Nine arrested at US navy site

by: Nukewatch (US)

Wisconsin, US: More than 130 anti-war activists gathered in the Chequamegon National Forest Sunday 16 May, in protest of the Navy's submarine transmitter system, Project ELF. Nine activists were cited for trespass during the 17th annual May gathering at the site.

Speakers at the event included Brad Johnson, a member of Duluth, Minn.'s chapter 80 of Veterans for Peace , Karen Barschdorf, of the Grandmothers for Peace, and Liz McAlister, longtime activist and cofounder of Jonah House, a resistance community located in Baltimore, Maryland.

The peace activists called for the closure of the facility that sends one-way orders to submerged missile-firing submarines (US and British) around the world and which produces electromagnetic pollution. The system's been called a "relic of the cold war" by U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI).

The nine who crossed the line onto government property and sat in the roadway included: Kelly Lundeen & Michael Komba from the Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community in Milwaukee; Jane Hosking, of the Catholic Worker Anathoth Community Farm in Luck, WI; John LaForge also of Anathoth and a Nukewatch staff member; attorney John Bachman of Eau Claire, WI; Muriel Fitzgerald of Ironwood, MI; and Penny Cragun and Janet Karon both of Duluth, MN. A ninth activist was unexpectedly apprehended when retrieving a ball of yarn that had rolled across the trespass line.

They face a maximum of six months in prison and/or a US$5,000 fine. Each was ordered to appear in US District Court in Madison, WI on 13 July for arraignment.

The end of the Cold War in 1991 lead to the subsequent collapse of the Navy's rationale for ELF and the Trident submarine fleet. Over 620 trespass citations have been issued to protesters since then, and more than 40 people have been jailed for refusing to pay court-ordered fines, in an on-going campaign of civil resistance.

The gathering was organised by the Coalition to Stop Project ELF which includes Peacenorth of Hayward, WI, Loaves & Fishes Community of Duluth, Nukewatch and a dozen other peace groups.

For photos see: http://www.peacenorth.org

Contact
Nukewatch, PO Box 649, Luck, Wisc 54853, USA (+1 715 472 4185; fax 472 4184; email nukewatch@lakeland.ws).

Source: Nukewatch (US)