The Vashon-Maury Island Community Council, representing the citizens of Vashon and Maury Islands in unincorporated King County, Washington, fully supports the United States Constitution and its first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, as being essential to the health of democracy. The fundamental rights and liberties guaranteed therein are essential to the well-being of the citizens and community of Vashon-Maury Island.

Several acts and orders recently enacted at the Federal level, including sections of the USA PATRIOT Act and several Executive Orders, now threaten the following fundamental rights and liberties:

· Freedom of speech, assembly, and privacy

· The rights to counsel and due process in judicial proceedings

· Protection from unreasonable searches and seizures

These rights and liberties are guaranteed by the United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights, as well as Article I of the Washington State Constitution.

Therefore, The Vashon-Maury Island Community Council, acting in the spirit of our community, hereby requests that the Metropolitan King County Council resolve the following:

1. Local law enforcement continue to preserve residents’ freedom of speech, assembly, and privacy; rights to counsel and due process in judicial proceedings; and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures even if requested or authorized to infringe upon these rights by federal law enforcement acting under new powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act or orders of the Executive Branch;

2. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation regularly and publicly disclose the extent to and manner in which they have acted under the USA PATRIOT Act, new Executive Orders, or COINTELPRO-type regulations, including disclosing the names of any detainees;

3. Our United States Congressman and Senators monitor the implementation of the Act and Orders cited herein and actively work for the repeal of the parts of that Act and those Orders that violate fundamental rights and liberties as stated in the Constitutions of Washington State and the United States.

Motion was passed.  70 Yes, 0 No, 4 Abstentions, 7 voting Not Appropriate

Recognizing that our community, like the region that surrounds it and the nation as a whole, has a large percentage of its residents who are without health coverage under the current private health insurance system; and that many more are at risk of losing their coverage through loss of job, downsizing of benefits, or increasingly unaffordable premiums;

And recognizing that our current system costs much more yet delivers less than those of almost all other fully developed nations with national health care programs in such basic aspects as healthy life expectancy; infant mortality; and full coverage of the population;

And believing that the surest way to bring coverage to the uninsured, as well as assure continued coverage to those now at risk of losing theirs, is by converting to an efficiently run, publicly funded health insurance system administered by the government;

The Vashon Maury Island Community Council hereby endorses the institution of such a plan, to be designed so as to reduce administrative overhead and assure a standard of health coverage for all Americans, and calls upon our leaders at the local, state, and national level to work toward its implementation.

A copy of this Resolution will be forwarded to King County District 8 Representative Dow Constantine; King County Executive Ron Sims; Washington State Senator Erik Poulsen; Washington State Representatives Toni Lysen and Joe McDermott; U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell; U.S. Representative Jim McDermott; U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson; and U.S. President George W. Bush.

Motion was passed.  67 Yes, 1 No, 1 Abstentions, 9 voting Not Appropriate

We care deeply about our nation. As the US moves closer and closer toward a war with Iraq, we believe that it is important for us as a community to state our opposition to such a war, not only for the sake of our community, but for the sake of our nation and the world. We join other communities across America to express opposition to a war with Iraq:

Because our government has pushed relentlessly toward war with Iraq and has failed to make a case for waging war;

Because such a war will mean not only American and allied casualties, but thousands of casualties of innocent civilians on the ground;

Because in the aftermath of any such war, the US will have to provide assistance to a destroyed Iraq in order to avoid starvation and exposure of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians;

Because in the aftermath of any such war, the economies of America, already seriously weakened, and of Iraq will be devastated; and

Because in the aftermath of any such war, the world will be substantially more polarized and unstable than it is at present, regardless of whether Saddam Hussein remains in power in Iraq.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council opposes any such war or invasion of Iraq. The Vashon-Maury Island Community Council directs the Secretary of the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council to distribute this document to appropriate media sources.

Motion was passed.  71 Yes, 2 No, 2 Abstentions, 8 voting Not Appropriate