From the interview with Robert L. Jackson of Tacoma on September 30, 2008 by Patience Rogge. Mr. Jackson was a social worker and classification counselor at the Juvenile Diagnostic and Treatment Center from September 1968 to June 1970. This story concerns some unusual visitors to Fort Worden:

“I had a girl who was a girlfriend of somebody in the Black Panthers. And the Black Panthers arrived in Port Townsend. Six guys in a car all with black leather jackets and black dark glasses and black hats. And they were an impressive looking group…(I) went back to the administrative building and there was this group of six guys standing there intimidating the operator like mad and wanting to take this girl out on a pass. And it was quickly revealed that none of them were relatives of the girl and I said it couldn’t happen….They finally trotted off to their car and left town. My impression was that the local townsfolk thought the Panthers had handguns when they got to the southern border of town and by the time they got to Fort Worden it was bazookas.”