Eleven SOA Watch peacemakers headed to federal prison

[G_j]

Eleven SOA Watch peacemakers headed to federal prison

SOA Watch Update
Trial Log #3 from Columbus, GA
January 26, 2005

AT TRIAL's END, ELEVEN PEACEMAKERS ARE HEADED TO FEDERAL PRISON

Judge Faircloth sentenced six more of the "SOA 14" yesterday and today, bringing to 11 the total number of activists ordered to serve prison terms of three to six months and to pay fines of up to $500. Each of the defendants was on trial for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience calling for the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC). The two high school students in the group were given deferred sentences, and another defendant was sentenced to one year of probation with a $1,000 fine.

The fourteen people that were on trial before Judge G. Mallon Faircloth this week range in age from 16 to 79. The group includes a chaplain, a farmworker, a Maryknoll nun, a Steelworker, two retirees and several students. They were all arrested on Sunday, November 21 for crossing the line onto Fort Benning, Georgia to call for the closure of SOA/ WHINSEC, a combat training facility for Latin American security personnel.

Each defendant opted to self-report to prison and will now wait for a letter from the Bureau of Prisons notifying them of the date when and prison to which they must report. Past defendants have received notice from the BoP anywhere from six to twelve weeks after their trials.

These defendants will spend the next months spreading the word about the School of the Americas by doing media outreach, speaking to churches, synagogues and peace and justice organizations in their communities and lobbying their Members of Congress.

Many are already making their plans to be in DC on February 21-22 for the SOA Watch Legislative Action Days. One of the most important ways that you can support the SOA 14 is to join them in DC! Meet with your Member of Congress, tell them about these peacemakers headed to prison and ask them to support legislation to close the SOA/ WHINSEC.

To read more about this year's defendants and how you can support them, visit http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=322.

- - - - - -

THE 14 SOA/ WHINSEC DEFENDANTS:

2 sentenced to six months in prison with fines up to $500
2 sentenced to four months in prison with a $500 fine
7 sentenced to three months in prison with fines up to $500
1 sentenced to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine
2 given six-month deferred sentences

Robert Nash Chantal, 52, Americus, GA - 3 months; $500 fine
Liz Deligio, 28, Chicago, IL - 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Brian DeRouen, 27, Fairfield, CA, student in Dayton, OH - 4 months in prison; $500 fine
Meagan Doty, 22, St. Louis, MO, student in Dayton, OH - 3 months in prison, $500 fine
Ronald Durham, 24, Chicago, IL - 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Alice Gerard, 48, Buffalo, NY - 6 months in prison; $500 fine
Tom MacLean, 79, Ashfield, MA - 3 months in federal medical facility
Sr. Lil Mattingly, 63, Maryknoll, NY - 6 months in prison
Elizabeth Nadeau, 27, Minneapolis, MN - 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Mike Ring, 65, Wall, NJ - 1 year of probation; $1,000 fine
Dan Schwankl, 31, Siler City, NC- 3 months in prison; $500 fine
Aaron Shuman, 32, Oakland, CA - 4 months in prison; $500 fine
Two minors - 6 month deferred sentences


Actions to take in solidarity with those in prison for opposing the SOA
Click on the hyperlinked headlines for more information

_Write to the Defendants:_ (http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=357) Write a message of hope, solidarity, encouragement and/or your thoughts to the defendants by using an online form on the SOA Watch webpage.

_Media Outreach:_ (http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=266) Write or call your local media. Ask them to do a story on the prisoners of conscience.

Write letters to the editor.

Organize for this fall's convergance at the gates of Ft. Benning: The most effective way to counter the repression is to continue our resistance.

Come to Columbus, GA this November 18-20, 2005 and join thousands to stand up for justice!

_Consider engaging in nonviolent direct action:_ (http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=978) Keep the pressure on! People who put their bodies on the line to speak in solidarity with the people of Latin America are crucial in the struggle to close the SOA.

_Write to your representatives:_ (http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96) Bring the prisoners of conscience to their attention and ask them to speak out against the SOA by signing on to HR 1258.

[gratuitous]

1. Busholini's Justice Department can't catch the anthrax killer

But 79-year-old retirees watch out!

Great post, G_j.

[G_j]

2. every year they sentence

a number of seniors, quite often nuns, to federal prison for symbolically "crossing the line" at Ft. Benning.
Good to know they are keeping us safe from these dangerous folks!

[gratuitous]

3. Yep, including some friends and acquaintances of mine

Unfortunately, this sort of action doesn't merit a mention in Time magazine's 25 most influential evangelicals, so a lot of people (including at least one here at DU) don't recognize the courageous work being done -- very quietly and outside the mainstream -- by these folks. Which leads to some unfortunate broad-brush tarring of all Christians as bloodthirsty and other such nonsense.

[G_j]

4. there is a serious tradition

of Christians fighting for human rights, justice and peace.
I will be forever thankful to the Quakers for the draft counseling I received during the Vietnam war.

The Berrigan brothers, Father Roy Bourgeois, Swords to Plowshares, MLK, the list goes on and on. These folks have spent YEARS in prison for their peace and justice work.

[underseasurveyor]

6. Yes, every year this goes on and for how many years now :-/

and still if you talk to the average person on the street they have never even heard of the SOA.

They have no clue what's going on in their own back yard.

[Tinoire]

5. School of Americas is an obscenity that needs to go!

God bless those people for standing up for what is right and saying that just because the school had a ridiculous name change it's A-ok.

There's your swing voter right there! 11 of them. Not to mention the countless nuns and priests and civilians who have been arrested, imprisoned and harrassed for refusing to play ball.

Heroes. Every last one of them.

Thanks for posting this. This issue needs a lot more visibility.

===February 21-22 - SOA Watch Legislative Action Days.

One of the most important ways that you can support the SOA 14 is to join them in DC!

Meet with your Member of Congress, tell them about these peacemakers headed to prison and ask them to support legislation to close the SOA/ WHINSEC

[G_j]

7. thanks n/t