq).”

Miller has been participating with the vigil since the dedicated, core group of about eight began nine years ago.

On Saturday, the group was joined by another grassroots protest organization, “Occupy Centralia,” a member of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Occupy Wall Street began with a small group of protestors against corporate bailouts in Manhattan Park in New York and has no formal leader.

“We’ve been asking that the billions being spent for war be spent domestically,” Miller, who was also standing in solidarity with Occupy Centralia, said. “I think it’s so wrong, the United States has been in a several-year-long recession and so many people have lost their jobs. I lost my job as a result of the recession.”

Miller, who was formerly employed at Centralia College in the preschool program, lost her job when the budget was cut and remained unemployed for a year, before returning to work as a registered nurse at Providence Centralia Hospital.

“I’m against war and in favor of the Occupy Wall Street protest,” Miller said. “I can’t go to New York — but I can be here.”

What angers her the most is that no one is held accountable for the failing economy, she said.

“Collectively, we are giving billions of dollars in CEO pay-outs and zero interest loans, supporting their business practices. I want to see Wall Street regulated. They are hiring lobbyists and running roughshod all over our country,” Miller said.

Larry Kerschner, 64, Centralia, has stood with the peace vigil for nine years. His main wish is that people would take the time to learn more about what is really happening.

“You have to listen to lots of different people, be willing to read books and willing to listen to more than 10 seconds a night of news (from one source),” Kerschner said. “I’ve been to Iraq, to South Korea, to Afghanistan, because I wanted to see for myself what was going on.

“Not everybody can go to all those places, but everybody can keep an open mind and not just accept what they are told. The education system in this country is poor. Most Americans don’t read history, don’t read philosophy, don’t think beyond what they have been told for the most part. That’s a great way to enslave the people. If people don’t do a thing, you can call it a democracy but it’s not, it’s a sheep herd.”

Both groups plan to return to Washington Park next Saturday, starting at noon.

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    Victoria Stewart is a freelance writer and photographer living in Chehalis. She can be reached at creative01writer@yahoo.com.