PORT HADLOCK – Two Jefferson County residents were arrested Saturday outside the entrance gates of Naval Magazine Indian Island as 16 people brandished cardboard signs – and one spilled marinara sauce to symbolize blood – to protest Thursday’s arrival of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Ohio at the munitions base.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Liz Rivera Goldstein, 49, of Port Townsend, and Bethel Alice Prescott, 46, of Irondale, on investigation of disorderly conduct when they blocked the entrance to the base after a five-minute warning to clear the way expired at about 2 p.m.
Both women face a charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and/or $1,000 fine.
The USS Ohio, which carries non-nuclear weapons, was the first nuclear-powered submarine to dock at Indian Island – the Navy’s only munitions storage and transfer depot on the West Coast – this year.
The last time a nuclear-powered sub docked at the base was when the USS Florida arrived in April 2006, said Lt. Kyle Raines, Navy spokesperson for Submarine Group 9, on Thursday.
The USS Ohio remained docked at the pier on Salturday.
The Navy would not say how long the sub would be there.
The Navy had announced in September 2005 plans to convert the dock at the munitions storage and transfer depot into a maintenance site for nuclear-powered submarines, and a $1.5 million upgrade of the base’s wharf power systems was completed last year.
“We’re watching a steady increase in what the military is doing around the world,” said Rivera Goldstein during Saturday’s protest.
“Locally, I believe the danger to the community increases if they have an accident,” she said.
“The community is far too close to this base to be safe.”
Indian Island’s munitions pier is about two miles from Port Townsend’s downtown and can be seen from town across Port Townsend Bay.
Cmdr. George N. Whitbred, commanding officer of the base, has said that weapons-handling at the base poses minimal risk to Port Townsend and populated areas nearby.
He said such areas are a safe distance from the munitions site.
