60 people gathered on January 15, 2001 to act on the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. at the gates of the Bangor Trident Submarine Base, the Pacific home for the Trident nuclear weapons system.  The gathering, on King's birthday, was in solidarity with other nonviolent actions occurring at other Trident-related facilities across the US in the second annual National Day to Resist Trident.  In words, songs, prayers, and direct action, those assembled brought to life King's call to choose love, trust, and nonviolence in the face of the omnicidal threat of nuclear weapons, 1,600 of which are based at the Bangor Trident base.
 
In successive waves, three groups of people symbolically closed the Bangor base by stretching long banners across the 3-lane road leading to the base.  A total of 20 people were arrested for blocking the road, 15 for blocking the road on Kitsap County property, and 5 for blocking the same road on the federal, Bangor base property.  All 20 people were taken into custody, booked, and released, with the 5 federal arrestees all given lifetime ban & bar letters.  The 15 arrested by Kitsap County Sheriffs have not yet been charged and were not given citations or future court dates.
 
The symbolic closure of the Bangor base followed a ceremony at the Bangor gates, where people read passages from King's speeches and writings.  Theologian, activist, and Ground Zero co-founder Jim Douglass addressed the gathering, as did former nuclear weapons scientist Andreas Toupadakis, who resigned from his position at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Jan. 16, 2000 for reasons of conscience.  The ceremony ended with people hanging thousands of origami peace cranes on the chain-link, barbed-wire fence.  The cranes were from Uzbekistan and were hung on the fence as a gift and a plea to the workers at Bangor.
 
After the ceremony, the crowd processed past the "blue line" onto Kitsap County property, where the first "wave" of 6 people stretched their banner across the road.  The 6 people--Glen Milner (Seattle), Jacob Milner (14, Seattle), Emmie Johnson (Bellingham), Anna Brandt (Bellingham), Melissa Roberts (Bellingham), and Mary Hanson (Seattle)--held a banner which read:  "Bangor Closed!  Trident Violates International Law!"  Unlike in past nonviolent road closure actions, Kitsap County Sheriffs officers did not immediately move to arrest the 6.  The only officers in sight were two on the overpass, videotaping the action.  The 6 stood, closing the base entrance for 20 or more minutes, while traffic backed up, before a caravan of several police cars and a van arrived to arrest them.  The delay in arrests was described by Glen Milner as "my dream come true," allowing the base to be closed.
 
After the road was cleared of the first "wave," the backed-up traffic proceeded into the base, except for one car, driven by a young man named Dustin, who said that he "would have been out there with you" if he'd known about the event ahead of time.  Instead of proceeding into the base like the rest of the cars behind and around him, he simply kept his vehicle turned off, sitting still in the road, even though the lanes were clear in front of him.  He did not move until directly told to by a Kitsap Sheriffs officer.
 
A second "wave" of 5 people then blocked the road to Bangor a second time, this time doing so on the federal Bangor base property.  The five--Betsy Collins (Kingston), Gail Davis (Bremerton), Estelle Davis (Bremerton), Kathryn Poole (Sedro Wooley), and Rosemary Russell (Port Townsend)--held a banner which read:  "Because we celebrate life, we resist Trident!"  Bangor base security moved in right away to arrest them, taking them away one by one out of the road, until the road was again clear.
 
The third "wave" of 9 people followed, blocking the road on the County side of the "blue line," like the first group had done.  The 9 people--Jackie Hudson (Bremerton), Mack Johnson (Silverdale), Neva Welton (Bainbridge Island), Bradley Smith (Roy), Wendy Seman (Roy), Rochelle Gause (Tenino), Mac Lojowsky (Tenino), Shirley Morrison (Seattle), and Joy Goldstein (Vashon Island)--held a banner quoting King:  "When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men."  Again, traffic was stopped as the road was blocked.  The 9 were methodically led from the road to the waiting Sheriffs.
 
Processing the 15 county arrestees took well into the evening and all were eventually released.  Jacob Milner, age 14, was separated from the rest of the group and taken to Juvenile Detention, where he was placed in an empty jail cell, in amongst the general juvenile detention population, for 2 hours.  While imprisoned, Milner was subjected to derisive and taunting remarks from jail guards, as well as placed with young people who had been convicted of crimes.  Upon release, he was told to appear the next day at 1:30pm for a "hearing."  Phone calls on Jacob's behalf by his parents, Glen and Karol Milner, to the Kitsap County Prosecutor's office, eventually led to Jacob not having to come in for that "hearing," but not before he missed nearly a whole day of school.  Prosecutors said they would send a summons if and when they want Jacob to appear in court.