The Nuclear Resister

NOT WAITING TO BE ASKED . . .
TO HELP MIKE, GREG, MEGAN

from the Transform Now Plowshares Support Group

Three peacemakers are in prison.
How can I help?
Where can I send money?

Donations can be made through Nukewatch www.nukewatchinfo.org by scrolling down to the Donate button. After entering a Paypal account or credit card number, proceed to the review page, click a link, and indicate that the donation is for TNP.

OR, mail a check, TNP on the memo line, to: Catholic Worker, PO Box 29179, Washington, DC 20017. 

Here is the prepared statement Megan Rice read to the court on Tuesday, February 18, 2014:

PART I

As I sat observing the facial expressions of participants present in the hearing on January 28th, I sensed a clear sense of a shared mental reaction during the arguments on this restitution evidentiary Table submitted by the Prosecution (identification…) (display my Exhibit I)

I think we felt something of a Master’s compassionate consternation with the hypocrisy at his accusers.  (Luke 6:5-11  Mark 4:20-30)

I was stunned that 8 months had elapsed with apparently no prior conversations, out of court, between the opposing sides and the court in this case, and would have imagined it had been resolved by negotiation during those delays, and relegated to where it deserved to be disposed. – unworthy of evidence in any court of law.

by Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa

Nine months after their conviction on charges of sabotage and criminal damage at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, three nuclear abolitionists were sentenced to lengthy prison terms today, February 18, in federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Federal Court Judge Amul Thapar imposed prison terms less than what federal guidelines recommend and prosecutors asked for: 35 months for Sr. Megan Rice (84 years old), and 62 months for Michael Walli (64 years old) and Greg Boertje-Obed (59 years old), followed by 3 years of supervised release. Divided among them, the three Transform Now Plowshares activists must also pay restitution totaling $52,953.

Photo by Carol Baum

All found guilty of disorderly conduct but acquitted of trespassing; Order of Protection extended 2 years; Judge decides to send a message

[UPDATE:  On February 25, Elliot Adams (the last defendant of the Hancock 17 drone protest group) was taken right to jail from the courtroom.  He was found guilty of disorderly conduct and sentenced to 15 days in jail, a $250 fine and a two year order of protection to stay away from Col Earl A. Evan.]

from the Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars

On Friday, February 7, Town of DeWitt Court Judge David Gideon found twelve of the Hancock Drone War Crimes Resisters guilty of disorderly conduct, but acquitted them of trespassing.They had gone to Hancock Air National Guard Base near Syracuse, NY on October 25, 2012, to bring a Citizens War Crimes Indictment to the base and symbolically block the gates. Their nonviolent action had called for an end to drone warfare.

Leonard Peltier. AP photo.

from the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

“… new consideration should be given to clemency for Leonard Peltier.” Professor James Anaya

On Friday January 24, 2014, United Nations Special Rapporteur, Professor James Anaya visited United States Penitentiary Coleman 1 in Florida, to meet with American Indian political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Professor Anaya was accompanied by Leonard “Lenny ” Foster, member of the Board of Directors of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), Supervisor of the Navajo Nations Correction Project, and Spiritual Advisor to Mr. Peltier for nearly 30 years.