Politics & Government

'Occupy Healdsburg' Aims to Reclaim Power for People

About 30 people rally against bailouts for Wall Street.

Rage against government bailouts for banks, corporations and Wall Street in general was the focus Thursday for ""

"We're 99 percent of the people," said Maureen Moseley of Healdsburg, one of about 30 people at the event that started at 6 p.m. on the west side of Healdsburg Plaza. "Just because we don't have money, doesn't mean we can't have power."

Aside from honks from passing motorists showing support, Thursday's rally was peaceful until about 7 p.m., when a woman appeared and began screaming at the demonstrators. Some members of the group yelled back at her.

Find out what's happening in Healdsburgwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After a period of time, the intensity of the conflict eased off before there was any physical violence or police presence.

Moseley, meanwhile, said the " is making a difference.

Find out what's happening in Healdsburgwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"People are starting to realize that they can change things," she said earlier at the start of the rally. "I think the whole country should go on strike."

Thursday's event was an expanded version of the weekly Healdsburg Peace Project demonstrations, which have been happening every Thursday in the same spot since just before the Iraq War in 2003.

"We usually average between eight and 12 people," said Karl Hilgert of Healdsburg, who has been coming to the rallies since they started. "This crowd tonight is a lot more."

Robert Nuese of Healdsburg, a leader of thesaid he decided to expand the focus to "Occupy Healdsburg" after the success of last weekend and similar events around the Bay Area.

Demonstrator Lillian Reid of Healdsburg said Nuese's call to action inspired her to make a new sign: "Take the Rich Off Welfare."

Reid said the word "welfare" referred to government bailouts for banks and rich corporations, "sweetheart deals" to allow oil drilling and other environmental assaults, tax breaks for the rich and other subsidies.

"You have the banks, the corporations, Big Oil and all the money they get from the government," she said. "It's more money than poor people get."

She said the rich are getting "welfare," while masses of students are unable to finance their college educations or graduate with massive debt.

"We have whole generations of kids who are getting shafted out of their education," she said. "Meanwhile, the rich are getting more money to fight wars."

student , a Patch blogger, passed around a petition calling for full disclosure of political campaign ads financing.

"There is 1 percent of the population that controls the American people and the wealth," said Naujokas, 13. "We want to pass laws to amend the Constitutions so there is full disclosure."

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here