LOS ALAMOS: Managers of the New Mexico nuclear
weapons laboratory have paid a $55,000 settlement for damages and legal
fees after a federal court ruled that nine leafletters had been unlawfully
arrested on two occasions in 1997. The court ruled on a First Amendment
lawsuit brought by the leafletters, who faced trespass charges for five
months before Lab officials relented to the Constitution...
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE:
Trial for six citizen inspectors cited for trespass last March while seeking
information about depleted uranium at the Tucson, Arizona base has been
postponed. This followed a hearing where the presiding city court judge
determined the city does, in fact, share jurisdiction with the federal
government on the base...
WARD VALLEY: After 113 days
under an eviction notice, and no arrests, the nonviolent blockade of the
planned Ward Valley, California "low-level" nuclear waste dump
site was declared a success on June 5, when the Interior Department rescinded
the February 12 notice. While recent legal developments are favoring eventual
abandonment of the project, an encampment remains established on the site
under local Native American leadership, to guarantee protection of the
desert they hold sacred. Save Ward Valley, 107 F St., Needles, CA 92363,
(760)326-6267, email: swv1@ctaz.com ...
USS INTREPID: A handful of
New York City resisters arrested at the warship museum on the Hudson last
Good Friday have had their charges adjourned pending dismissal...
RAYTHEON/ANDOVER: Six people
were convicted in a bench trial July 22 of trespass and disorderly conduct
charges resulting from their protest March 3 at the Massachusetts headquarters
of the war profiteer. The defendants struggled past numerous objections
from the bench preventing testimony about their motive and prohibiting
assembled experts from testifying for the defense, and were sentenced to
six hours community service...
WAR TAX RESISTANCE/OREGON: At
arraignment May 20, war tax resister Ed Martiszus entered a plea of not
guilty to trespass at Portland's Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was
formerly employed. Since being dismissed following a dispute over withholding
of federal taxes, Martiszus has occasionally vigiled and leafletted hospital
visitors and employees about the hospital's complicity in paying for war.
A trial is set for September 28...
MILWAUKEE: Trial for three
people arrested at the IRS office April 15 has been postponed until September
25...
CANADIAN PARLIAMENT SIT-INS: Ten
people were convicted and fined $55 after a June 1 bench trial in Hamilton,
Ontario. They were arrested during an anti-war sit-in at the office of
Cabinet Minister and MP Sheila Copps. The presiding justice of the peace
was clearly perturbed when the defendants entered pleas for an end to the
sanctions. He particularly chastised Laurel Smith, telling her that her
testimony as the mother of a nine-year old was irrelevant to the issues.
Smith held her ground, and insisted that her voice and the voices of the
other defendants needed to be heard. One spectator was removed from the
courtroom during the tense standoff, but in the end, her insistence opened
space for the other defendants to voice their concerns as well. Three days
later, five people arrested after a 31-hour sit-in last February 9-10 at
the office of War Minister and MP Art Eggleton while demanding he join
in public opposition to threats of further war against Iraq had their charges
dismissed when a key prosecution witness did not show. Expressing an increasingly
common theme among prosecuted war resisters, Laurel Smith, a defendant
in both cases, later remarked, "Interestingly, our action was one
of many around the world which helped stop a direct military attack that
would have killed countless thousands of Iraqi people, yet we are the ones
who went to trial, not the ones who were organizing the military attack
or who continue enforcing the sanctions which kill thousands of Iraqis
each month that goes by"...
BATH IRON WORKS: In August,
Dave Diamond and Sean Donohue served two days in jail for trespass last
February 28 during the course of a nuclear weapons inspection. After being
denied the right to offer an international law or competing harms defense,
they changed their pleas to no contest and were sentenced August 14. Fellow
arrestee Tom Feagley was convicted of trespass on July 9 and ordered released
unconditionally because he had not been warned of arrest and was only supporting
the inspectors from the sidelines. In court action resulting from arrests
at the March 28th launch of the USS O'Kane, Kevin Wyer was acquitted due
to insufficient evidence of trespass; Hattie Nestle was convicted of obstruction
and served two days in jail. On August 20, sisters Audrey and Jessica Stewart
were sentenced for trespass and mischief convictions, resulting from a
November 10 arrest. Audrey was sentenced to 48 hours in jail and 50 hours
community service; Jessica to 100 hours community service...
SEN. JEFFORDS OFFICE: Trial
is scheduled October 13 for people who occupied the home office of the
Vermont Senator last October to protest the impending plutonium-powered
Cassini space probe launch...
HARTFORD FEDERAL BUILDING:
Paul Trowbridge was acquitted of creating a public disturbance during a
blood-pouring action last February 23, when the prosecutors failed to prove
their case. Co-defendant Chris Allen-Douçet was convicted of the
charge, and fined $50. When he told the judge he would not and could not
pay, she waived the fine and court costs...
AUSTIN FEDERAL BUILDING: Susan
Lee Solar returns to court September 10 regarding her failure to pay a
fine and accept probation following her arrest in a June, 1997, door blockade
to protest subcritical nuclear tests. She expects to serve a few days in
jail instead...
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