WTO gave some their 15 minutes of fame

Activists will begin marking the one-year anniversary of the World Trade Organization protests at noon tomorrow in Westlake Plaza with a "Global Potluck" and delivery of a cake to Mayor Paul Schell and others to "thank them for helping us expose the World Trade Organization."

The WTO demonstrations may have caused gridlock for Seattle a year ago, but they also created some notable moments, names--and even buildings. Here is an update on some that made the news.

914 Virginia Street remains a nondescript building at Virginia Street and Ninth Avenue, but during last year's World Trade Organization conference, it became the "Autonomous Zone," a makeshift headquarters and ground zero for anarchists.

Up to 150 self-proclaimed anarchists squatted on two floors of the Kalberer Hotel Supply Building, just a block from the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct.

The seizing of the building was a political statement for the anarchists, who demanded that the largely unused building be used for low-income housing.

They didn't relinquish control until a deal was brokered by Seattle's Low Income Housing Institute and an official with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, providing space for two homeless-advocacy groups.

John Citoli had operated a packing and shipping business on the ground floor for five years. When the protesters took over the second and third floors, Citoli said he lost business to the tune of $200,000.

In March, he filed a lawsuit against the city in King County Superior Court to recover lost business as a result of the occupation and the city's response. Making matters worse, he claimed the city-hired cleanup crew flooded his front office with water, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

The matter remains mired in the court system, and Citoli now operates a smaller version of the business from his Seattle home.

For Wah Lui, the building owner, it was a no-win situation. When the city's Emergency Operations Center cut off power and water, he feared the building would be trashed in response. So Lui gave the squatters battery-powered lights, fire extinguishers and a portable toilet.

Lui claimed he repeatedly called police, never receiving an explanation for police inaction, which was later criticized by law-enforcement consultants hired by Schell as allowing the building to remain a "hotbed of activity" throughout the conference.

Even the bartered agreement that got the anarchists to leave rankled Lui, who likened the deal to having "someone putting a gun to your head and telling you to donate to the Salvation Army."

As for the building itself, it's being remodeled into business space.

Lawyer Katya Komisaruk, of Oakland, helped found the Midnight Special Law Collective, which trained demonstrators at WTO and then represented 600 protesters arrested on misdemeanor charges. Of those, only six cases went to trial, with only one conviction.

Komisaruk then took the collective on the road, to Washington, D.C., to help activists demonstrating against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and to Los Angeles, to help activists at the Democratic National Convention.

The Nike Town "N" wrenched off the entry awning of the downtown Seattle store was sold to the highest bidder on eBay, an electronic auction site, according to Nike.

The two teenagers who stole it were sentenced to 10 days in jail and ordered to pay Nike $1,800.

Tukwila Police Officer Keith Haines, who was seen on television kicking a male protester in the groin and shooting him with a beanbag, remains with the force.

In January, the police chief found the then 29-year-old officer used inappropriate force during the incident. Discipline included a two-day suspension without pay and retraining on the proper use of force.

David Solnit, local carpenter and puppeteer known for his giant satirical puppets, ran a protest group called Art and Revolution during WTO. In April, he took part in a massive protest of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., and from there, Solnit, 36, began another group called Freedom Rising, made up of fellow artist-activists. The group protested the Democratic National Convention in August, then traveled to Boston to protest the first Presidential debate between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. They decried the exclusion of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and others.

King County Deputy Sheriff John Vanderwalker was caught on videotape squirting pepper spray at two female art students. He also was shown kicking a kneeling woman on the street.

He was fired in April by Sheriff Dave Reichert for using unnecessary force, and has appealed. The issue is headed for arbitration early next year.

Melissa Ann Benton and Shauna Lin Balaski, the two women who were pepper-sprayed by Vanderwalker, have filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the deputy sheriff and King County.

The complaint alleges that Vanderwalker violated the women's civil rights and that the county failed to supervise him properly. The trial is set for next month.

Benton, 24, has since graduated from The Art Institute of Seattle, and is working out of state. Balaski, 21, has taken time off from art school and is working for an internet company in the Seattle area.

Raquel Castro, a Silverdale woman who was photographed climbing out of the shattered window of a vandalized Starbucks during the protests, turned herself in to police and eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary. The photo ran on the cover of Newsweek.

Castro followed looters into Starbucks and threw bags of coffee to people on the street. She was sentenced to 160 hours of community service and a year of supervision. She has been living at home with her parents, volunteering at a church and visiting a probation officer twice a month.

Pat Davis, the Port of Seattle commissioner who headed the WTO Host Committee, continues to be a strong advocate for world trade as the executive director of the Washington Council for Free Trade.

Charlene Barshefsky, U.S. Trade Representative, was official host of the WTO meeting. She has continued to push the Clinton administration's trade agenda. Most of her efforts now are directed at getting China into the WTO.

Dr. Bernard Pecoul of the Paris-based humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders came to the WTO conference to plead for lower drug prices in the Third World.

Although he failed to persuade the organization to reduce patent payments to pharmaceutical companies for diseases such as malaria and African sleeping sickness, he continues to work the diplomatic circuit. The European Commission recently considered lowering patent licenses in poor nations, a radical shift from past positions and a major victory for Pecoul.

The stolen propane truck that sparked fears of a terrorist attack, first at the World Trade Organization demonstrations and then at Seattle Center New Year's Eve party, is still missing. Its tank, filled with 2,210 gallons of propane when stolen, was found empty in a makeshift junkyard.

"It never made it up to WTO," said Ed Troyer, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman.

The truck was stolen early the morning of Nov. 29, 1999, from a locked storage yard at Propane Services in Spanaway. The thieves drove the truck through the front gate like a bulldozer.

In April, a repossession man searching for a stolen RV found the empty tank, which had been camouflaged with off-white paint. Whoever stole the truck apparently severed the cab from the rear frame and drove off, said Bobbi Davis, a co-owner of the propane company.

The company spent $92,000 to put a replacement truck on the road. It bought the tank back from the insurance company and plans to attach it to a new chassis.

No one knows what happened to the gas. Sheriff's investigators are still looking for the missing truck cab.