The Nuclear Resister
E-bulletin
September, 2011
(Our apologies – due to travel for 3 weeks in September, the E-bulletin was delayed.)
IN THIS E-BULLETIN:
1) LONGEST IMPRISONED NUCLEAR RESISTER HELEN WOODSON RELEASED AFTER 27 YEARS
2) SENTENCINGS IN TENNESSEE FOR JULY 2010 Y-12 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT ACTION; FIVE IN JAIL
3) TWO MEN RECEIVE ONE WEEK SENTENCE FOR KANSAS CITY NUCLEAR PLANT PROTEST
4) MORE JEJU NAVAL BASE RESISTERS JAILED
5) PRISON REFLECTION BY STEVE BAGGARLY, Irwin County Detention Center
6) WRITE A NOTE OF SUPPORT TO ANTI-NUCLEAR & ANTI-WAR PRISONERS
7) UPCOMING NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTIONS
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Longest imprisoned nuclear resister Helen Woodson released after 27 years
Silo Pruning Hook activist Helen Woodson was released this month after serving nearly 27 years in prison for that and subsequent actions against war and other assaults on human dignity, peace and the environment.
She walked out of the Administrative Maximum unit of the Federal Medical Center – Carswell in Ft. Worth, Texas on September 9, and took a bus to Kansas City. She is living in the area with sponsors.
In November 1984, Woodson, Larry Cloud Morgan, Fr. Paul Kabat and Fr. Carl Kabat – the Silo Pruning Hooks – used a sledgehammer and pneumatic jackhammer to disarm nuclear missile silo N5 in rural Missouri.
See photo here of Helen’s September 10 arrival in Kansas City.
Read her last reflection from prison here.
Sentencings in Tennessee for July 2010 nuclear disarmament action; five in jail
On July 5, 2010, 13 individuals were arrested on federal trespass charges after entering the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee during a nuclear disarmament demonstration. All but David Corcoran were convicted at a May 11 trial. Corcoran’s trial is postponed due to illness.
After their trial, some of the 12 refused to sign a promise to appear for sentencing, and were taken immediately to jail.
While in jail awaiting sentencing, Sr. Jackie Hudson became very ill. Soon after signing the necessary papers for release and returning home in June, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and passed away on August 3. Read more here.
In September, eleven of the activists had individual sentencing hearings in federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee. Jackie’s spirit was present throughout. Click on the names below to read reports from OREPA’s Ralph Hutchison on each sentencing hearing, including comments to the judge and sentence received. Five are currently in jail. You can find addresses to write them a note of support at www.nukeresister.org/inside-out.
Steve Baggarly
Fr. Bill Bichsel
Dennis DuVall
Sr. Carol Gilbert
Jean Gump
Sr. Mary Dennis Lentsch
Brad Lyttle
Sr. Ardeth Platte
Beth Rosdatter
Bonnie Urfer
Michael Walli
Two men receive one week sentence for Kansas City nuclear plant protest
Art Laffin (Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Community, Washington, DC) writes from Kansas City:
Dear Friends,
It was a long fruitful day of truth-telling in Kansas City Municipal Court for 27 peacemakers, mostly Catholic Workers, arrested last May 2nd at the site of the new Kansas City nuclear weapons plant. Those arrested were part of a larger nonviolent witness, including 26 others who were also arrested, calling for the transformation of the Bomb parts plant currently being constructed. Ruth O’Neill and Henry Stoever, who were exceptional throughout the trial, represented all but two of the defendants: Greg Boertje-Obed and I went pro-se.
The day began with nine people pleading guilty and receiving the following sentence: 1 year probation, 25 hours community service and court costs.
This was followed by a trial for 16 people before Judge Ardie Bland.
Read more here.
More Jeju naval base resisters jailed
According to the latest update at savejejuisland.org, “Eleven South Korean college students have been beaten and arrested by naval soldiers and police while trying to visit Gureombi Rock”, the landmark site of the strategically provocative Navy base under construction at Gaengjong village on Jeju, South Korea’s Peace Island. “Fifteen people are now in custody. Secret police involvement in surveillance, arrests and brutality have been reported.”
Seven of the fifteen people have been in jail since August 24 or September 2, charged with violating posted orders not to obstruct the commerce of the private construction companies. At least three dozen people were arrested during a series of massive police raids on the village and coastal peace camp on those days, which cleared the contested site for creation of a construction gate.
Read more here.
Prison reflection by Steve Baggarly, Irwin County Detention Center
Last night as I prepared to turn in, at the foot of my upper bunk, a young Aryan Nation member began to pummel my neighbor’s face. All I could do was lean over the edge of my bunk, shout, “Hey, hey, hey!” and stick my hand between them momentarily as David punched Everett on past my bunk towards the next. Somehow the guards burst in and, yelling, stopped the beating almost as quickly as it began. It seems Everett had just been outed as a pimp of under-aged girls and David, who was abused as a child, fashioned himself an avenging angel.
The blood splattered on the floor around my bunk reminded me how easily dismissed is Jesus’ nonviolent way in favor of the seeming efficacy of violence. A deeply held faith in violence as necessity pervades not only jail culture, but the nation as well. Indeed, the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee is an icon of our national commitment to use brute force – heat, blast and radiation – against human flesh. Part of the World War II Manhattan Project, Oak Ridge enriched the uranium used in the first atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945.
Read more here.
Write a note of support to anti-nuclear and anti-war prisoners
They’re in there for us; we’re out here for them!
A regularly updated list of imprisoned military refusers, anti-nuclear and anti-war activists is available on the Nuclear Resister blog.
Upcoming nonviolent direct actions click here.
Take part in a nonviolent civil disobedience/civil resistance action, play a role in supporting those who do, carry signs and banners… be part of the movement for a peaceful and nuclear-free future!
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