COLUMBUS, Ga. A U.S. magistrate on Wednesday sentenced peace activists to up to six months in prison for trespassing at Fort Benning last fall to demand the closing of an Army school that trains Latin American soldiers.
The 26 defendants, ranging from a 19-year-old college student to an 88-year-old Catholic nun, were among 3,400 protesters who marched into the military post Nov. 19 to protest the School of the Americas. The protesters say graduates of the school have been linked to murder, torture and other human rights abuses.
Before the protest, the 26 defendants were notified that because they participated in previous intrusions, they would be prosecuted if arrested.
Officials say the school\'s mission is to spread democratic principles among Latin American leaders who come there to study.
U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth said the defendants violated a law aimed at preserving good morale, order and discipline on military bases. The law prohibits political gatherings on military property.
\"We are a government of the people,\" he said. \"The majority in Congress enacted the law you are accused of breaking.... You re-entered those premises in violation of the law. Therefore, it is my duty to impose sentences.\"
One of the defendants pleaded guilty Monday; the judge found the rest guilty Wednesday. They had been charged with criminal trespassing.
Faircloth initially sentenced 88-year-old Dorothy Hennessey, a Dubuque, Iowa, nun, to six months probation. She said she didn\'t want any special treatment because of her age, then the judge changed her sentence to six months in prison. He imposed a similar sentence on her sister, Gwen Hennessey, a 68-year-old nun.
Homemaker Mary Lou Benson, 56, of Brainerd, Minn., said she thought her three-month sentence was harsh.
\"I feel like I was called to cross the line,\" she said. \"In crossing, I was standing in solidarity with the oppressed of South America. Nobody thought the government would do this.\"
Roy Bourgeois, founder of the group that has sponsored School of the Americas demonstrations since 1990, said the sentences were unfair.
\"This genteel Southern judge smiles and then comes the dagger,\" Bourgeois said. \"It baffles me how he can sleep at night when an 88-year-old nun is going to prison ... when assassins and soldiers who have tortured and raped get pardons. A grave injustice has been done.\"
The School of the Americas moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984. It closed last December and reopened in January with a new name the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Responsibility for the school has been transferred from the Army to the Department of Defense and it has a new curriculum.
Officials say the demonstrations cost the Army about $50,000 for security, cleanup and processing demonstrators who are arrested.
SOA Watch protesters sentenced Wednesday
Kathryn Dale Temple, 28, Asheville, N.C.; two years probation, $500 fine
John Thomas Ewers, 66, Dayton, Ohio; six months in prison, $1,000 fine
Lois Turner Putzier, 69, Tucson, Ariz.; six months in prison
Clare Marie Hanrahan, 53, Asheville, N.C.; six months in prison, $500 fine
William B. Houston Jr., 71, Yellow Springs, Ohio; six months in prison, $1,000 fine
Eric Jan Robison, 21, Spokane, Wash.; six months in prison, $500 fine
John Patrick Gilroy, 65, Endwell, N.Y.; six months in prison, $500 fine
Mary Alice Vaughan, 68, White Bear Lake, Minn.; six months in prison, $150 fine
Rachel Louise Hayward, 19, Negaunee, Mich.; six months in prison
Martha Schakel Hayward, 56, Negaunee, Mich.; three years probation, $3,000 fine
Mary Lou Benson, 56, Brainerd, Minn.; six months in prison
David L. Corcoran, 66, Des Plaines, Ill.; six months in prison, $1,000 fine
Miriam Katherine Spencer, 76, Bellevue, Wash.; six months in prison
Russell John DeYoung Jr., 54, Newport News, Va.; six months in prison, $1,000 fine
Gwendolyn L. Hennessey, 69, Dubuque, Iowa; six months in prison
Dorothy Marie Hennessey, 88, Dubuque, Iowa; six months in prison
Joel Robert Kilgour, 24, Duluth, Minn.; 30 days in prison
Elizabeth Anne McKenzie, 71, St. Paul, Minn.; six months in prison
Hazel Tulecke, 76, Yellow Springs, Ohio; three months in prison
Rita Hohenshell, 76, Des Moines, Iowa; three months in prison
John Alfred Hunt Jr., 33, Boone, N.C.; six months in prison, $500 fine
Rebecca Kanner, 43, Ann Arbor, Mich.; six months in prison, $500 fine
Stephen Jacobs, 46, Columbia, Mo.; 12 months in prison (consecutive six-month prison terms for two convictions)
Joshua Raisler-Cohn, 24, Portland, Ore.; six months in prison, $1,000 fine
Richard John Kinane, 51, Boulder, Colo.; six months in prison, $500 fine
Karl Henry Meyer, 63, Nashville, Tenn.; six months in prison
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