The Nuclear Resister

Bonnie Urfer handcuffed at Y-12, July 5, 2010

Nukewatch press release

September 14, 2011

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee – Bonnie Urfer, 59, of Luck, Wisconsin, a long-time staff member of the nonprofit nuclear watchdog group Nukewatch, was sentenced by the federal court here today to a total of eight months incarceration. Urfer has been in jail since May 11 and will now serve another four months.

Presiding Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton had Urfer incarcerated May 11, 2011, immediately following a jury trial involving 12 activists, all of whom were convicted of trespass for a sit-down protest that took place July 5, 2010 at the Y12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Leonard Peltier

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Leonard Peltier has been moved from Oklahoma City to the U.S. Penitentiary at Coleman, Florida.

The United States Penitentiary I in Coleman is a high security facility located in central Florida approximately 50 miles northwest of Orlando, 60 miles northeast of Tampa, and 35 miles south of Ocala.

LEONARD PELTIER #89637-132
USP COLEMAN I
U.S. PENITENTIARY
P.O. BOX 1033
COLEMAN, FL  33521

This is nearly 2,000 miles from Leonard’s Nation,
the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians,
in North Dakota!

Tell the Federal Bureau of Prisons
that the only acceptable transfer
is one to a medium security facility
in close proximity to
(within a 500-mile radius of)
his family and Nation.

Jean Gump over the line at Y-12, July 5, 2010. Photo by Felice Cohen-Joppa

Y12 Resisters’ Sentencing Begins

report from the website of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance – http://orepa.org/first-report-on-sentencing-of-y12-resisters/

MONDAY morning, September 12, 2011 • Jean Gump

Jean Gump was the first of the July 2010 Y12 Resisters to be sentenced in federal court in Knoxville.  Jean was not present, but was represented by Francis Lloyd. After hearing from the prosecution, which requested a four month prison term to be followed by five years supervised probation, judge Bruce Guyton sentenced Jean to time served and ordered to pay a fine of $500 (along with a “special fee” of $25).

The prosecution sought to twist Jean’s absence into some kind of defiance of the court: “She shows her remorse and lack of contrition by her absence,” and asserted that her actions at Y12 put the safety of many people at risk as well as threatened our national security. The prosecutor berated Jean for traveling to Europe while awaiting trial but then being unable to attend court for her sentencing. Finally, she derided Jean’s “presumptuous” attempt to “create her own sentence,” by going to jail for a month. The government asked the judge to sentence Jean to four months in prison and five years’ supervised release.

Norman Lowry

Norman Lowry, jailed twice in recent years for protest at a military recruiting office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was released Monday, June 27, after serving nearly 18 months for trespass and probation violation after his second arrest.

A few weeks later, Lowry wrote, “After searching God’s heart & being freed from the spiritual sludge of my last incarceration, I am convinced of God’s leading to simply stay the course & continue to say my simple & small ‘NO’.”  He returned to the recruiting office on August 1 with the following statement, and remained there until police were summoned and he was again arrested.

Lowry intended to refuse to post bond, and expects to remain in jail until trial.