Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington’s northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon.
The vandals struck again on Memorial Day after a guard left at dawn, the San Juan County sheriff’s office said. This time, the vandals left 33 of the hand-drawn swastikas.
“This is not an act of free speech. This is a crime,” Sheriff Bill Cumming said in a statement released Monday afternoon. - AP Yahoo
WHAT.THE.HELL. Come on, people. Flag-burning? Nazi Flags? On ORCAS ISLAND? And not only that, but TWO nights in a row?
As I was leaving the island on Monday, I saw a shirtless young man wandering the area waiting for an earlier ferryboat to the mainland with a shaved head and walking a pitbull. But none of these minor details stood out as much as the GIANT Nazi Swastika tattooed on his chest. On Monday I was unaware of the vandalism attacks. Not that I'm pointing fingers, but when Nazi Swastika flags and giant Nazi tattoos show up on a remote island such as Orcas - it's questionable.
People are pointing fingers at activist groups - I don't know about you guys but what kind of activist group would take the effort to travel to Orcas and spend the time/money to do something like that and risk not even getting noticed (it IS Orcas)? People are also pointing fingers at the kids on Orcas. If the kids now are anything like the kids back when I was on Orcas, they have a little more respect than THAT for the tiny little prison of a rock that Orcas can become for a bored kid. Toilet-papering graves and the trees? Now that is more like Island kids. Maybe pee on a headstone or two, but really now.
This smells more like the work of angry, ignorant, asshole people who are staying for the summer and still have their heads stuck up their asses, or of angry, ignorant, asshole people just visiting for the weekend (along with the bazillion OTHER people who decided to overpopulate Orcas for 3 days straight).Some people are suggesting it was the work of United for Peace and Justice.
Response has been immense. It was on the Today show - for chrissakes Orcas Island was on National NEWS. That is just not normal. Maybe Sunset Magazine. But not the Crime section of CNN.com.
Letters to the Editor have been pouring in at both local newspaper offices. Most express disgust. Some express stupidity:
"I just read about what happened to the grave sites on your island. I was planning on vacation stop there but canceled due to outrage that your town allowed this type of crime.
If you want to have any Chance of ever getting your good name back I recommend that your take immediate action to cause."
Hey, old guy. STFU. Don't blame Orcas Island for this crap.
From Freedomzone.com:
"Orcas Island Washington has honored John Edwards request to protest on Memorial Day, they even got a days head start by burning American flags at veterans' graves and replacing them with swastikas."
Um, what?? Now, I may not be the most patriotic person on the planet, but I still have respect for the blood, sweat, and tears that our countrymen have shed for this country over the centuries. There is something about the desecration and the ignorant finger-pointing that just makes my blood boil. Google returns 41,600 results from news sites and private blog communities. - *who is the moron who thought that Orcas Island is in San Francisco???*
Orcas Island has been thrown under the blazing microscope of the medial moguls and publicity-hungry political yappers. God help us all.
I went home to retreat temporarily to pristine solitude and recuperation from the woes of the world (the "mainland") and the selfish b.s. of the clamoring masses. Instead, I discover that the innocence is shattered by some very stupid people with even stupider ideas and the big-mouthed story-sniffing media that overglorify their ridiculous "conquests".
