Guest post by Tom Howie
With special thanks to Philip Anderson
The first time I met Kimberlee was in the back of a police paddy wagon. It was January 11th, 2021, and I had been arrested for attempting to attend the first legislative session in Olympia, WA since the Covid-19 lockdowns began. Many disillusioned Washingtonians had gathered at the state capital to protest our unconstitutional exclusion from the legislative assembly. I was the only one, however, who crossed their yellow tape (which rather fittingly said “crime scene—do not cross”). The time was 11:00 am and the first session was starting. Immediately, I was swarmed by about eight State Troopers. They grabbed me forcefully, breaking my umbrella as they tore it from my hands. I was led into the basement of the capitol building, where I was processed and searched for weapons—I had none. A neon yellow wristband numbered ‘004’ was put on my arm. Next, they brought me to my holding cell, which was a cramped space in the back of a paddy wagon.
I waited in that cell for hours. Someone would periodically jump in the cab to turn the engine on and off. I had nothing to do but listen to the pop-country music playing on their radio and stare at the bolts holding the partitions together. One of the bolts was missing. At one point I made a snide remark as somebody jumped in the cab, “You’ve got a bolt missing on your paddy wagon!” The response I got confused me. “I don’t know what good that’s gonna do us,” replied a female voice. It didn’t sound to me like something a Cop would say. I had nothing to say to that, so I stayed quiet for a little while longer. Then she asked what I had been arrested for. I didn’t feel comfortable spilling too many details to the mysterious person, who I thought was likely a cop in the cab of the truck. She asked me what number was on my armband. “004,” I said. Hers was “001.” That makes me wonder if some other people were arrested that we just haven’t been told about. I cracked a joke about how they just assumed the right-wingers would want to listen to country music while they were detained. Then she told me all about her story: her harrowing night being harassed by Antifa, her grandson named Unity, and her ongoing battles with the corrupt Child Protection Services. I couldn’t believe what she endured the night before and how unjustly she had been treated. As she regaled me, I made a silent vow that I would make sure her story was heard.
On the night of January 10th, she and her family had parked their RV, nicknamed the “MAGA Monsta,” among a caravan of other campers in what they presumed would be a quiet part of town—Boy, were they wrong. Roving bands of left-wing militants (who identify as “Antifa”) had mobilized to terrorize the influx of conservative protestors camped out across the city. One of these leftists even live-streamed their harassment of the sleeping grandmother. They banged on her RV, spewed obscenities, ordered them to leave, and challenged members of the caravan to a fight. An especially aggressive leftist repeatedly told members of the caravan to shoot themselves in the head. If you watch footage from that night, you will hear the leftists shout at nearby law enforcement, yet for some reason, the police never intervened in any meaningful way. That is until Kimberlee and the rest of the caravan fled to safety.
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Kimberlee found a new spot near the capitol grounds, where she hoped the beefed-up security would discourage Antifa from attacking her. What she didn’t count on was that law enforcement would harass her and lay hands on her instead. Security at the capitol had been heightened to an almost absurd degree. After Jan 6th, Governor Inslee wasted little time surrounding the capitol grounds with fencing and hundreds of National Guardsmen. State Troopers and capitol police worked together to patrol the grounds beyond the fence. Their heightened state of paranoia led them to see this harmless grandmother as a terrorist and a threat to democracy, all while seditious anarchists (who openly recant their allegiance to the U.S.A. with chants of “Death to America”) were left unmolested to terrorize conservative protestors. Police initially detained all members of the caravan who were present with her. Eventually, they let everyone go—everyone except for Grandma Kimberlee.
The whole ordeal seemed unbelievable. She had brought a grill to cook food for rally-goers. They were cooks, not criminals, but the police were treating her like a terrorist. Police took her into the basement of the Capitol. WA State Patrol made a public statement on Twitter at 8:23 am that:
“One arrest has been made at the Capitol Campus today. A female driver used an RV to block a roadway and refused to comply with orders to move and was taken into custody. This situation created a security concern and was dealt with appropriately.”
It seemed like a specious justification, considering that the roads in and out of the capitol grounds were barricaded with roadblocks. Streetside parking along Capitol Way (parking that used to be open to the public) was occupied for months on end by government vehicles that were never used. The nearby capitol campus’ public parking lot was blocked off by the Department of Enterprise Services. Kimberlee didn’t have many parking choices between the government-induced parking scarcity and the lawlessness of nighttime parking lots ruled by belligerent leftists. For the crime of not parking to their liking, she was held for hours in the cramped confines of that paddy wagon. They released her before me. I told her I’d try to stay in touch. That didn’t work out as I hoped.
When I got out, I searched social media. I couldn’t find her anywhere. A month later, on February 6th, I attended a free speech protest at the state capitol. After the event was over, I walked to my vehicle only to spot three known Antifa activists in the neighborhood. I suspected they would take pictures of me getting in my vehicle, so I kept walking around the block. By some divine providence, I stumbled onto a live streamer who uses the moniker ‘PrimeTimePatriot’ as he interviewed none other than Grandma Kimberlee herself. I was ecstatic. We exchanged contact information and have kept in touch ever since.
That’s why she reached out to me when she got the bad news: Thurston County had deemed it necessary to prosecute her for obstruction. I met her for lunch and she showed me the summons: Tuesday, February 8th, 12:30 pm, Thurston County District Court. I was floored. We live in a state where police aren’t permitted to pursue real criminals. But at least they’re keeping their thumbs on our grandmothers! There’s no telling what havoc they could wreak. God help us if they should continue to be free to bake cookies and knit sweaters. Meanwhile, let’s forget about the masked goons who burn our cities, peddle drugs, and rob us blind. The blatant inconsistency with the enforcement of law in the Pacific Northwest needs to end. Prosecuting people like Kimberlee is not justice—it’s persecution.
We will be Rallying for Kimberlee on Feb 8th at 12:30pm outside the Thurston County District Court in Olympia WA.
Please share her story with the hashtags #LeaveGrandmaAlone and #Rally4Kimberlee