Free Ms. Got Rocks by Jacqueline Colt Page A

re-cycle.
    “Terry, this is Rocky at Unistat. Call the Sacto. police or Sheriff. This situation is getting ugly.”
    “What is happening? Describe what you see,” Terry asked.
    “To the left of me is a group of approximately fifty women carrying signs. They are not moving, just shouting slogans at the building where moments ago men in suits with bullhorns were standing at the windows.”
    “To my right is another group, they are slowly moving forward toward the locked gate in the chain link fence. The gate leads into the factory proper,” she continued to report.
    “The TV and news people are running forward to get a better look. You can smell that something is going to happen.” Rocky reported in a calm voice that was still easy for Terry to hear.
    At this point Rocky was being physically propelled along with the other reporters by the crush of the people behind them. A security guard walked to the locked gate and yelled to the women. There was so much noise coming from every direction Rocky could not hear what was said to report it to Terry.
    “The security man is waving his arm, like he is shoving the women back. I still cannot hear exactly what he is saying,” Rocky reported to the newspaper owner.
    The women at the front of the group were pushing the gate. They in turn were pushed from behind by the remainder of the crowd. The security man had left the area and returned to the security stand.
    Rocky was tall enough she could see that the man was talking on the phone. He looked as scared as Rocky felt.
    “Terry, I’m scared. This group is going to take down that fence. Hold on, I have to change hands. Did you call the cops for me?” she asked.
    “Yeah, I did, they are going to be there soon,” Terry replied.
    “Great, I’m getting really bad vibes here,” Rocky was shouting into the phone but she didn’t realize that she was shouting.
    The reporter next to her said, “Yeah, something cool is about to go down, dude. It will be in time for the noon news. This is great.”
    The man pulled forward of Rocky and pushed his way between another group of media.
    Rocky was approaching the back of the crowd now. She was standing on the curb of the parking lot. Out of the corner of her eye, while she was frantically switching cameras, she glimpsed movement from across the street. She turned and watched a group of seven men cross the street coming at an easy lope toward the back of the crowd of media workers.
    She held the shutter down and the camera whirred into auto mode and the  photos zipped through with the action.
    The action had crossed the street and to Rocky’s right. The men were moving in and around the media toward the women demonstrators. The men were making no excuses nor were they showing any consideration in how they moved. They moved with a purpose.
    “Terry, I’m going over right behind the men, I’m going in right behind them. Is your Worker’s Comp Insurance current?” Rocky joked.
    “Hell yeah, Baby, it is paid, and are you sure you want to do this, I mean I want you to do this, but shit this is more than you signed up for?” Terry asked her, as she moved forward with the men.
    “Too late for that Terry, I’m filming and I’m right behind the last man. They are running now and pushing people aside. They are still moving through the media people. I can barely see the lead man, and he is at the back of the group of women employees,” Rocky continued reporting.
    “The demonstrators are facing the group of men. The men are shouting something at the women, I can see their mouths working but it is so noisy I can’t hear them,” she yelled into the cell phone to Terry in Auburn.
    “Terry are you getting this, is the recorder going?” Rocky asked.
    “Rocky, I’m getting each word.” Terry’s voice through the cell phone was fairly drowned by the screams of the women in the front line.
    A TV reporter was running next to Rocky, she could hear the woman say over and over, “Oh