"This action is probably as American as mom and apple pie, but it doesn't encourage or nurture loving relationships, nor does it taste very good.

Unfortunately it happens all too often when someone or some entity feels they've been wronged. They decide to take legal action. So the court system is kept much too busy with lawsuits, two of which have been recently brought against the Naval Base Kitsap Bangor. One was filed by the Suquamish Tribe and the other by Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and a group with whom Kitsap County is all too familiar, Ground Zero for Nonviolent Action. They're the folks always demonstrating at Bangor and taking pride in getting arrested.

Both lawsuits involve differing complaints about the Navy's construction of a $715 million explosives handling wharf at the Bangor submarine base. The Suquamish believe their fishing treaty rights have been given less than adequate respect because the Navy didn't compensate them when it came to mitigating any "damage" to fishing resources. Ground Zero believes their mission is to complain about the potential use of any nuclear weaponry and couches their current complaint in "environmental" concerns, or whatever they can conjure up to stop the potential use of nuclear force."

Get the Story:
Pam Dzama: When lawsuits trump safety (The Kitsap Sun 9/20)

Related Stories:
Editorial: Suquamish Tribe doesn't have treaty right on its side (9/4)
Leonard Forsman: Suquamish Tribe forced to file suit on treaty (8/30)
Suquamish Tribe sues to stop Navy from building $715M wharf (8/28)