March 23, 2003
Los Olivos pair open home to protesters By NORA K. WALLACE For more than a decade, a Los Olivos couple have opened their home and more than seven acres of property to an eclectic group of peace activists who set up tents, share meals and plan protests. The visitors come from throughout California, driving cars laden with protest bumper stickers. They gather around a table to eat homemade soup, potatoes and rice. And they strategize on how best to stage acts of civil disobedience at Vandenberg Air Force Base. They call it Peace Camp. Bud and Dottie Boothe, a retired couple with a history of civil disobedience and activism directed at the military, first started allowing people to camp out in the mid-1980s, when large groups gathered in opposition to the testing of MX intercontinental ballistic missiles at Vandenberg. In the last few years, they've welcomed people against the planned national missile defense system, part of which is tested and will be housed at Vandenberg. On Friday night, a handful of protesters, mostly from the Bay Area and Santa Cruz, showed up, ready for a peace rally at Vandenberg Saturday. On the front door, the Boothes posted a scrawled note: "To Peace Protesters. The open space in back of the house is open for your encampment." "Every time we've had a protest, they've been here," said Mr. Boothe. "This is the closest place to Vandenberg that people can camp." Many of those who arrived throughout Friday night were strangers to one another, and greeted each other with simple handshakes while they dumped their tents near large bushes of jojoba on the property. Two young men sported multi-hued mohawks, while two young women with piercings and tattoos sat nearby. Dennis and Tensie Apel came from Guadalupe with their 2-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. A week ago, Mr. Apel pleaded guilty to splashing Vandenberg's main gate sign with his own blood. The home is part of an underground network for peace activists, who learn its whereabouts via word of mouth, the Internet or happenstance. Friday night, two men from Ventura, members of Veterans for Peace, ran into other protesters at the Gaviota rest stop. The men had planned to sleep in their cars in Lompoc, to be near the protest. But they soon arrived at the Boothes' home, carrying a scrap of paper with directions given to them by the people at the rest stop. "We never know how many people will show up," said Mrs. Boothe, a former teacher. "We're happy they're participating in something we believe in." Added her husband, "It's something we can do." At times, there have been 50 people crammed into the house and grounds, sleeping shoulder to shoulder. On Friday, a half-dozen tents were pitched in back of the house, and antiwar signs painted on large sheets hung drying over a fence. After sharing a meal, Mr. Boothe gave directions on the phone to a carload of people expected to arrive around 1 a.m. while his wife hovered nearby, asking if anyone wanted ice cream. "Everybody is so helpful and nice," Mrs. Boothe said. "They help each other." Around 10 p.m., Santa Cruz resident Lex LaFortune set up his tent. He called the camp "one of the ideal realizations" of the peace movement. "It helps tremendously" to have a free place to stay, Mr. LaFortune said. "I can't sing its praises enough. .Ê.Ê. Having a convergence point and staging ground where we feel safe and comfortable" is vital. If it weren't for the camp, people would likely try to sleep in cars, or find cheap hotels. That, Mr. LaFortune said, isolates activists from other people who may provide advice and strategy about civil disobedience. A college student and teacher of standardized tests, Mr. LaFortune, 21, said he was willing to get arrested Saturday. "I see (Vandenberg) as one of the greatest concentrations of destructive power and knowledge unconstrained by morality," he said. "We need to be here to confront it." |
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