By reporter Steven Smalley
An unsigned letter showed up yesterday on car windshields of Magnolia residents seemingly to threaten those who live nearby who are involved with the Children and Family Justice Center-a project recently approved by voters. Four neighbors were named as the target of an unknown group opposed to, “the imprisonment of children.”
“It seemed threatening,” explains Liz Marshall, who found a flyer on her car. “They said they were going to bring conflict here to Magnolia.” In part, it reads:
“It is easy for them to profit from locking children in jail cells from the comfort of this wealthy neighborhood, but we will not idly stand by as they do. Make no mistake about it; if they continue along this course we will bring the conflict to this ‘safe’ neighborhood, we will employ whatever tactics we deem necessary to prevent this despicable capitalist project…We know where these individuals live…and we know much more than we are letting on. Be warned, stop what you are doing or face the consequences.”
“I think that’s a threat,” says Marshall. “I think it’s saying your neighborhood will no longer be safe. Because we are going to bring the conflict there. You’re going to need to be afraid.”
One of the four individuals shown in the flyer, along with his photograph, is Magnolia resident Dwight Dively, King County Budget Director. He spoke with Magnolia Voice.
“There is a group of people, who I assume is related to this, that has taken a position that no child should ever be detained. It’s not clear what they think should happen instead,” he says. “This group has said, we’re not done. We are going to go to the people who are with this job or helping with the construction, and we are going to do something.”
The four people singled out in the flyer were employed in government or some aspect of construction. It seems all live in this neighborhood. Magnolia Voice is not naming the other three. The flyer said, “These people are scum, (sic) they live or have interests in your area.”
When Dively was asked, how threatened do you feel, “Not very,” came his reply.
“It comes with the territory,” he says. “If you want to be in a position of consequence in the government, sometimes this is what happens. It comes with the job. People have a right to their opinion, and they have a right to constitutionally protected peaceful protest. If they go beyond that, then they break the law, and they should be arrested.”
Marshall took another tack.
“I felt alarmed,” she said. “After reading the letter, I called the police.”
A $210 million levy was approved by voters in 2012 to build a new 144-bed Children and Family Justice Center, according to published reports.