Occupy Wall Street comes to Springfield

The Occupy Wall Street movement has visited Springfield, and will be back this weekend.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20111123/THISJUSTIN/711239983

Published November 23, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

Bongo the goat Bongo Occupy Wall Street comes to Springfield

By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD — The Occupy Wall Street movement has visited Springfield, and will be back this weekend.

The first protest was held Saturday morning in downtown Springfield, according to organizer Glendon Williams, a longtime Springfield resident.

There will be another rally at 10 a.m. Saturday on Main Street, he said.

Williams said he and the Rev. Eleanor Rice of the Springfield Unitarian Universalist Church organized Saturday’s event, which attracted 50 people – and a white goat.

Williams said a man was out walking his pet goat Saturday morning on Main Street, talked to the protesters, agreed with their concerns and decided to join the protest, which was around the bus shelter.

“We stayed until noon, and then went and got our feet warm and something hot to drink,” Williams said.

He said at the peaceful protest’s height, there were 25 to 30 people present, and that people came and went over the two-hour-long protest. He said most of the people were from Springfield, with about a dozen people coming from surrounding communities. He said about 10 people were members of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Occupy Wall Street protests started in New York City in September, and spread to cities all over the country. In Vermont, protests have been held from Burlington to Brattleboro, and towns in between.

Williams, 67, a columnist for a local newspaper, said it was the first protest he had participated in since the massive demonstrations against the then-proposed Seabrook Nuclear Station in the late 1970s.

“I protested Vietnam. I protested Seabrook. I don’t think I protested since then. The happy thing was, I talked to 12 to 15 people who had never protested before. Something upset them to bring them out,” he said.

He said Springfield had lost residents in the past 20 years.

“Springfield is a small town, and we don’t have much of an identity because people have been leaving Springfield,” he said.

“It was a gift to Springfield,” Williams said. “It was a chance to be out there for new people who don’t usually protest,” said Williams, who said that passersby were supportive, honking and waving. He said the group did not encourage any hostility.

Williams said the group had no leader in the traditional view of leader. “It is evolving,” he said.