ELLSWORTH, Maine — Eight demonstrators spent an hour of their Christmas Day holding signs and waving at passers-by on the Union River Bridge. Their signs called for an end to military conflicts and the return of war dollars to American soil.
“That’s been our focus — bring our war dollars home,” said Starr Gilmartin of Trenton, who was holding a sign that said “$1 trillion = cost of current wars.”
Some demonstrators were members of the Occupy movement and protested the American corporate financial structures. Others have been protesting American involvement in overseas conflicts since the war in Vietnam.
Russell Wray of Hancock has displayed signs and flags on the bridge, which carries Main Street over the Union River, since the United States sent troops to Afghanistan a decade ago.
He said it’s a tradition for area demonstrators to come to the bridge for a few hours on Sundays before walking up the street to a local park. Christmas didn’t stop that tradition.
“It’s a holiday for us, it’s not much of a holiday for the troops overseas,” Wray said as a light snow fell in Ellsworth.
The demonstrators argued that Christmas was a good time to spread their message and to remind people to think of those who might be struggling during the holidays with poverty, hunger or separation from family.
Roads were lightly traveled in Ellsworth on Sunday, but many passers-by honked in approval as they drove over the bridge. A few drivers held their hands up to their windows with thumbs pointed down.
Demonstrators said the Ellsworth community has proved to be more supportive than some others over the years.
“It’s a small sacrifice to come out here and bring attention to the insanity of war and corporate influence,” Wray said, adding that he believed the government is “at war against taking care of our own people in this country.”
Spending a cold Christmas afternoon displaying their messages showed their “commitment to educate the public,” Gilmartin said.
Most of the demonstrators left the bridge around 1 p.m. to meet family and friends to celebrate the holidays.
8 people with signs are news? Are they going camping later?
Perhaps those people making disparaging remarks about people protesting about the use of US dollars in foreign lands may not be aware that our government spendsw 10 billion dollars a month in Afghanistan alone. Thats 120 billion dollars a year. For that expenditure, which doesn’t factor in the tragic and senseless deaths of hundreds of American soldiers, imagine what we could do with that money in this country. Apparently cheesecake1955 thinks that is some kind of joke. Spare me.
PBF111
Like they have anything new to say? Really?? The same guys that have been protesting anything that comes along since 1968? They have something new to add???
Perhaps you have something ‘new’ to say?
If they were 8 anti abortion demonstrators the BDN wouldn’t have given them the time of day. If they had every vile comment possible would have been posted towards them. Thank God Mary said “Thy will be done…”
Apparently your reader(s), Cheesecake1955, who finds those who are protesting about the use of US Gov. monies abroad and the senseless deaths of hundreds of American troops is unaware that in Afghanistan alone the US spends 10 billion dollars a month which doing the simple math comes to 120 billion a year. Just imagine what that money could do here, a nation of over 300 hundred million people where there is an 8% plus unemployment rate. And please educate me, unless I am missing something what are we getting for that expenditure? In my view beyond nothing, just a deeper hole from which we appear to be unable to extricate ourselves. You can keep up the cavalier joking but unless you are a part of the defense industry or one of those sycophants who support and are outrageously compensated by it your derisive comments are ironically inimical to your own interests.
You are right about it being senseless deaths and a waste of money. The problem is that most of that waste had nothing to do with the war. Most of it was spent on nation building.
Apparently your reader Cheesecake 1955 who appears to disparage the efforts of those who on a cold Christmas day are protesting the use of US Gov. monies, and the senseless loss of thousands of American lives, to underwrite the enormous cost of our foreign engagements, is unaware of the massive costs of these very questionable, extremely damagong, ill considered endeavors. In Afghanistan alone the US spends 10 billion a month, 120 billion a year. Imagine what we could do with that stateside where we have millions unemployed, a rotting infastructure and a crippling debt load. Unless Cheesecake is part of the defense establishment or one of the sycophants who supports and is outrageously compensated by his or her connection to it the derisive comments are ironically totally against his/her interest. And I might add what I believe to be a little known fact. Many of the private contractors doing the work in Afghanistan who are paid out of part of that 120 billion are not even US registered corporations even though they are owned by US citizens. That means that none of their enormous profits are taxed by the US nor are any of the huge salaries of their employees reported to the IRS. The banks in the Isle of Jersey and the Grand Caymans are doing an enormous business depositing those pay checks. The US gets zero.
This has only made the paper becuase it IS Christmas…these people are out doing this every Sunday. It started with Impeach Bush, bring the Toops home. Now they want to bring the Afgan Troops home and Financial Overhaul (but no Impeach Obama signs!)
Probably if Bush had been impeached and free trade had been abolished; America wouldn’t be in the economically devistated perdicament it’s in today.
Better to engage the enemy in Baghdad than in Boston,…… or Bangor, I say.
This is such a warped and moronic way of viewing the world….
and when the ‘enemy’ says the same of you?
Personally, I would choose a less cowardly approach. If the ‘enemy’ wants to come here and duke it out, let them. When they hit the shores, they’re going to get crushed, end of story. We are foolish to think we can parade around the world dropping bombs here and there, sending drones in to this area and that, while also expecting there will never be any blowback. Ask yourself, if the Chinese invaded this country, attacked your neighbors who objected to their presence, and did so under the guise that they were ‘protecting’ you, how long would you sit idly by and say nothing, or have an urge to strike back against those that are occupying your homeland?
you progressive, war-mongering, interventionalist folks are truly out-to-lunch when it comes to foreign policy.
They are more than ‘out to lunch’. They are coca cola patriots waving the flag from the comforts of their homes while thousands of young Americans needlessly are maimed and killed. They cheer on the hapless bureaucrats and gov’t stooges and are quite content with the status quo so long as the blood that gets shed is not their own.
I guess you have forgotten 9-11 and the poor souls you lost there lives . Keep you head in the sand as every day the try to come up with a way to kill us.
They don’t like to talk about that.
In a few more years of liberal control, 911 will not have happened in their mindset.
Bless these folks for spending their time standing for their beliefs. It is a shame there aren’t many, many more as caring and unselfish as these few idealists. They are right, of course. We have become a war state with a war economy and it is destroying our once great nation.
You got it!
The ignorance out there about what the US war machine is doing to all of our collective interests is shocking. And for some reason, I have yet to understand, Obama feeds right into it. So much for a Harvard education.
Maybe Obama feeds into it because on some level he now understands what a dangerous world this is unlike before. He got punched in the nose by Iran with his ” policy of engagement”. Which cost us a year of pressure on their nuclear program. He is good at playing the media that he has our interests at heart but it is a much more dangerous world by his ineptness.
Example: We should have controlled the air over Iraq until they can patrol their own skies a year from now. (they have no air force) He failed in that negotiation. He has given Israel & Iran free reign over Iraqi skies. He neutered our influence.
‘Our influence.? What has ‘ our influence’ done to advance the interests of this country. It has cost us billions of dollars, thousands of lives and diminished our reputation and standing throughout the world. If you, John McCain and the rest of the paranoid folk out there, and there are many, had their way we would be fighting a half dozen wars all over the globe. Its a shame when the fear engendered by opportunistic politicians over the cold war communist ‘ threat’ was revealed as the toothless tiger that it always was that Americans didn’t take on the defense establishment. Instead the latter created more illusory bogeymen which has us in the jam we are today. Paranoia prevails much to the glee of the bureaucrats, lobbyists and defense contractors. The flood of money to those jokers continues undiminished while this nation is decaying exponentially. Iran in terms of military might is a banana republic but the Pentagon would never let that little secret out the door it would put to many of its employees out of work.
israel,over iraqui airspace?hope they give approval, so they can go to iran, but this pathetic obama, will abandon the israeli’s when they need support.
this so called president ia a danger to everyone in this country,why dont the unwitted that voted for him, finally realize this fact?? they are no better than he,and are as much a Danger to this country and all in it.
Because they ARE unwitted.
Ron Paul 2012!
Just what we need . It would be cooco puffs for dinner in the white house every night.
YAAWN
Get a job you bunch of welfare sucking hippies we the working people are tired listening to you whine
what a bunch of losers. you see the same faces at all the ellsworth protests. they should have stayed out there all day.
Should make their picket sign in pencil, that way they can reuse for the next protest fad. Imagine all they would have saved if they used pencil – Vietnam, Watergate, No Nukes, Save the Whales, End Apartheid, Iraq, Afghanistan, ocCUpy.
In why not just make signs read “I Protest Topic-of-the-day”
May I assume that since you are mindlessly attacking dedicated people who are apposed to those issues that you are in favor of them? Viet Nam was a good thing? Watergate? Killing all whales? Invading countries that pose no threat to us? would you rather they were cowards who quaked in fear at imaginary enemies? would you rather they silently accept criminal behavior on the part of their political reps? They are unsung heroes doing your work for you while you sit on the comfortable sidelines taking pot shots at them. How about women and the vote? Do you want to take the vote from them?
Why try to fix what isn’t broken? Time for them to get o with it.
“All gave some, some gave all” — they gave an hour — maybe some gave more than an hour with all the prep time, sign making etc… . I agree with Cheesey “This is news?” I guess it’s their parade and a great tradition too.