The Occupy movement ain't just for city folk any more. Until this week, the nearest encampment to my hometown at the eastern edge of the Columbia River Gorge has been Occupy Portland ninety miles to my West. Imagine my surprise and delight when I opened my local evening paper on Tuesday to see a front page headline, albeit below the fold, proclaiming, "Occupy movement is coming to Mosier." That's Mosier, Oregon, where one is greeted with a sign proclaiming a local population of 430 residents, and just a fifteen-minute drive from my home. Family responsibilities prevent my joining the encampment, but you can bet I'll be visiting and showing support, and joining the planned "Break Up With Your Bank Party" the organizers have planned for my little city's Bank of America branch on Saturday. A few details, quotes and links past the orange squiggle.
The news article by Kirby Neumann-Rea in The Dalles Chronicle (reprinted from The Hood River News) is not available on either paper's website, so the following is a brief snippet to stay within fair use:
A one-week "Occupy the Gorge demonstration and encampment is set to start Friday in Mosier.
The gathering is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at a yet-to-be-determined location [...] according to spokesperson Kari Lahr of Mosier, who said she represents "a loosely organized group of people who form a unified voice for the people of the gorge who wish to take action.
Hmmm. Sounds like me.
I should mention that the little town of Mosier is situated along I-84 next to the Columbia River between Hood River and The Dalles, county seats of two rural and largely agricultural counties in the gorge region. Fruit orchards abound to the West, giving way increasingly to dry land wheat ranches as one travels East. There are slight Democratic majorities in each county by voter registration, although the proportion of registered non-affiliated voters is rising, and each has active progressive organizations (including affiliates of the Rural Organizing Project), but conservative political attitudes often prevail, and tea party and Christian right groups are also quite active here.
More information on the Occupy the Gorge Movement, including a calendar of of events can be found on their website, still in an early stage of development. I'll try to post photos and info after I've had a chance to visit the encampment, and attended the BofA action.
Pax vobis.