Protesters in court for Mother’s Day action at nuclear sub base

Posted on August 19, 2024

Photo by Mary Gleysteen

Sue Ablao, Mack Johnson, Gilberto Perez, Michael Firefly Siptroth and Caroline Wildflower appeared before Judge Pro Tem Kyle A. Joyce in Kitsap Country Traffic Court August 13, 2024, seeking mitigation of “pedestrian in the roadway” citations and fines for blocking traffic to the Trident Submarine Base on Mother’s Day, May 12. (Carolee Flaten was out of town and sought mitigation by mail.)

Judge Joyce (who heard the 2023 Hiroshima Nagasaki  cases) moved the Ground Zero defendants’ cases to the end of the calendar, precluding other defendants in the courtroom from hearing testimony about nuclear weapons in Kitsap County. However, one of those defendants, Brittany Wilson, who as a 4th grader had Firefly Siptroth as a teacher, stayed following her case as a Ground Zero supporter!

Sue Ablao reminded the court that the use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened the Pandora’s box of genocide and mass destruction and the spending of trillions of dollars on a system that is not a deterrent but instead makes us a target and deprives us of resources desperately needed for basic necessities like food, housing, and health care. She quoted Pope Francis, saying that the possession of nuclear weapons is immoral and said that she was moved to act so that her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren can live in a world free of the threat of nuclear holocaust.

Mack Johnson introduced himself as a repeat offender and recidivist and identified Ground Zero as a part of a global movement to reduce militarism, eliminate nuclear weapons and prevent WW III. He asked the court to add to this global effort by reducing fines to 0.

Gilberto Perez spoke of his family history of military service and his decision to take a different path by not going to war. He talked about our country’s genocidal history and concluded that “we must love each other or die.”

Firefly Siptroth told the court that nuclear weapons are immoral and illegal – citing international treaties, the U.S. Constitution which makes those treaties binding and the Nuremberg Principle which obliges citizens to stand against illegal and immoral acts of their government. He detailed contacting elected officials, attending town halls, writing letters to the editor and other public opposition to nuclear weapons and concluded that more forceful efforts are needed in light of the danger posed by weapons that threaten mass annihilation and nuclear winter. He emphasized that the U.S. nuclear program and military spending harms women and children particularly, depriving them of necessary health care and other services.

Caroline Wildflower spoke of the example set by Quakers on the boat, the Golden Rule, who attempted to sail into the nuclear test zone in the Marshall Islands in 1958, saying that effort helped start demonstrations and the partial above ground test ban treaty signed in 1962 and led her to protest the arrival of the first Trident submarine at Bangor in 1982, in a little boat on Hood Canal. Caroline stated her belief that it is necessary to keep breaking the law because nothing else works.
Judge Joyce noted Ground Zero’s cooperation with law enforcement and their minimal disruption of traffic. He acknowledged that the defendants were compelled by their beliefs to commit the pedestrian in the roadway infraction and reduced their fines to $25. He declined to reduce the fine to 0 or dismiss the cases entirely, citing the social cost of holding up traffic and his fear of getting in trouble with the judicial system, but promised to consult with the presiding judge about his options in future sentencings (which may come as soon as October 22, the date Caroline received for her recent Hiroshima/Nagasaki citation.)