A couple of Occupy Santa Cruz campers make a water run to supply certain… (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)

SANTA CRUZ – Dreamcatcher, which is how everyone knows him, says his job is to keep the peace, counting among his credentials 11 years in prison, five bullet holes and two strikes toward a life sentence in state prison.

Verbose and quick with a smile, Dreamcatcher sleeps in a tent by a large teepee just off Water Street in San Lorenzo Park, the teepee serving both as a community gathering space and a fault line in the burgeoning Occupy Santa Cruz movement, a growing part of the international Occupy Wall Street protests.

While the Sentinel has a policy against using pseudonyms, in this case, many of the people participating refuse to give their legal names.

In place for about a month, an encampment has grown to number scores of tents, an increasing number of them occupied by homeless people. While the camp has grown, people like Dreamcatcher have worked to maintain order and keep the movement going forward, even as it draws elements from last year’s controversial camping ban protest – though it so far has avoided the same fate.

“It’s been a very dynamic, delicate process,” Dreamcatcher said, explaining that he knows many protesters personally and steers them from trouble before it begins. “I know everyone here by name. That is my gift.”

Filled with activists fed up with the direction of the country and sustained by donations of food and money (and frequent honks from passing motorists), the Occupy Santa Cruz movement is undoubtedly growing. During daily general assembly meetings, sometimes hundreds show up to help guide the effort.

Set up at the main county courthouse, it exhibits an impressive level of discipline, deploying a designated cook, routine trash pickups and periodic movement of tents to try to keep the park’s grass alive. Protesters say local unions have been supportive, and professionally produced signs are on display. Occupy Santa Cruz even has its own T-shirts.

And protesters say they have no intention

Although James Smyth has a home in Bonny Doon and works as a landscaper, he spends some nights in the Occupy Santa Cruz camp working with other campers to change the system he says is obviously failing. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)

of leaving anytime soon.”Indefinitely,” said James Smyth, a 26-year-old landscaper who lives in Bonny Doon but has spent several nights along the bank of the San Lorenzo River. “Until the wealthiest 1 percent is willing to change the way they conduct themselves in society, the other 99 percent will not be deterred from moving forward in this occupation.”

DIFFERENT TRACK

Locally, the official response to the camp has been very different from responses in other cities, where a handful of crackdowns have led to a backlash that has seem to galvanize the Occupy Wall Street movement. In Oakland, a 24-year-old ex-Marine was seriously wounded when police tried to sweep an encampment from Frank Ogawa Plaza.

“Whatever the

Nearly 100 tents divided into well-defined political sections are sprawled across the benchlands of San Lorenzo Park making up the all-encompassing Occupy Santa Cruz protest camp. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)

big cities are doing, Santa Cruz wants to do the opposite, because they figure that’s going to be the right thing to do. Because the more you try to fight dissension, the more dissension you’ll breed,” said John Crying Rain, one of the campers.There has been no sign city and county officials intend to break up the camp. County Public Health Director Bob Kennedy said there have been no complaints, making it very different from last year’s months-long camping ban protest, when authorities eventually made the controversial decision to break up a camp also located at the county courthouse.

“This is a totally different group,” Kennedy said.

Several protesters think they are being protected this time around by local elected

While the camp rules are posted for all to see, still the aroma of marijuana wafted Tuesday morning throughout the camp sprawled across the benchlands of San Lorenzo Park. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)

leaders, particularly within the city of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend said it was the department that reached out to City Hall, and acknowledged that the city’s approach differs from other locales.”It was important to us to have city management and other elected officials understand what our operational philosophy would be,” Friend said. “From Day One, it’s been important to take a balanced approach. We’ve seen what hasn’t worked in others cities, and we’ve always attempted to have some lines of communication with (protesters).”

Besides the now-infamous Oakland sweep, which has placed Mayor Jean Quan’s administration under a microscope, other crackdowns on Occupy camps have led to a backlash, and pose

A pedestrian hurries past elements of the Occupy Santa Cruz camp Tuesday. The camp has spilled out onto Water Street. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)

a politically thorny situation for elected officials.In Nashville, Gov. Bill Haslam faced tough questions after a sweep there led the arrests of two reporters covering the protest. A federal judge later issued a temporary restraining order protecting the camp from being disbanded.

More crackdowns, including one at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan, which has been the base of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and another in San Francisco, were called off at the last minute.

STAYING PUT

That doesn’t mean police here aren’t paying attention. They make daily visits, occasionally issuing tickets for open flames or smoking in the park. But so far, no camping tickets have been issued.

Activist lawyer Ed Frey, who has spent time in County Jail for previous camping citations, has been assisting the movement, doing everything from helping to draft a mission statement to renting a portable toilet.

“We’re not leaving,” Frey said. “This is it. We’ve had too much dysfunction and suffering. Needless suffering.”

So far, the separate peace between the homeless portion of the encampment and the core of activist Occupy Santa Cruz protesters seems to be working.

“We pretty much police our own, you know?” said a man who gave his name as Dread-I, part of the homeless part of the camp. “We police ourselves so the police don’t have to come down and do nothing. … We’ve all come together as one.”

When tensions do emerge between the two sides, the group works to deal with them internally. It seems part of a code, a determination by protesters to manage their own affairs and keep their mission focused on larger issues of economic disparities and a political system they say favors the rich and powerful.

“We know the world is watching,” said 26-year-old Isaac Collins, on hiatus from a job harvesting grapes to become a part of the movement. Collins has a home and an associate’s degree in communications from Cabrillo College, but has been staying at the encampment.

But some clear lines do develop when it comes to allocating scarce resources – namely, dinner.

Under a makeshift tent fashioned from blue tarps sits shelves lines with canned goods. A camp cook feeds 50 to 60 people at dinner, but she said the food is for activists and homeless people who help with the movement – not simply a free meal for anyone who wants it.

Campers says the food there is good, and not just when local businesses such as Domino’s or Pizza My Heart drop off donations.

“She’s cooked some bomb food,” said protester Michael Hawk.

Protesters remain optimistic that the movement will lead to permanent change. And they have no intention of going anywhere soon, saying their actions are protected by the First Amendment.

“Even if you put an Occupy Santa Cruz sign on your tent at Pogonip, they won’t (evict you), because that sign is saying, ‘Look, I’m behind this movement. It’s a Free Speech movement,'” said Smyth, the landscaper.

But Friend said the police department would like to know what the camp’s exit plan might be.

“We can all agree that they can’t permanently stay in this location,” he said.

Photo by Nick Paris.

Occupy Santa Cruz ended its second full week of protesting with three events over the weekend. The events drew hundreds of community members in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement which is sweeping the nation and capturing the attention of average Americans, politicians and political pundits alike.

On Friday, at least 100 people congregated at the Water Street entrance to the courthouse, where the movie “V for Vendetta” was screened.

Along the concrete stairs leading up to an ad-hoc movie screen sat protesters and community members who came out for some free entertainment.

On Saturday, Occupy SC maintained camp in San Lorenzo Park, and participants spoke and tabled at WAMMFest.

Occupy SC ended the weekend with a human chain around the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse on West Cliff Drive, home of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. Local media estimated 150 people participated in the demonstration.

Mary B., a surfing museum attendant who prefers to remain anonymous, showed up to work just after the protest started.

“They were blocking the entrance,” Mary B. said after saying she asked them to move off the porch, but felt they were “OK on the lawn.”

The protest, which was originally scheduled to go from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., was over before 2 p.m. One participant said she felt there was not a lot of energy, which was why people left the demonstration early.

Police, who often check in with the Occupy Santa Cruz protesters at their base-camp in San Lorenzo Park, were not present at Sunday’s demonstration.

Santa Cruz Police Department spokesman Zach Friend said the department was aware of this past weekend’s events, but no formal coordination between protesters and the police department took place.

Many police departments across the U.S. have taken action against protesters in the “Occupy” movement. On Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 130 protesters were arrested in Chicago, 11 in Cincinnati, and more than a dozen in Philadelphia. More than 100 protesters participating in Occupy Oakland were arrested on Tuesday, according to The Los Angeles Times.

“The Santa Cruz Police Department has a different operational philosophy than many departments,” Friend said. “It is important to us to take a balanced approach to enforcement.”

Despite community support for Occupy Santa Cruz, tension has been brewing between protesters and the police department, which warned protesters last week it will issue citations if the protesters do not accommodate other parties who want to use the park.

“Moving forward, we need organizers to maintain open lines of communication, obtain permits for events and respect local laws and environmental needs,” Friend said. “We have received feedback from a small number of the participants that they want police action so they can receive greater media attention … We simply want organizers to maintain a respectful attitude toward the community, laws and expectations we all have for a successful outcome.”

Local elected officials like Mayor Ryan Coonerty and Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), sympathize with the protesters.

“There is a lot to be angry about,” Coonerty said, “and I appreciate that people are engaging and advocating for a change to our economic policies.”

Occupy Santa Cruz protesters have led several marches around town to protest in front of the national banks, which have been primary targets in demonstrations for the broader “Occupy” movement.

On Nov. 5, protestors are calling for a national Bank Transfer Day. The idea of transferring money from national corporate banks to community banks and credit unions is popular among the “Occupy” movement’s protesters.

Coonerty sympathizes with the protesters, but said it is important to respect the employees at the local branches of the national banks because “they are hardworking members of our community, and should not have to take the abuse for the actions of CEOs they had nothing to do with.”

“[It is important from]an economic sustainability standpoint to keep as much capital as we can in the community,” Coonerty said. “I think if people move their money in large numbers it will send a message.”

Local congressman Farr, who is “very supportive” of the protesters and a member of the Progressive Caucus, donated cash two weeks ago when members of the caucus passed around a hat on the floor of Congress to collect money for the Occupy protesters in Lafayette Square, a park located directly north of the White House.

At a press conference the Congressman commented on creating green jobs in Santa Cruz and the “Occupy” movement.

“I think this is what the people on Wall Street are about,” Farr said. “They want America to be focused on doing things like this rather than just taking care of their bank accounts.”

Farr feels the movement is getting people to focus on things other than “the wonder of wealth, or the worship of wealth.”

As Republicans continue to block the president’s job bills, the latest unemployment figures remain high in California at a whopping 11.4 percent, and 10.1 percent in Santa Cruz County.

Farr suggests students get internships at places they want to work so they get a job when the economy begins to pick up again.

“Your lifetime isn’t going to be remembered by how much money you made when you got out of college,” Farr said. “Your lifetime is going to be remembered by what you accomplished in life, and that’s not just going to be about money. That’s going to be about a lot of other things.”

Dozens of demonstrators took part in a march Saturday from the County Courthouse steps on Water Street, down Ocean Street to Soquel Avenue and then to Pacific Avenue as part of the Occupy Santa Cruz movement.

Members of the Santa Cruz Police Department followed the group along Saturday afternoon on motorcycles and in cars to ensure no one was hit by a car and to help with controlling traffic. At one point, the crowd had blocked much of Water Street.

No citations or tickets had been issued to demonstrators Saturday as of about 6 p.m.

Occupy Santa Cruz has been holding public demonstrations since Oct. 6 in San Lorenzo Park and at the courthouse steps. The demonstrations are part of events occurring nationally to protest a litany of problems, primarily focusing on the economy and corporate greed.