KELSO — A jury has acquitted a union longshoreman of disorderly conduct charges during the first wave of hundreds of cases expected to come to court stemming from a high-profile labor dispute at the Port of Longview.
The in Cowlitz County District Court jury deliberated just 12 minutes Friday before acquitting 44-year-old Kelly Palmer.
Palmer was accused of intentionally blocking a car driven by a security company employee from entering the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview July 25. International Longshore and Warehouse Union members were picketing that morning in protest of EGT’s refusal to hire ILWU labor to operate the terminal. In contrast to other protests over the summer, it was not a mass demonstration and did not involve attempts to block grain trains.
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