Rural Lewis County Indivisibles is organizing two rallies this week in Lewis County.
The first is a sign-waving event to be held on Tuesday, Jan. 20, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in front of the Lewis County Courthouse at 351 North St., Chehalis, to educate the community about the Lewis County Board of Commissioners Ordinance 1354. The ordinance regulates sterile needle and syringe exchanges operating in the county.
According to a news release from Rural Lewis County Indivisibles, members of the organization said the ordinance is hurting Gather Church’s needle exchange program. Recently, a federal court ruled that Gather Church could resume the operation of its mobile needle exchange and that the ordinance regulating the service would be null and void for the foreseeable future, according to previous Chronicle reporting. The lawsuit filed by Gather Church is ongoing.
“We want the county to repeal this ordinance to save the county money from fighting a lawsuit over the ordinance and to allow the Gather Church to help those in need in our community,” Rural Lewis County Indivisibles said in the release. “We plan to first hold a sign-waving event in front of the courthouse. Then, we will go inside to attend the business meeting of the Lewis County Board of Commissioners. Some of our members will then speak in the public comments part of the meeting. We hope to see a lot of the members of our community tell the commissioners about how they feel about the board’s attempts to restrict the good programs they have which help those in need in Lewis County.”
For more reporting on the federal court ruling and Ordinance 1354, visit previous Chronicle reporting at https://tinyurl.com/yut5twpp.
The second event will be a march and sign-waving rally from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24, at George Washington Park in Centralia and the surrounding neighborhood.
Rural Lewis County Indivisibles aims to educate the public of the “harmful activities that our current government is getting us involved in,” such as international conflicts and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a release from the organization.
“We are in danger of becoming involved in military conflicts in Venezuela, Iran and Greenland. At the same time, we have troops in our city streets,” Rural Lewis County Indivisibles said in the release. “This includes the National Guard and untrained ICE agents in full military gear. We hope to see many members of our community bring signs that teach the public of the dangers caused by a president who in the past promised ‘No more wars’ but now seems intent on claiming new territories through intimidation.”
To learn more about Rural Lewis County Indivisibles and its events, visit its Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/38d3eh7u.
