January 2013
IN THIS E-BULLETIN
TRANSFORM NOW PLOWSHARES SENTENCING POSTPONED DUE TO BAD WEATHER
PROTESTER ARRESTED AT Y-12 NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX
IRISH PEACE ACTIVIST MARGARETTA D’ARCY JAILED
ELEVEN ARRESTED AT TWO NUCLEAR WEAPONS SITES IN HONOR OF DR. KING
THREE ARRESTED IN DRONE PROTEST AT HANCOCK AIR BASE
FOUR ARRESTED AT BEALE AIR FORCE BASE WHILE RESISTING DRONE WARFARE
NAVY BASE FOES IN AND OUT OF JEJU COURT AND JAIL
QUAKER’S ANTI-WAR BELIEFS LAND HIM IN JAIL
NINE WOMEN ARRESTED AT ENTERGY HEADQUARTERS
Transform Now Plowshares sentencing postponed due to bad weather
by Jack Cohen-Joppa
Today’s sentencing hearing in federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee for three nuclear disarmament activists was continued to February 18 after a winter storm forced early closure of the courthouse.
By the time Federal Court Judge Amul Thapar suspended proceedings shortly after lunch, he had heard mitigating arguments and testimony from character witnesses on behalf of defendants Greg Boertje-Obed, Sr. Megan Rice SHCJ, and Michael Walli. The prosecution had asked that the court impose the maximum sentence recommended under federal guidelines, and pay $52,000 restitution. The defendants have yet to address the court, and will be heard along with closing arguments from their attorneys and prosecutors when the court reconvenes in February.
Read more here.
Protester arrested at Y-12 nuclear weapons complex
Christopher Spicer, a graduate student at Boston College’s Master of Divinity program, was arrested by Oak Ridge City Police and charged with trespass when he apparently stepped across the blue-line boundary at the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on Sunday, January 26, 2014.
Read more here.
Irish peace activist Margaretta D’Arcy jailed
from The Irish Times by Lorna Siggins
A 79-year old feminist, peace activist, film-maker and member of Aosdána has been jailed for three months in Limerick Prison in relation to protests over U.S. military use of Shannon Airport.
Margaretta D’Arcy, who is undergoing cancer treatment, was arrested at her Galway home on January 15 after she refused to sign a bond to uphold the law and keep away from unauthorised zones at Shannon.
Read more here.
Eleven arrested at two nuclear weapons sites in honor of Dr. King
BANGOR TRIDENT SUB BASE, WASHINGTON
by Leonard Eiger
On January 18, activists from a Puget Sound-based nuclear abolition group engaged in a nonviolent direct action at the U.S. Navy’s West Coast nuclear submarine and nuclear weapons base.
Members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action held a peaceful vigil and nonviolent direct action at the main gate to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington. They protested the U.S. government’s continued deployment of the Trident nuclear weapons system, and increasing military presence in Asia due to its Asia-Pacific Pivot. Its continued reliance on nuclear weapons as an instrument of foreign policy by force projection is in contravention of both U.S. and international laws.
Read more here.
LOCKHEED MARTIN, PENNSYLVANIA
On January 20, about 40 people stood at the main driveway entrance to Lockheed Martin as the voice of Dr. King was loudly amplified. The group held banners and signs emphasizing the fundamental connection between poverty and economic injustice with war-making and corporate profits – a connection that was to occupy Dr. King’s voice during the last years of his life, and was especially articulated in his profoundly prophetic “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech on April 4, 1967 (a year before his assassination).
Read more here.
Three arrested in drone protest at Hancock Air Base
On the afternoon of December 9, 2013, two Yale Divinity School students and a Catholic Worker were arrested as they attempted to deliver an Order of Protection on behalf of Afghan children and their families at the Hancock Air Base main entrance on East Molloy Rd. near Syracuse, New York.
In addition to the Order of Protection, the three carried with them their signs, a supporting letter from an Afghan family, and flowers. As they approached, the military guards closed the gates and refused to accept anything from the three, not even the flowers.
Read more here.
Four arrested at Beale Air Force Base while resisting drone warfare
Activists in California blocked “business as usual” for over 30 minutes at Beale Air Force Base on the morning of November 26, where the crew of the Global Hawk drone program assist in illegal targeted drone killing by doing surveillance of potential targets. Four activists – Mike Kerr, Flora Rogers, Shirley Osgood and MacGregor Eddy – were arrested while attempting to deliver a letter to the commander of the base, demanding a halt to these brutal drone killings that are assisted by airmen at Beale Air Force Base.
Read more here.
Navy base foes in and out of Jeju court and jail
by Jack Cohen-Joppa
As the daily mass/blockades, 100 ritual bows, community meals, and nightly ecumenical celebrations with dance and song continue, so do sessions in Jeju courts and the regular passage of resisters in and out of prison doors.
Since the beginning of the resistance in 2007, the newly formed Gangjeong Human Rights Committee reports nearly 650 arrests, resulting in 473 indictments. Many of the cases are now making their way through the courts. In 2013 alone, the local court has heard over 600 cases against hundreds of citizens, issued verdicts for 123 people and levied fines of nearly 250M Won ($240,000), in addition to 200M Won fines from previous years. There have been only a handful of charges dismissed or convictions overturned on appeal.
Read more here.
Quaker’s anti-war beliefs land him in jail
by John Mason, Columbia-Greene Media, from the Register-Star
Dr. Joseph Olejak, a chiropractor with a successful practice in Delmar, is spending his weekends in Columbia County Jail for the next six months.
On Oct. 17, Judge Thomas McAvoy of the Federal District Court of Northern New York found Olejak guilty of the charge of willful failure to file an income tax form, something the defendant had failed to do for nearly 20 years.
He was sentenced to 26 weekends in jail and payment of $240,000 in back taxes. In addition, he’s doing community service at the Northeast Regional Food Bank, and is looking for other placements as well.
Read more here.
Nine women arrested at Entergy headquarters
from Shut it Down affinity group
BRATTLEBORO, Vermont—Acting on their conviction that governments, regulatory agencies, and corporations fail to honor the public trust, nine women of the Shut It Down Affinity Group went to Entergy Corporation headquarters on Old Ferry Road to demand the immediate shut down of Entergy’s 42-year-old Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon.
Brattleboro police arrested the women when they refused to move from the main headquarters door when Entergy officials ignored their demands. Lieutenant Jeremy Evans led the police detachment. The women were booked on site and released pending charges and a court date.
Read more here.
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