An Extraordinary Time

Homeland Security / July 31, 2005 / Elliott bay

 

In this era of terror, how safe do you feel riding the ferries? After the London bombings July 7, Washington State Ferries raised its Marine Security (MARSEC) level for the first time since 9/11. At MARSEC Level 2, armed Coast Guard escorts increase, and so does the number of bomb-sniffing dogs screening vehicles.

Washington State Ferries operates the largest ferry service in the United States and the third-largest in the world. The biggest ferries can hold up to 212 vehicles and 2,500 passengers.

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Gil Ward, 56, West Seattle
I feel safe because I think Seattle is a cool city. I don’t think we tend towards extremists.

Ell Corum, 56, Seattle
I do not feel safe riding the ferry system. I ride the ferry on a regular basis, at least once a week or twice a week, and I’ve seen a lot of things here that make me very nervous. I see random. …I had a conversation and I was informed that because of political interests they aren’t able to do what they need to do.

State Patrol trooper Robert Miner, on the canine team, 41 and his dog, Bo, yellow lab, age 2
We haven’t run into anything big yet but we’re confident that if there is something out here that’s substantial these dogs will easily detect it. I believe its going to be the passengers that ride these boats every day that will catch a potential terrorist because they know the system, they ride it everyday and they know best what looks in place and out of place. That’s my honest belief that they’re gonna be the heroes out of this, not us. I believe that 100%.

Catherine Macala, 19 Bainbridge Island

If we had no security measures and we had no people protecting us as we get on the boat or just even looking out for that kind of stuff then I would feel quite unsafe. But as it is I think this is about as safe as we’re gonna be.

Mary Lou Macala, 53 Bainbridge Island
It was similar to the feeling about the bombings in London that if they’re going to do it, it’ll happen and so even with all of the security.

Schuyler Boone, 19, Bainbridge Island
I was taking pictures of the coast guard vessel which has been escorting the ferry and just in the past 20 minutes I’ve seen it intercept 2 motorboats that came a little too close to the ferry. I feel rather safe. Certainly there’s always the threat of terrorism and of something really bad happening but they have a lot of great people out here doing their job to see that nothing bad happens and so long as they’re out here there’s no reason to get very scared.

Realistically you read the news everyday and you hear about attacks here and attacks there, and explosions and car bombs, but you wonder with all the security measures in place how many attacks would have happened or were thwarted by people who were doing their job and who are there in places of high risk to prevent something really bad from happening. I think there’s probably a lot of unsung heroes out there that we don’t hear about.

In the early morning hours on July 2, 2005 Carlos Holguin, a homeless person, age 48, was found burned to death under the Nickerson St. Bridge overpass near Fisherman’s Terminal. It is not known if this was an accident caused by himself or if it was a hate crime.

Women in Black have stood for 25 homeless people of Seattle/King County who have died thus far this year, the highest rate they have seen since they started holding vigils in 2000. They claim that according to a 2003 study by the National Coalition for the Homeless, Seattle ranked as 7th worst city in the country for hate crimes against homeless people. Washington ranked as the 3rd worst state.

During a memorial service at the Quest Church and Café / Community Center people who knew Carlos share their thoughts about him and life on the streets in Seattle.

Peter, age 34
“He was a good friend of mine. I was the last one he talked to before he passed away. Carlos was a good person. Me and my old lady we was like being homeless for 5 months and he took us under his bridge with him, where he’s dead at. (sob) Can’t believe who would’ve done this sort of thing. I don’t know who woulda wanted to hurt him.”

Howard, age 42
“We’re all homeless. We see each other on the street. We always give each other a hug or kiss or whatever. But we’re all friends. And to see something like this go on it hurts us. I’ve been to too much of this stuff. And when someone says “Help” you better make sure you have some friends around because it ain’t nice out here.”

Bobby and his dog Lucky, age 46
“I’ve known Carlos for about 8 years. He’d give the shirt off his back. He wasn’t mean or anything. Sometimes like the rest of us he’d have a little too much to drink. But they haven’t discovered yet if he was murdered or if it was an accidental death. ….He was one of the guys who hung out in Ballard on Market St. And then last two years we’ve lost 4 and I know 2 more who are going down, and I’m losing another close friend, and I may be after that. (tears) I’m not sure. ….Where I live, I’m safe. I’ve got several friends around me. If there’s a problem all anybody has to do is holler. And whatever the problem is its solved right then and there. There ain’t no callin no cops. We take care of it. I’m homeless but I’m not on the streets. I have a camp. I don’t live in doorways. I don’t live in the alleys. Unless I can’t make it home. But I would like to see the police and coroner get to the bottom of this.”

Meredith Dancause, age 25, barista at Q café
“Carlos would come in regularly and see me. And everytime he came in he’d tell me to lean in and (he’d) say ‘I have something to tell you.’ And I’d (say), ‘what Carlos? What is it?’ And he’d go ‘Why did God make you so beautiful?’ So yeah, I will miss his face around here. He’s a good man.”

Michael, age 34
“I live on the streets. I don’t feel safe about nothing no more ‘cuz people are doin’ stupid stuff out here and we got to live with it. And it’s a tough life. We all hang together and make sure we got friends. If we don’t have friends we ain’t got nothin’ out here. I’ve been out on the streets after my wife passed away. I was in Desert Storm. I came home and I turn around, and my wife died 6 months after I come home. So this is what brought me out to the streets ‘cuz I couldn’t deal with life no more. I’m on a mission to die but they (friends) won’t let me.”

Pastor Eugene Cho, Quest Church
“One of the things I think he would say to me is “Priest, have some good conversations with people.

Candace, age 32
“He was a real good friend. Everybody loved him, you know. He was happy all the time. He like talking to people, didn’t matter who it was. Me and my boyfriend, we’re homeless too. We know Carlos from the street. We got rained on, you know. Our blankets got ruined and we told him about it. Without any hesitation, he just took us under his wing. We lived under that bridge for quite awhile with him. The one night we wasn’t there, that’s when that happened. We told him not to go. We spent the day with him, but he went to the bar. He’s a very loveable but stubborn man. (smile) We just had a bad feeling about it so we didn’t go back. And we told him not to go back either… We told him to come back to where we were. I don’t know what it was. Everybody told him ‘Don’t go.’ Actually, nothing ever happened there. It was always safe. It kept us out of the rain. It was a little loud from the traffic but you know it was a safe place to sleep.”

The Hi-Yu Royalty Court has been a West Seattle tradition for 71 years, but participation has been on the decline. Hi-Yu historian Dorothy Poplawski says in the 1950’s and 60’s, 20 or more applicants would try out; yet this year there were just four applicants, barely enough to make up the court.

Teaching young women the importance of community service and etiquette may seem a bit outdated. These girls, though, see the court as an opportunity to prepare for their futures and earn scholarship money. The girls and their parents make a float and participate in a rigorous schedule of summer parades and community events throughout Western Washington. The West Seattle Hi-Yu Grand Parade is set for 11 a.m. tomorrow on California Ave. SW between Lander and Edmunds street.

Miss Junior West Seattle Hi – Yu Court Queen Kathryn Gouker, age 10 (left in picture above)

We had to fill out an application with all kinds of questions and then we had to go and sit in a room with a panel of 5 judges and they’d ask us questions like ‘what does this community mean to you and what’s one thing you’d change about your community.’ I’d change how dirty it was. ..sometimes I embarrass myself in front of them (the senior court), like I act like a really little kid which is really funny. Its nice cuz they’re older and they can show you what you have to do and what you’re supposed to say and things like that. ..we are the only festival who has a junior court who rides with the senior court to the parades not just in our community (but) like toMarysville, and Sequim, and Port Townsend so that’s fun. We are not just enclosed in our own community. We get to visit new places and we don’t just let the senior group represent West Seattle. The junior court does as well. I think I’ll definitely use the speaking out in front of crowds and learning to talk fluently in front of a microphone. I think I’ll definitely use that stuff when I’m applying for middle school this fall and I think I’ll use the smile a lot more ‘cuz I usually didn’t smile with my teeth open so now I do.

2005 Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Queen Erin Waid, age 19 (in picture above rear, far left)

A lot of people like to call it a beauty pageant and its not that at all. Its exactly the opposite basically. We like to call it a scholarship pageant because it’s a lot more based on your personality, what you’ve done with your community, how you’ve performed in school, just more on a personal level rather than just the objective beauty-type pageant. I had seen the candidates in their cars and I had seen the court on the float and I was kind of like ‘Oh That looks like fun. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it.’ But then I got a little bit older and I had a lot of things going. I just thought it would be a good way to get a scholarship for college because colleges nowadays are just so expensive and every little bit helps. I just kind of did it on a whim and it ended up just being a great experience. We do a lot of community events and we do a lot of things within the community so to me it was a really great opportunity to meet a lot of different people within West Seattle and get better aquainted with the people here and the merchants and everyone. There were 4 of us who were candidates and all 4 of us made the court. Every single one of us got a scholarship in addition to certain awards that we received. We as the court have to do a lot of public speaking events, and I think that that can really help me in the future. And just gaining confidence. I think that we have to talk to so many people and meet a lot of new people. Besides being a lot of fun its just a great way to get know people and a great way to interact with people. And also it’s a great way to meet people who can help you in your future. I was really honored because I just felt so excited to see them (the Seafair pirates) and the court got to be in this little space while everyone else was roped off. So it was fun to be there and I did feel very, very honored to be one of the first people to see the pirates. It was very exciting.