Please join in supporting the Pacific Life Community members who will soon stand trial before a Federal magistrate judge for their resistance to nuclear weapons.
Seven members of the Pacific Life Community who were arrested at the Bangor Trident base in Washington State will stand trial in Federal Court in Tacoma Washington on October 21st.
William "Bix" Bicshel, SJ; Susan Crane; Ed Ehmke, Betsy Lamb; Denny Moore; Mary Jane Parrine and Jerry Zawada, OFM will appear before Chief Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler Chambers on Monday, October 21 at 1:30PM, Courtroom C, United States District Court, Western District of Washington.
The seven who will stand trial on October 21st were among fourteen protesters who walked onto the entrance roadway to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor on March 4, 2013 symbolically closing the base and converting it to peaceful uses. They carried banners and signs calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
All fourteen resisters crossed the blue line onto the base and knelt in prayer. Naval security personnel arrested the protesters and drove them to a base facility for processing. They were cited under Section 1382 of Title 18 prohibiting trespassing on military bases, and released a short time later.
Each resister carried a letter addressed to the Bangor base commander stating that the "Trident II D-5 missiles with their W76 or W88 [thermocnuclear] warheads are illegal under international law and hence are also illegal per the Constitution of the United States." Naval personnel declined to accept the letters.
We invite you to support these courageous peacemakers as you are able. If you are in the Puget Sound area on the 20th and 21st please join us at Sunday's Festival of Hope, and on Monday as witnesses to the trial. We also invite your statements of support if you cannot attend. Send email a brief statement to Leonard Eiger by October 17th at subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com. I will print them to share at the Festival of Hope.
October 21st Schedule of Activities:
- Gather at Tacoma Catholic Worker before noon; the defendants and supporters will leave from here to walk (approximately 15 minutes) to courthouse.
- Leave for courthouse at NOON.
- Vigil in front of courthouse from 12:15 to 1:00PM.
- Prayer service at 12:45
- Trial begins at 1:30
OCTOBER 20th: Join us for a Festival of Hope the night before the trial, Sunday, October 20th at St. Leo's Church from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. We will have music and guest speakers. Ray McGovern, former CIA officer during the George H. Bush administration and prominent whistleblower about the Iraq War, will be the main speaker. Ray has just returned from Russia where he and 3 other prominent whistleblowers presented the Integrity in Intelligence Award to Edward Snowden. Dr. David Price, an anthropologist at St. Martin’s University, will join Ray on the program, speaking on the “Militarization of Society”.
St. Leo Church is located at 710 South 13th St., Tacoma, WA 98405. Click here for directions.
The Tacoma historic Union Station Courthouse is located at 1717 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98402. There is limited on-street parking, and paid parking behind the courthouse. It is well served by public transportation.
Updates will be posted at the Puget Sound Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and Pacific Life Community Blog. You can also learn more about last March's action at Bangor at the PLC Blog.
Feel free to address questions on these upcoming activities to me atsubversivepeacemaking@gmail.com. I'll do my best to get you a quick answer.
And please do share this information widely.
In Resistance and Peace,
Leonard
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Leonard Eiger
NO To NEW TRIDENT Campaign (Coordinator) www.notnt.org
Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (Coordinator) www.psnukefree.org
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action (Media & Outreach) www.gzcenter.org
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