 |
Cronology of Plowshares actions / Plogbillsaktioner i världen
This chronology is compiled by Art Laffin in February 1996 and briefly
describes each of the plowshares and disarmament actions and the trials and
sentences each person received.
PLOWSHARES NUMBER TWELVE: February 19, 1985 Martin Holladay, a
carpenter from Sheffield, Vermont, entered another Minuteman II missile silo
of Whiteman Air Force Base near Odessa, Missouri. With hammer and chisel, he
damaged the silo lid and some electrical boxes. He also poured blood on the
silo and spray-painted "No More Hiroshimas." He left at the site an
indictment charging the U.S. government with committing crimes against God and
international law by its nuclear war preparations. After his arrest, he was
denied bond and held until trial. During his four day jury trial, he was
denied the opportunity to present a justification defense. On April 25, 1985
he was convicted of destruction of government property and destruction of
national defense material. He was sentenced on May 16, 1985, to eight years in
federal prison and five years probation. He was also fined $1,000 and ordered
to pay $2,242 in restitution. Martin was released from prison after 19 months
following a sentence reduction hearing on September 24, 1986. He remained on
probation through 1991 and was required to pay restitution.
* * *
TRIDENT II PRUNING HOOKS: April 18, 1985 Greg Boertje, ex-army
officer and peace organizer from Louisiana; John Heid, former Franciscan
seminarian and social worker from Ithaca, NY; Roger Ludwig, of the Plowshares
Number Four; Sheila Parks, former college teacher from Medford, MA; Suzanne
Schmidt, mother, grandmother, worker with the disabled and member of Jonah
House; and George Veasey, of the Trident Nein; entered the EB Quonset Point
facility in North Kingston, Rhode Island - the same site where the Trident II
Plowshares had acted seven months earlier. They poured blood and hammered on
three Trident II missile tubes and spray-painted "Dachau" on them.
They left there a "Call to Conscience" indicting General Dynamics
for war crimes and preparing for a war of aggression in violation of
international, constitutional and spiritual law. Arrested after a short time,
they were charged with possession of burglary tools, malicious damage to
property and criminal trespass. While Sheila and Suzanne were released nearly
a month after the action on a "promise to appear" (PTA) and John
after five months, Greg, George and Roger remained in jail for nearly nine
months, refusing to accept a PTA for reasons of conscience. Shortly before
their trial date, the judge released the three unconditionally from prison.
During their two week jury trial, the judge denied their justification defense,
insisting that their motives were irrelevant to the case. They were convicted
of all three charges. In a special gesture of support for the group, four
jurors had the judge publicly read a statement from them conveying that they
were sympathetic to their cause. On March 31, 1986 they were sentenced to
three years, suspended after one year, and given two years probation. John,
Greg, George and Roger were released during the summer of 1986. Sheila and
Suzanne were released in January 1987.
* * *
MICHIGAN ELF DISARMAMENT ACTION: May 28, 1985 Tom Hastings, a
Wisconsin peace activist involved in radio work, entered a wooded area in
Michigan's upper peninsula and sawed down one of the poles carrying the Navy's
"Extremely Low Frequency" (ELF) transmitter antennas which are used
to coordinate the communications, command, and control process of all nuclear
submarines in the U.S. He remained at the site for 45 minutes, praying,
singing and planting a circle of corn around the pole. The next morning, he
gave a part of the pole to Congressman Bob Davis' office and turned himself in
to the local sheriff. Held for 48 hours, he was released on personal
recognizance. He underwent a jury trial and was convicted of malicious
destruction of property. On September 27, 1985 he was sentenced to fifteen
days and two years probation.
* * *
PANTEX DISARMAMENT ACTION: July 16, 1985, Richard Miller, involved
in work with the poor in Des Moines, Iowa, began dismantling a section of
railroad track from the railroad spur leading from U.S. Department of Energy's
Pantex Nuclear Weapons Assembly Plant in Amarillo, Texas to a main line of the
Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. After first taking extensive precautions to
prevent accidental derailment and avoid personal injury, he labored with
railroad tools for seven hours, removing a 39 foot section of rail. Pointing
out the connection between the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz and the
Pantex factory, which is the final assembly point for every nuclear weapon
made in the U.S., he put up a banner that read: "Pantex=Auschwitz - Stop
the Trains." He further stated: "At Auschwitz the trains carried the
people to the crematoria; at Pantex the trains carry the crematoria to the
people." Charged with "wrecking trains" and destruction of
national defense materials, he underwent a jury trial in Federal Court and was
convicted. On November 8, 1985 he was sentenced to two four year sentences to
run concurrently. He was released from prison in February 1989 upon completing
his sentence.
* * *
WISCONSIN ELF DISARMAMENT ACTION: August 14, 1985 Jeff Leys, a draft
registration resister and peace worker from St. Paul, Minnesota, continued the
process of disarming ELF (see Michigan ELF action) by sawing two deep notches
in an ELF pole hoping to weaken it and leaving the rest to natural forces. (Unlike
the Michigan ELF still under construction, the 56 mile Wisconsin ELF system is
fully operational, with 1.5 million watts flowing through it). In a statement
he carried with him to the site he explained: "I act today in accordance
with the teachings of Gandhi, Christ and the Indians - and in accordance with
the basic underpinnings of humanity, as expressed in the various world
religions¼ and international laws." After an hour, Jeff walked to a
transmitter site to turn himself in. Jailed after his arrest, he was tried by
a jury on September 30, 1985 and was convicted of criminal damage to property.
On October 29, 1985 Jeff was sentenced to five months in jail and given a
three year suspended sentence with three years probation. He was also ordered
to pay $4,775 in restitution. In April of 1986 Jeff began serving his three
year sentence because of his refusal to pay restitution for reasons of
conscience. His appeal was denied in September 1986. He was released in August
1987.
* * *
MARTIN MARIETTA MX WITNESS: September 27, 1985 Al Zook, father and
grandfather active with the Catholic Worker in Denver, CO; Mary
Sprunger-Froese, member of the Bijou Community and involved in hospitality
work in Colorado Springs, CO; and Marie Nord, a Minnesota Franciscan sister
involved in hospitality work for women; entered Martin Marietta's Denver,
Colorado plant. (Martin Marietta has a $2 billion contract for building and
testing the MX missile). With the intent of disarming components of the MX
missile, they carried blood and hammers into the MX work area. Finding the
area highly secured by employees wearing "peacekeeper" security
badges, the three were not able to enter areas where MX work is done and
directly disarm any MX components. They were, however, able to pour blood on
large interior windows overlooking the work areas and unfurled their banner:
"Swords Into Plowshares." They were quickly arrested and each
charged with felony burglary and criminal mischief. The burglary charge was
eventually dropped, however the criminal mischief charge was changed from a
misdemeanor to a felony. They were imprisoned for one month before they were
released on their own recognizance. On March 5, 1986 they were found guilty by
a jury of criminal mischief exceeding $300. During their trial the judge
refused to hear their justification defense. On May 1, 1986 they were
sentenced to two months in prison. Al and Marie appealed their case and the
Colorado Court of Appeals recently reversed their convictions. The appeal was
based on the judge's denial of their motion to proceed in forma pauperis,
after his determination that their indigency was voluntary. The state had
petitioned for a review of the case before deciding to retry Al and Marie.
* * *
SILO PLOWSHARES: Good Friday, March 28, 1986 Darla Bradley and Larry
Morlan of the Davenport Catholic Worker in Iowa; Jean Gump, a mother of twelve
and grandmother from Morton Grove, Illinois; Ken Rippetoe, a member of the
Catholic Worker in Rock Island, Illinois; and John Volpe, father, former
employee at the Rock Island Arsenal and member of the Davenport Catholic
Worker; entered two Minuteman Missile Silos controlled by Whiteman Air Force
Base near Holden, Missouri. Dividing into two groups, the first group of three
went to Silo M10 while the second group went to Silo M6. Hanging banners on
the silo fences, one of which read: "Disarmament - An Act of
Healing" they employed sledgehammers to split and disarm the geared
central track used to move the 120 ton missile silo cover at the time of
launch. They also cut circuits and used masonry hammers to damage electrical
sensor equipment. They then poured blood on the silo covers in the form of a
cross and spray-painted "Disarm and Live" and "For the
Children" on the silo pad. They left at the site an indictment charging
the U.S. government with committing crimes against the laws of God and
humanity and indicting as well the institutional Christian church for its
complicity in the arms race. They were arrested nearly 40 minutes after their
action by heavily armed military police. Following their arrest they were
taken into custody and then released on their own recognizance. During their
five day jury trial they presented important evidence regarding their state of
mind but the jury was not allowed to consider justification as a defense. On
June 27, 1986 they were convicted of destruction of government property and
conspiracy. In addition, Jean, Larry and Darla were cited for contempt for
refusing to answer questions about where they met prior to the action. They
served seven days in jail following the trial. John and Ken were also
imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with the conditions of their release so
long as the others were imprisoned for contempt. They were released on July 8.
On August 22, 1986 Darla, Jean, Ken and Larry were sentenced to 8 years with 5
years probation while John was sentenced to 7 years with 5 years probation.
John and Darla were ordered to pay $1,680 in restitution while Larry, Jean and
Ken were ordered to pay $424. Each was also fined $100. In April 1987, John
was released from prison following a sentence reduction hearing. His sentence
was reduced to 10 months, 5 years probation, and he is required to pay
restitution. Ken and Darla were released from prison in mid-June 1987 after
their sentence was reduced to one year. They were placed on probation for 5
years and were ordered to pay restitution. On April 18, 1990 his $424 having
been paid anonymously, Larry, who had been imprisoned since his action, went
to a halfway house and was released on probation on July 20, 1990. And in
October of 1990, after four years of imprisonment, Jean was released on
probation.
* * *
PERSHING TO PLOWSHARES: On December 12, 1986 on the 7th anniversary
of the NATO decision to deploy the Cruise and the Pershing II in Europe, Heike
Huschauer, a member of the city council of Neuss, West Germany; Suzanne
Mauch-Fritz, a social worker from Stuttgart; Wolfgang Sternstein, Plowshares
#7; and Stellan Vinthagen, an orderly from Sweden; entered a back-up U.S. Army
weapons depot at Schwabisch-Gmund, West Germany and damaged the tractor-rig of
a Pershing II Missile Launch box. They hammered on the crane that maneuvers
the missile and on the generator that operates the launcher, and poured blood
on the rig. The banner which they hung over the truck stated, "Choose
Life for the Children and Poor." These words were also spray painted on
the roadway. They were discovered after thirty minutes, when they signalled to
a nearby guard. In a statement of intent the four said, "With awareness
of our responsibility we understand that we are the ones who make the arms
race possible by not trying to stop it." Following their arrest, they
were released. On October 11 through October 19, 1989 nearly three years after
their disarmament action, they were tried before three professional judges and
three lay judges on the charges of sabotage, damage to government property and
trespassing. During their trial they were allowed to present evidence about
the moral and legal justification for their action. They pleaded that if the
court accepts their justification defense they must be acquitted. If not, they
must be given a high sentence. The court did not accept their pleading and
were given the following sentences: Wolfgang 1200 DM or 120 days in jail,
Heike, Suzanne and Stellan 600 DM or 60 days in jail. In addition, for a
subsequent blockade action, Stellan, Heike and Wolfgang were sentenced to 20,
80 and 135 days, respectively. Suzanne paid the 600 DM fine. Stellen and
Wolfgang served their sentences and were released in April 1990. On March 4,
1991 Heike was ordered to serve her 101 day sentence despite her appeal for a
postponement of sentence so that she could continue her organizing efforts to
end the U.S. war against Iraq.
* * *
EPIPHANY PLOWSHARES: On January 6, 1987 the Christian Feast of
Epiphany, Greg Boertje, of the Trident II Pruning Hooks; Rev. Dexter Lanctot
and Rev. Thomas McGann, priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; and Lin
Romano, an advocate for the poor from Washington, D.C.; entered the Willow
Grove Naval Air Station in Horsham, PA. Dividing into two groups, one group
went to a Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft - an essential part of the
U.S. first-strike arsenal. Meanwhile the other group went to a Marine CH-53
Sea Stallion and an Army H-1 Huey helicopter - both integral parts of U.S.
interventionary forces. Both groups hammered and poured blood on the aircraft
and displayed banners which proclaimed: "Seek the Disarmed Christ"
and "Espadas en Arados - Swords into Plowshares." The four left
behind a statement which explained why they acted on Epiphany, the Christian
feast that recalls the 3 Magis' search for the Christ child, "who came in
the name of Peace." Having therefore addressed the "deadly
connection" between nuclear weapons and military intervention, they also
left an indictment of the US government for its criminal interventionary wars
in Central America and the Middle East and its first-strike nuclear war-making
policies. They were charged with conspiracy, destruction of government
property and trespass - charges which carry up to 15 and 1/2 years. On March
31, they underwent a week-long jury trial in Federal Court in Philadelphia and
were prevented from presenting a crime prevention or necessity defense. For
the first time in a Plowshares case, the trial ended in a hung jury and a
mistrial. On May 11, 1987 they were retried. The defendants were once again
denied their affirmative defenses and their testimony was even more severely
restricted than in the first trial. Despite the constraints of the court,
their trial once again ended in a hung jury and a mistrial. In an interview
following the trial, one juror stated he believed the group did not act with
criminal intent and affirmed their efforts for disarmament. After the second
trial the two priests, who were suspended from their priestly duties after the
action, accepted a plea bargain, pled guilty to criminal trespass, and were
sentenced to 100 days in federal prison plus $500 fines. Their suspensions
were lifted following their release from prison. On July 13, 1987 a third
trial began for Boertje and Romano. This trial ended in a mistrial when the
judge ruled that the jury had been "contaminated" by statements from
the defendants and spectators on such forbidden topics as international law.
On September 21, 1987 a fourth trial began, with the judge's repressive
"gag order" remaining in effect. During the trial, both defendants
received two contempt charges and had lawyers appointed to represent them (defendants
had been representing themselves). On September 25, 1987 they were found
guilty of all three charges. On November 17, Lin was sentenced to 2 years and
100 days in prison plus 5 years probation. For reasons of conscience, Greg
chose not to appear for sentencing. In a written public statement issued at
the time of sentencing, Greg stated his intention to go
"underground" and eventually emerge in another non-violent action.
Following his trial, conviction and sentencing for the Nuclear Navy Plowshares
action, Greg was sentenced to 33 months for failing to appear at the original
sentencing for the Epiphany action. Lin, and then Greg, appealed their case
from prison on the grounds that the judge violated their "pro se"
rights when he appointed lawyers to represent them. They won the appeal and
each was granted individual trials. Lin was eventually released from prison
after serving nine months. In November 1988 her charges were reduced to
trespass, whereby she was not entitled to a jury trial. She was tried before a
U.S. Magistrate, convicted, and was sentenced to two years probation even
though she had already served more jail time than the maximum sentence for
trespass - six months. In April 1989 charges against Greg were dropped, though
he still had to serve a 33 month sentence for failure to appear at sentencing.
In July 1990, Greg was released from prison and placed on probation.
* * *
PAUPERS PLOWSHARES: On Good Friday, April 17, 1987 two brothers, Fr.
Pat Sieber, a Franciscan priest who works at St. Francis Inn, a shelter for
the homeless and soup kitchen in Philadelphia; and Rick Sieber, a father of
three who also works at St. Francis Inn; entered the Naval Air Development
Center in Warminster, PA. Once inside they dug a hole and buried a foot-long
coffin that listed the names of 65 homeless and poor people who have been
buried in an unkept lot in northeast Philadelphia known as potters or "paupers"
field since 1980. They also placed a 3 foot cross bearing the same names on
top of the makeshift grave. They then approached a P-3 Orion aircraft - an
integral part of the U.S. first-strike arsenal - and hammered on the plane's
strobe light, cut wires in the nose of the plane and poured blood on a wing
and fuselage area of the aircraft. While awaiting arrest they knelt in prayer
and held a banner which said: "God Hears the Cry of the Poor." They
left at the site a statement and indictment addressing the criminality of U.S.
nuclear war preparations, the priority the government gives to arms over the
poor, and how these arms preparations are actually killing the poor. In
addition to signing their own names to these statements, they also signed the
name "Lazarus" to represent the poor for whom they acted. They were
arrested after a half an hour and charged with unlawful entry and destruction
of government property. On June 12, the charges were reduced to one
misdemeanor - unlawful entry. On August 5, 1987 after an hour long bench
trial, the pair were found guilty of unlawful entry. They were sentenced to
one year's probation, fined $100 and ordered to pay $1,540 in restitution. In
February 1989 their restitution was dropped and they paid their fine which
went towards a victims compensation fund.
* * *
WHITE ROSE DISARMAMENT ACTION: On June 2, l987 in the early morning,
Katya Komisaruk, a peace activist from the San Francisco Bay area, walked
through an unlocked gate leaving cookies and a bouquet of flowers for security
guards and entered a satellite control facility named "NAVSTAR" at
the Vandenberg AFB in Santa Barbara County, California. (’NAVSTAR’ is the
U.S. global positioning system of satellites. When fully operational, this
system will consist of 18 orbiting satellites which will be able to provide
the navigational and guidance signals to Trident II and other nuclear missiles
as well as the Star Wars system, for a first-strike nuclear attack.) Once
inside, she used a hammer, crowbar and cordless electric drill to damage
panels of an IBM mainframe computer and a satellite dish on top of the
building. Using a crowbar she removed the computer's chip boards and danced on
them. On the walls she spray- painted "Nuremberg,"
"International Law," and statements for disarmament. After being
undetected for two hours, she left the base and hitchhiked to San Francisco.
The next morning she held a press conference at the Federal Building in San
Francisco to explain her action whereupon she was taken into custody by the
FBI. She was charged with sabotage and destruction of government property.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and/or a $250,000
fine. The day before her trial the sabotage charge was dropped in the face of
a defense brief that had been earlier submitted calling upon the government to
prove every element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. Her trial began
on November 10, 1987 in Los Angeles Federal Court. Several weeks before the
trial, Judge Rea ruled in favor of the U.S. prosecutor's "motion in
limine" which would severely restrict the evidence allowed as well as
Katya's personal testimony. Katya, who represented herself and was assisted by
co-counsel, was not allowed to mention words like "nuclear missiles"
or "first-strike." The jury found her guilty of destruction of
property on November 16, 1987. On January 11, 1988 Katya was sentenced to 5
years in prison. In addition Judge Rea ordered her to pay $500,000 restitution
because he had heard that there might be a movie or book based on her action.
Katya closely identifies with Sophie Scholl, a young German woman and member
of the White Rose group during World War II, who was executed by the Third
Reich for publicly opposing Nazi atrocities. On February 9, 1990 Katya was
released from prison and placed on probation for the duration of her 5 year
sentence.
* * *
TRANSFIGURATION PLOWSHARES (WEST): On August 5, 1987 at 5:15 p.m.,
the exact moment (8:15 a.m. in Japan) when the U.S. dropped the first atomic
bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, Jerry Ebner, a member of the Catholic Worker
Community of Milwaukee; Joe Gump, father of twelve and husband of the
imprisoned Jean Gump of the Silo Plowshares from Morton Grove, Ill.; and Helen
Woodson, acting as a "co-conspirator" from Shakopee Prison in
Minnesota where she was serving a 17 year sentence for the Silo Pruning Hooks
action, carried out the fourth non-violent disarmament of a minuteman missile
silo controlled by Whiteman AFB in Missouri. They went to silo K-9 near
Butler, Mo., and once inside the silo area, Jerry and Joe locked themselves
within the fenced in area with a kryptonite bicycle lock. After pouring their
own blood in the shape of a cross on the concrete silo lid, they used one
eight and one three pound sledge hammer on the tracks used to open the silo
lid. They also hammered on electrical connectors and other apparatus and cut
various electric wires with bolt cutters. They then hung disarmament banners
and sang and prayed while awaiting arrest. They also left at the site their
action statement and indictment, signed by the three, as well as a photo of
Jerry, Joe and Helen. In the interest of ’conservation’ they used the very
same banners and bolt cutters used by the Silo Pruning Hooks and Silo
Plowshares. A while later military police arrived in a vehicle armed with a
machine gun and arrested Jerry and Joe. Explaining her involvement in the
action, Helen stated she participated "in spirit" through a "conspiracy
for life." The three named themselves the "Transfiguration
Plowshares" to commemorate the Transfiguration, the Christian feast
celebrated on August 6 which recalls the revelation of Christ to his disciples
as the Lord of heaven and earth and also represents a foreshadowing of
Christ's resurrection. At a mid-August court hearing they were charged with a
two count felony indictment: conspiring to damage government property and
destruction of government property - both federal charges. In a relatively
open trial, the two were allowed to show a video film entitled
"Hiroshima/Nagasaki: 1945." This video, which the two carried into
the silo with them, contained footage of the immediate effect of the bomb
dropped on the two cities. Jerry was able to sing two songs to the jury which
he first sang at the silo. Judge Howard Sachs, however, made it clear in his
instructions to the jury that these things were ultimately irrelevant to the
case before them. On October 22, the jury found them guilty. On December 11,
1987 Jerry Ebner and Joe Gump were sentenced to 40 and 30 months respectively
in prison. Joe was released in November 1989. Jerry served more than two years
in prison before being paroled. After being out of prison for a period of time
he was jailed once again during the summer of 1990 for not cooperating with
the conditions of his parole. He was released from federal prison on April 5,
1991 and remains on probation through 1994.
* * *
TRANSFIGURATION PLOWSHARES (EAST): On August 6, 1987, Hiroshima Day
and the Christian feast of the Transfiguration, Margaret Brodhead, a
journalist; Dan Ethier, a former computer programmer and Catholic Worker; and
Tom Lewis, artist and long-time peace activist - all from Worcester, MA -
entered the South Weymouth Naval Air Station near Boston at dawn. They
hammered and poured blood on the bomb bay doors and bomb racks of a P-3 Orion
nuclear-capable anti-submarine plane which can use nuclear depth charges and
homing torpedoes to attack submarines. They hammered as well on the magnetic
anomaly detector of an S-H 2F LAMPS MK-l Sea Sprite helicopter. (These same
types of aircraft are currently deployed by U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf
and are an integral part of U.S. offensive anti-submarine warfare strategy,
which allows the Navy to project force in the Middle East as well as Central
America). They also hung pictures of Hiroshima victims on the aircraft as well
as a "Swords Into Plowshares" banner. In a signed statement and
indictment they left at the site, they said "the blinding light of that
first atomic bomb turned life into death, but the blinding light of the
Transfiguration revealed that death would be turned into life in Christ's
Resurrection." They further charged the "Nuclear National Security
State" with contravening international and divine laws. They were taken
into custody by base security shortly after their action as they knelt in
prayer holding a banner that read "Christ Transfigured - Death Into
Life." The three were initially charged with unlawful entry, a federal
misdemeanor. In December Dan plead no contest and was sentenced to six months
probation and community service of 100 hours. Tom and Meg were convicted on
March 4, 1988 after a 6-hour bench trial in Boston, where they presented
testimony on the unconstitutional status of the arms race and the aircraft's
status as "instrumentalities of crime" under international law. On
April 26, Meg and Tom were sentenced to six months probation and 100 hours
community service.
* * *
HARMONIC DISARMAMENT FOR LIFE: On August 16, 1987 the day of
Harmonic Convergence, George Ostensen, a peace activist from the Northeast, in
conspiracy with plowshares prisoner Helen Woodson, enacted a Plowshares action
at the ELF Communication System Transmitter Site near Clam Lake, Wisconsin.
Early in the morning, George entered the North ground of the ELF Trident
communication system. Using a hatchet, saw, and other tools, he proceeded to
cut down three ELF poles, notched two other poles, and cut some ground wires.
He poured blood over the poles, hammered on ground-well electrical control
boxes, placed photos of children and planted flowers inside the boxes and near
the poles, and hung peace banners. In statements he carried on to the site
George stated: "I act at the ELF Trident communication system in an
attempt to stop these deadly messages from being transmitted. These Extremely
Low Frequencies hurt our earth by subjecting all God's creatures to highly
unstable electromagnetic non-ionizing radiation and giving the Trident
first-strike capability to destroy all life." In reference to the
Harmonic Convergence, the lining up of the planets on August 15 and 16, he
stated the convergence is the beginning of the new age, the age of change,
movement, spiritual consciousness, and harmony according to ancient Mayan,
Tibetan and Hopi calendars. Following his action at the North Ground, George,
undetected, went to the Terminal Control Center to inform the security guards
on duty of his action. After spray-painting on the Terminal Center "Trident
- ELF is in violation of International Law and God's Law" and "Swords
Into Plowshares" he spoke with a security guard who asked him to leave
the site. George then went to a fenced in area near the control center and
manually switched off several generators used to control computers and
electricity at the site. George did this three times, following warnings to
security personnel that the ELF site must be shut down. Finally, the local
sheriff was called and George was arrested - some nine hours after he entered
the site. On August 20, George was charged with two felony counts of sabotage
- both state charges and each carrying a maximum penalty of ten years in
prison if convicted. The indictment also listed Helen as aiding and abetting
in the action and noted the ELF site had to be closed for 29 hours. On January
10, 1988 following a three day jury trial in Ashland County District Court,
George was convicted of one count of sabotage and acquitted on the second
count. On February 12, 1988 George was sentenced to 33 months. In July 1988 he
was denied parole. On May 2, 1989 his appeal was denied by the Wisconsin Court
of Appeals and the court ruled that his sabotage conviction was valid. He was
released from prison in September 1989 after serving two-thirds of his
sentence. On October 2, Gandhi's birthday, he returned to ELF with other
friends and carried a Swords Into Plowshares banner up the road to the
transmitter site. He was arrested and returned to jail. He waived a parole
revocation hearing and was ordered to serve the remaining 11 months of his
original sentence. On January 30, 1990 he was released from prison.
* * *
AUSTRALIAN PLOWSHARES ACTION: On December 28, 1987, the feast of the
Holy Innocents, Marie Grunke, a Blessed Sacrament Sister of Newtown; Joanne
Merrigan and Anthony Gwyther, both of the St. Francis House, Darlinghurst;
boarded the USS Leftwich during a public inspection while it was anchored in
Sydney Harbor. The USS Leftwich is a nuclear-capable destroyer of the Spruance
class recently deployed in the Persian Gulf. Recalling the innocents that were
killed by King Herod and those children that continue to die from war and
hunger, they poured their own blood on an ASROC anti-submarine nuclear depth
charge launcher and a Tomahawk cruise missile launcher, weapons of
first-strike capability. They hammered on these weapons to begin their
disarmament and initiate their conversion into instruments of peace. After
leaving their action statement on the ship, they were escorted off without
being arrested or charged.
* * *
|
|
Hemsida |
Plogbillsaktioner |
Aktiv/Stöd |
Nyheter |
Arkiv |
Länkar |
English/Español
