Health care protesters, reformers offer different views, tactics

YAKIMA, Wash. — While a crowd of protesters denounced health care reform proposals in downtown Yakima on Saturday morning, a small band of reformers fanned out across the city and rang several hundred doorbells to try to win support from people who might be sitting on the fence.

The two events — one loud and boisterous, the other quiet and tactical — provided contrasting images of the battle over health care that has come to define the domestic agenda of President Barack Obama.

Brandishing signs reading, “Stop Gambling with Our Future,” and “Just Say No to Government-run Health care,” more than 100 people gathered in front of The Tower on Yakima Avenue.

Protesters included members of Grassroots of Yakima Valley, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, STOP (So Tired of Paying), SOAR (Save Our American Rights) and the 9-12 Project.

Debra Lyn Deatley, a 53-year-old Yakima homemaker, said she’s never attended a protest but came to this one because she’d rather take a stand than yell at her television.

“They sit back there and shove socialized medicines down everyone’s throats,” she said, adding that people like Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., won’t wait in line like everyone else to get medical treatment.

Politicians “need to remember they need to do what they’re supposed to do, or they’ll be voted out,” Deatley said.

It was that kind of sentiment that prompted local Democrats and union activists to rally on the other side. They said they fear their party has been losing ground on the complex topic of health care.

Michael Green of Yakima, a retired teacher, was one of 11 volunteers who showed up at Carpenter’s Hall to collect a map and a list of names from a representative of Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama’s presidential campaign.

“I’m tired of all the evil misinformation and I have to do something to counter it,” Green said.

Organizing for America sent 250 people to 14 cities across the state to talk to registered voters who identified themselves as independent or undecided in voter data banks assembled by the organization.

“We wanted to talk to people we haven’t talked to before,” said Dustin Lambro, state director for Organizing for America. He described the response as “overwhelmingly positive” for health care reform.

In Yakima, volunteers hit 228 doorbells, making contact with 84 people. Of those, 61 signed a petition in support of reform.

“We are really happy with that,” said Sandi Conrad of Yakima, an organizer and member of a Service Employees International Union local for child-care workers.

It was slow going at first for Jay Boyle, a nurse from Prosser, and Irene Stewart of Yakima, an employee of the  Service Employees International Union.

“Everybody seems to be out and about this morning,” Stewart said as they started their route.

They were assigned several blocks between South Seventh and 10th avenues, around Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center. But about 40 minutes into their three-and-a-half hour effort, Boyle and Stewart found people ready to talk about health care.

Mica Brown, a debt collector for a local agency, was eager to sign a petition that will be sent to members of Congress urging them to adhere to Obama’s three objectives for reform: lower health-care costs, increased choices for coverage and affordable plans for everybody.

Brown, who is in her 50s, said she’s waiting to hear if her insurance will cover a $900 allergy test. Even if it does, she’ll still have to come up with $300.

“In my job, I hear every day about people not getting adequate coverage from their health plan,” Brown said. “They are told they’re going to be covered and then they find out they aren’t. It’s really bad.”

Everett Danielson, 81, was running his lawn trimmer around the edges of his neat lawn on South 10th Avenue. The Korean War veteran said he believes everyone should have affordable health care, “though I guess they’re having an awful squabble about it in Congress.”

But Isaac Johnson, a husband and father who lives nearby, politely disagreed with the idea of a public-run health plan for the uninsured.

“I like the government out of things as much as possible,” he said.

Still, Johnson said everyone should at least have catastrophic insurance coverage.

Inside Mabel Swan Manor, an apartment building for seniors, nearly everyone is on Medicare and supplemental insurance. Most who answered their doors felt like Dolores Howard, who signed the petition and urged Stewart and Boyle to keep working for reform.

“Let’s get something done,” Howard said.

While Democrats focused on health care, the protesters took aim at big government, taxes and bailouts.

Sandi Belzer Brendale, chairman of STOP and Respect for Law/Yakima, said government representatives cater to the demands of lobbyists rather than the people who elect them into office.

“They don’t have the right to dictate what we have to have,” said Brendale, a 56-year-old waitress. “The federal government has gone way overboard.”

Joe Ray, 76, a retired Navy man and Vietnam veteran, said, “I didn’t serve my country for this.”

One protester waved a sign that said “It’s no joking matter, stop big government” that included a drawing of Obama looking like the Joker from “The Dark Knight.”

Bob West, a local activist with Grassroots, said he hopes people will listen to conservative news stations to keep tabs on the federal government — which is already trying to control banks and end-of-life talks, he said.

“We’re losing our constitutional rights,” said West, a 67-year-old retired employee of the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency. “I can’t see why there isn’t rioting in the streets with all this going on.”

— Leah Beth Ward and Erin Snelgrove