"Let us not become the evil that we deplore" ; Two Arrested at Volk Field Protesting Drone Terrorism

Last weekend, May 17th, protestors infiltrated Volk Field in Highland, WI. Volk Field is well known as a training site for drone pilots, working to instill them with skills likely to later be applied to the infliction of death and terror on innocent people in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere in the world. The demonstrators managed to gain entry to the base during an open house and were arrested for seeking to spread awareness of the consequences of drone warfare to other visitors.

"DRONE WARFARE STARTS HERE". Spreading awareness
 of the drone pilot training happening at Volk.

 From Bonnie Block of Madison, who along with Father Jim Murphy was one of those arrested:

"We boarded the bus for Volk Field. (no ID checks there or at the gate house). National Guardsmen drove the bus and narrated the tour all over the base...We drove by the TUAS facility where the drones are apparently housed but there was no word about what they did there other than "they can use remotely controlled cameras to triangulate where ordnance has landed" or words to that effect.  Not a word about their being used in drone warfare."

"The final stop was at the National Guard Museum where we could get off the bus.  Jim and I were in the front seat so we got off first and I opened my jacket so the t-shirt was visible and we offered our handout to people getting off the bus...One of the Guardsmen quickly said we couldn't do that on the base and that we had to stop handing out "propaganda."  They hadn't read the handout so I gave two of them to one of the men and said it was just a series of questions they should read." 

 

"Let us NOT become the
 evil that we deplore."

"One of them then called base security--five arrived within minutes (the guys in the dark blue uniforms) so we had nine people in uniforms surrounding us.  They said we couldn't leaflet and had to leave.  Jim said we wanted to see the museum and would continue to leaflet so they called the Sheriff.  Two squad cars arrived within minutes and we were handcuffed and taken to Mauston in separate vehicles..."

"We were processed fairly promptly at the Jail and released on a signature bond.  The charges are criminal misdeamenors-- trespassing and disorderly conduct again and we have the initial hearing on June 18 at 9 am. "

"Special thanks to Mary Beth, Kathy, and Cassandra for support and for picking us up from the Jail and getting Jim's car from Volk Field to Mauston.  We then went to the park along the river behind the Mauston library and had lunch and some of Kathy's delicious birthday cake."

Standing strongly together against
 drone terrorism in Wisconsin.

There is a long, proud history of Wisconsinites standing up to the criminal activities at Volk. Many came out last April, and many, including Bonnie Block, have engaged in civil disobedience there before, as reported by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

The Spring Days of Drone Action continue nationwide.
 CLICK HERE for more information!

Madison: Talk by Brian Terrell on Drone Warfare

Sunday, November 11, 2012 8:00pm
The Fountain
122 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin

Brian Terrell is a Wisconsin native who lives in Iowa who is a peace activist of many years. He is scheduled to report to a federal prison on November 30 to begin a six month sentence as a result of his nonviolent protests against assassinations and murder conducted by remotely controlled drones from bases in the United States. He has traveled to Afghanistan and met with victims of drone attacks. He is aco-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and a Catholic Worker.


This is on of a series of events where Brian Terrell will talk about the need to end U.S. drone killings. See also:

Chicago, IL: Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community An Evening With Rosalie Riegle and Brian Terrell
Columbia, MO: Terrell at Wm. Woods, Mizzou: Ground the Drones!

Putting the Drones on Trial in Wisconsin

Dear Friends,

What a day in Mauston! Yesterday the seven of us (Don Timmerman, Roberta Thurstin, and Joyce Ellwanger of Milwaukee, Libby Pappalardo of Crystal Lake, IL, and Mary Beth Schlagheck, Bonnie Block, and myself from the Madison area) arrested at Camp Williams/Volk Field last April were in Mauston for a plea hearing. We were joined by a good number of cohorts in support.

We were arrested by the Juneau County Sheriff just inside the gates of the base on April 24 after peacefully walking onto the base to hand deliver a letter to base commander, Col. Gary Ebben. We have been vigiling at the base monthly since December 2011, and sending letters to Col. Ebben stating our urgent concern about the training they are doing in operating Shadow drones. Our letters have been ignored and so on April 24 we decided to try to hand deliver a letter. We were arrested, handcuffed, and transported to Mauston, the county seat of Juneau County. There we were processed and charged with criminal disorderly conduct and released.

Yesterday we had a plea hearing scheduled, and so we decided to take the day in Mauston to publicize what is happening a few miles down the road at Camp Williams/Volk Field.

Joyce, Mary Beth, Bonnie, and I had the privilege of talking to a group of students at the high school in the morning. We shared our stories about why we engage in acts of civil resistance, and specifically why we are concerned about the training for drone warfare occurring at the base. Though there were a lot of kids who had connections to people who worked at the base, they listened attentively to what we had to say.

We went directly from the high school to the courthouse annex for our plea hearing. There we met up with our co-defendants, along with activists who came to support us, including many from the Madison Raging Grannies.

When the first one of us was called before Judge Roemer, the Juneau County District Attorney, Clifford Burdon, told the judge that he wanted to reduce the charge from criminal disorderly conduct to an ordinance violation that we had resisted or obstructed a police officer. This was an interesting twist because six weeks earlier we each had a phone conference with Mr. Burdon offering to reduce the charge to an ordinance violation if we agreed to plead guilty and pay a fine. We all refused at the time because we wanted to plead not guilty and go to trial.

After a few minutes to confer with each other, the seven of decided that we would accept this lesser charge, plead not guilty, and file for a jury trial, paying $36 divided between the seven of us.

We went back into the courtroom and told Judge Roemer what we wanted to do. He had each of us come up individually and dismissed the charge of disorderly conduct and told us we would be reissued a citation for the ordinance violation. We would then have to return to court for a plea hearing for that charge.

There are more steps and more appearances in the process in Juneau County than I have ever experienced in any other court. When I appeared before the judge I asked him if we could do the plea hearing over the phone because of travel considerations. After conferring with a courtroom officer Judge Roemer said we could enter a not guilty plea via fax.

Now we will wait to get our citations with the ordinance violation mailed to us, and honestly I would not be surprised if they just dropped the whole thing at this point.

After court we vigiled and handed out leaflets near the courthouse and the Raging Grannies sang several songs. Lars brought the model drone which always attracts a lot of attention. However, there is almost no foot traffic in downtown Mauston so we moved to a strip mall with a large grocery store and a K-Mart. There we were able to hand out more leaflets.

In the evening we had a panel and discussion at the public library. Fifteen people attended. Mary Beth, Bonnie, and I each gave a presentation and then there was a very good discussion. Most of the people there were from the Juneau County peace group and supportive.

So, it was a very good and a very long day in Mauston and I got back home in Madison at 11:00 pm. We were able to raise the issue to a lot of people of what is happening right down the road and it felt like a productive day.

Peace,

Joy