2 posts tagged “washington”

I know I haven't posted in forever, but I'll get to all of that stuff later.  For now, here's a video of a great event that happened recently in my town.  On March 29th, over 800 local volunteers planted 1,007 trees in one day across Olympia.  The planting event concluded with a big party at my library.  If you watch the whole thing, you'll see my boss Cheryl speaking towards the end.  I will admit that I get bored with the occasional sleepiness of life in Olympia, but events like the 1000 Trees in One Day project serve to remind me of how lucky I am to be a part of this community.  Enjoy...

Recently, an eleven year old girl in Olympia was raped in her bedroom while the rest of her family slept.  A veritable firestorm of press and public opinion ensued.  A day or two afterwards, the police arrested a young, mentally ill man who was acting suspicious in a nearby church parking lot.  The young man, David Lynch, did not match the girl's detailed description of the rapist.  However, Mr. Lynch was young and probably schizophrenic and lived underground in a wooded area near the girl's house, which was enough evidence to hold him on suspicion.  Collective opinion contended that Mr. Lynch was guilty until proven innocent.

Only, as it turns out, David Lynch didn't do it.  He is just one more mentally ill person who has slipped through the cracks.  He was not the rapist of this young girl.   Of course, his innocence is not as big of a new story as the stories that came as close as possible to declaring his guilt without explicitly stating it. 

I think that the Olympian newspaper, select members of our city council, and many Olympia citizens should be ashamed for the hateful and judgmental reactions to this story.  We need to hold a mirror up to ourselves and reevaluate our views of homelessness, addiction, and mental illness in Olympia.  We pride ourselves on being progressive thinkers, yet many of us are still guilty of stereotyping or, worse yet, ignoring the members of our society that truly challenge our notions of appropriateness.  We should all be helping,  not judging.

Anyhow, because I'm not as eloquent as Phil Owen of Olyblog, here is a link to a beautiful opinion piece he wrote on this subject.

Link to images of the tent city set up to protest the treatment of the homeless in downtown Olympia

Link to images of David Lynch's "underground bunker"

Really, we can and should do better in our community.  There's got to be a better way.