An Obscenity in the Courtroom

An Obscenity In The Courtroom by Steve Clemens. July 7, 2010

I spent most of Tuesday afternoon sitting in Courtroom 3A of the Federal Courthouse of the Eastern District of Tennessee as my friends were hauled before Judge H. Price Guyton. The Courtroom was packed with supporters of the 13 defendants who had been arrested the previous day protesting at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant.

We stood out of love and respect as three women shuffled into the room, shackled at the feet, waist, and hands. If not so absurd for their clearly nonviolent offense, it would have been comical as the Clerk asked them to raise their right hands to “swear or affirm that you will tell the truth” – they could only raise their right arm a few inches due to the waist chain’s attachment to the handcuffs.

Jean Gump, an 83 year-old mother of 12, Sister Mary Dennis Lentsch, a 73 year-old nun who teaches basic literacy skills to economically challenged Appalachian residents, and Brad Lyttle, 82, an activist for peace, disarmament, and civil rights who was part of the 1961 San Francisco to Moscow Peace Walk, the first integrated disarmament walk from Nashville to Washington, DC in 1962, and the Canada to Cuba Peace Walk in 1963, were the first defendants brought before the Federal Judge on criminal trespass charges after having spent the previous 27 hours in jail.

After they were sworn in, the Judge asked the Assistant US Attorney to read the charges of unlawfully entering the property (the defendants had crawled between strands of barbed wire fencing, placed origami peace cranes on some solar collectors, and then circled up to sing and read their “Declaration of Independence From Nuclear Weapons” before being arrested).

The Judge then asked the Prosecutor to read the possible consequences for this misdemeanor trespass charge. The US Attorney read it so fast and quietly that the Judge had to ask her to speak slower and into the microphone so the defendants could understand it. With a straight face she read that those charged with this nonviolent offense could face a sentence of “not more than one year in prison, a fine of up to $100,000, with supervisory release of not more than one year, and an additional assessment of $100.”

The Judge did not blink. He did not blush. He didn’t stand up and “rent his clothes” as the Biblical prophets of the Hebrew Bible did when they heard such an obscene perversion of justice. It was as if the possible fine was a day’s wages rather than this preposterous amount for defendants who not only were nonviolently asserting their rights of dissent and redress of grievances against an unresponsive government on the 4^th of July holiday but also all qualified for court appointed attorneys because of their very modest incomes!

I wanted to get out of my seat and scream and holler but this time was for these friends of conscience and I didn’t want to take away attention from their first court appearance for these brave and compassionate citizens. To even suggest that any consideration of a $100,000 fine should be made is an obscenity – something degrading to humans. The President makes public pronouncements about our need to eliminate nuclear weapons and then allows his Justice Department representatives to blithely and unembarassingly claim that this outrageous fine could be an outcome of this case.

Sister Carol Gilbert, 63, and Sister Ardeth Platte, 74, both of Baltimore’s Jonah House Community, Sister Jackie Hudson, 75, of the Ground Zero Community of Pulsbo, WA, and Fr. Bill Bixel, 82, also from Washington state were also defendants later in the afternoon. Norfolk Catholic Worker Steve Baggerly was the youngest defendant at age 45. Most of the defendants have many acts of conscience on their records. Bonnie Urfer, one of the weekend conference organizers from Nukewatch was one of the last defendants to be released under a conditional personal recognizance bond after a long afternoon. The trial date will be set in the coming months. The US Attorney wanted to place a condition that 83 year-old Jean Gump look for gainful employment during this release period before trial but the Judge removed that condition after her court-appointed attorney objected.

When the Judge asked Sister Ardeth Platte if she was satisfied with her court-appointed attorney, she replied, “Well, having just met him, I don’t know if he knows anything about International Law, the [US] Constitution, and Treaties signed by our government. And I don’t know if you are aware of them either”, disclosing her likely defense which cites Article 6 of the US Constitution. That provision states that Treaties signed by our government are “the supreme law of the land”.

The defendants held themselves with calm and dignity despite the outrageous behavior of governmental officials. We must abolish nuclear weapons before they abolish us and all of God’s creation.

Busted in Front of Nuke Weapons Plant

Two Minnesotans Arrested For Declaring Independence by Steve Clemens. July 5, 2010

37 anti-nuclear activists were arrested this morning at the entrance to the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant outside Oak Ridge, TN as part of a group under the statement “Declaration of Independence from Nuclear Weapons at Y-12”. Twenty-three people were arrested for blocking the highway entrance to the plant with a banner inscribed with “Independence From Nuclear Terrorism” while 14 others went under the barbed wire fence and nonviolently entered the property. The former group faces state “obstruction of highway” charges, a misdemeanor; the latter group faces federal trespass charges. This more serious charge can result in up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.

The group arrested included Steve Clemens from Minneapolis and Pepperwolf from Red Wing. Both are members of the local AlliantACTION group which protests radioactive weapons made by Minnesota’s largest war profiteer, Alliant Techsystems in Eden Prairie at a weekly vigil. They attended a weekend conference held in eastern Tennessee along with three others from the Twin Cities area. The conference, “Resistance for a Nuclear Free Future” was scheduled to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of Nukewatch, The Nuclear Resister, and the Plowshares 8, the first act of nuclear disarmament by activists at the GE weapons facility in King of Prussia, PA.

Four of the original Plowshares 8 members were present as was the widow of a fifth. They were joined by close to two dozen other Plowshares activists, one of who has served over 18 years in prison for his nonviolent resistance to the bomb. Over two hundred attended the event held at Maryville College, about 25 miles from Oak Ridge, the site of the enrichment of the uranium for the first atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945.

But the Y-12 Plant, renamed the “Y-12 National Security Complex” after the September 11^th attacks, is not just an historical landmark – it remains as a central cog in the nuclear weapons machinery today. OREPA, the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, is one of several groups organized in opposition to our present nuclear policy. They informed the conference about the misnamed “Life Extension Program” under which the Y-12 plant is refurbishing all US nuclear weapons so that they can continue to threaten others for another 100-120 years. Under the guise of “modernization”, they are part of a plan to build a whole new generation of nuclear weapons with greater accuracy – now to hit unknown targets with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the excuse used in the past to justify the trillions spent since the 1940s.

The arrested activists carried with them “A Declaration of Independence from Nuclear Weapons at Y-12”. Stating “… Current Law requires an end to all planning, preparation, production, threat, or use of nuclear weapons and adherence to the fundamental rules and principles of Humanitarian Law”, the declaration described the illegal nuclear weapons designed at the Y-12 plant and claimed that “… we exercise our duty to protect children and future generations.”

Ironically, the new START Treaty President Obama is pursuing is being coupled with a promise to spend billion of tax dollars to build newer nuclear weapons to replace some of those being dismantled by the Treaty in order to secure Republican votes in the Senate for it. In fact, Obama’s 2011 budget calls for an increase of 14% for the NNSA nuclear weapons program, the largest increase for any federal agency while at the same time calling for zero increase in education and the environment. As one conference speaker said, “follow the money. Bob Dylan once said, ‘Money doesn’t talk – it swears!’”

Despite the seriousness of the conference topic, there was much laughter and celebration. Guy and Candie Carawan, folk singing troubadours from the bygone labor and civil rights struggles traveled from nearby Highlander Center to lead the conference in songs; several anti-nuclear activists from Australia led a contingent of clowns which greatly enlivened the resistance arrests. Puppetistas and skits both informed and entertained. It was a celebration of continued nonviolent resistance to both nuclear power generation as well as nuclear weapons over the past three decades.

Many of those gathered had been “jailed for justice”, many meeting one another behind jail bars over the years. There were many joyful reunions from people scattered all over the country. Two of the veteran leaders of the movement told jokes or funny stories from their numerous protest actions. A priest in his 70s wept as he listened to a sister arrestee talk about what their action together decades ago did to change her life and inspire her life-long commitment to peace with justice.

Although many Americans associate the “ban the bomb” movement with either the 1950s or the 1980s, a young peoples contingent calling themselves “Think Outside the Bomb” is stepping forth to join the veterans of the anti-nuclear movement. And as politicians look desperately for alternatives to the environmental and climate threats posed by fossil fuels (think of the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico and the recent coal mine disaster, not to mention mountain-top removal or threats to wilderness areas), many are jumping on a bandwagon under the illusive promise of nuclear power as a “clean energy”. Nevermind the fact that Wall Street refuses to finance new nuclear facilities, there is no feasible solution to either nuclear waste storage nor any viable plan BP deep water oil rig.

This conference and the act of resistance by the activists are timely reminders that we must be careful of our decisions and directions, choosing peaceful, sustainable technologies for future generations and ourselves. Many of my own personal heroes and mentors were there including Liz McAlister

, Kathy Kelly , and Frank Cordaro. And I met several peace legends for the first time including Brad Lyttle, a Freedom Rider and activist since the 50s , Sr. Anne Montgomery, also in her 80s and continuing to resist. It was a privelege to be arrested with them.