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US Ploughshares activist released aftereight months in federal prison
Nukewatch US write ... A US Army veteran and member of a Minnesota Catholic Worker Community was releasedfrom the Duluth Federal Prison Camp on 16 February, after completing an eight-month sentence for damaging a nuclear missile silo in North Dakota.Michael Walli, 57, was among a group of three pacifists who symbolically dis-armed a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo in June 2006 (see PN2475-6). The three, dressed as clowns, broke the lock off the fence surrounding the unguarded silo site, hung a banner "Weapon of Mass Destruction Here!" and painted the silo cover. They then poured some of their own blood on equipment and hammered on the heavy concrete lid (pictured).Walli and the others, Rev Carl Kabat and Greg Boertje-Obed, were tried and convicted in September. Kabat was sentenced to 15 months, Boertje-Obed to 12 months, and were both ordered to pay $17,000 restitution.
North Dakota has 150 Minuteman III missiles kept on alert status and controlled by Minot Air Force Base. A further 350 Minutemen are spread across parts of Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. http://www.nukewatch.com