At the Haller Fountain in downtown Port Townsend on Wednesday, March 5, about 95 students from Port Townsend High School held anti-war signs, cheered speakers and waved the peace sign during a peaceful afternoon walkout from the school. Next to them, a smaller group of pro-troop residents with their own signs watched.

Conklin's camera snapped away.

The walkout from PTHS was organized by the Port Townsend Youth Peace Project and departed the school at 11:40 a.m., according to Assistant Principal Tom Kent. He estimated that 95 students left the campus for the walkout. Some had parental permission; some did not, he said.

A group of 10 pro-troop residents arrived at Haller Fountain at about 10 a.m., with signs saying that the troops should be supported.

J.D. Rook of Port Townsend said he was a Vietnam War vet who had earned the right to express his view.

"We're Americans, and if the decision is made to go [to war] we need to support our troops," Rook said. "If we're not part of the solution then we're part of the problem."

Shawna Merrick said she believes war is inevitable, and she wanted to make a public statement so soldiers knew the anti-war sentiment was not directed at them.

"Anyone willing to volunteer to die for someone else's freedom deserves a lot of respect," she said. "That's what we're here for."

At about 12:10 p.m., the marchers from the high school flowed down the Haller Fountain steps. They did not interfere or engage with the pro-troop group, but quickly outnumbered them. The peace marchers moved on for a circuit through the downtown, then returned to the fountain for speeches.

"By walking out of school and disrupting business as usual, we've shown we are not going to accept business as usual," organizer Suzanne DeWeese, a senior, told the crowd to cheers.

Ben Rezendes was one of those carrying a sign. The freshman said his departure was not preapproved, and he guessed he would face detention from the school.

"I think it [the war] is disgusting," he said. "There's no point to war."

Another protester, senior Lissy Corra, said it was "wonderful that all these young people are coming together. The war is going to affect us more than anyone."

Sophomore Alex Coxen agreed. "I have no tolerance for the war at all, and I don't want to die in it."

As the hour-long demonstration was breaking up, DeWeese said the walkout was part of a national student walkout across the nation on March 5 that involved 400 high school and college campuses.

DeWeese was delighted with the number of marchers.

"This is five times more than we thought we'd get," she said. "We thought we'd get maybe 15 people. There are people here from different grades, and different groups of friends. There are people here I don't know." She added there were students who would face not only school consequences but parental consequences as well.

DeWeese said she personally decided not to seek school permission to leave campus, as one part of her protest.

As the students left, pro-troop protester Merrick gave them credit.

"I think it's great our youths are allowed to be educated on the subject," she said, rather than expelled for having an opinion. "We were a little out-numbered but not mistreated," she noted.

While school officials were given no formal notice of the walkout, they had heard it was coming and opened several administration offices in the morning to give students a chance to formally check out of school with notes or telephoned permission from parents.

Of the 95 students who left school, Kent estimated that 40 received permission and 45 did not. Larry Foster, the school's attendance adviser, met later with those 45 and meted out standard truancy punishments to the students. The punishments consist of either after-school detention or two lunchtime cleanup duty shifts, said Kent.

Kent believes that once word got out about the walkout in the morning, it had a "snowballing effect" and many students decided to join.

The school administration "tried to remain fairly neutral, respecting the students' desire to go take part in this movement but knowing that we have policies to enforce and that parents have the right to know where their kids are."

School policies allow parents to permit their kids to leave school for a variety of reasons, Kent noted.

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Pictures coming soon!