7 anti-war activists detained after vandalism on Kings Bay sub base

https://www.news4jax.com/ ^ | 4/5/18 | Elizabeth Campbell

[BBell]

Kings Bay Plowshares protested nuclear weapons on submarine base

ST. MARYS, Ga. - Seven members of a group called Kings Bay Plowshares were arrested Thursday after they slipped onto the Kings Bay Submarine Base and vandalized some signs, according to a base spokesman.

A news release on the Kings Bay Plowshares Facebook page said the seven Catholic activists got onto the St. Marys base Wednesday night, carrying hammers and "baby bottles of their own blood."

More Headlines 2 sailors die 4 days apart in same Kingsland home Retirement ceremony held for Coast Guard K-9 Navy sailor charged with sexual exploitation of children The base's gates are staffed with security at all times, so it’s uncertain how the protesters gained access to the base, but Kings Bay public affairs office spokesman Scott Bassett said no personnel or facilities were ever threatened.

It's possible the seven activists were there for hours before they were caught, and Bassett confirmed security measures at the base are being reviewed.

"I believe they walked on," Plowshares supporter Jessica Stewart said. "They went through a fence and walked on. Surprisingly, considering it’s a nuclear installation, I don’t think it was difficult for them to gain access."

The group, which is opposed to nuclear weapons and advocates active resistance to war, tried to "convert weapons of mass destruction," the release said.

"They were seeking through their actions to disarm those weapons symbolically and move us toward a world where we have economic justice, where racism has been dismantled and where we can live in peace," Stewart said. "I don’t think they feel they were breaking the law. I think they feel they were following international law, which calls on citizens to prevent unjust war and the proliferation of nuclear weapons and crimes against humanity."

King's Bay is the Navy's Atlantic Ocean Trident port with six ballistic missile subs and two guided missile subs.

The activists said they chose to enter the base on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The group's Facebook post said the men and women divided up and went to the administration building, the D5 Missile monument installation and the nuclear weapons storage bunkers with crime scene tape, hammers and banners reading:

"The ultimate logic of racism is genocide" -- Dr. Martin Luther King (Jr.)

"The ultimate logic of Trident is omnicide"

"Nuclear weapons: illegal -- immoral."

The activists, who are being held without bond in the Camden County Jail on charges of trespassing and defacing government property, are:

Clare Grady, 59, Ithaca, New York

Martha Hennessey, 62, Perkinsville, Vermont

Carmen Trotta, 55, New York City

Elizabeth McAlister, 78, Baltimore Patrick O’Neil, 61, Garner, North Carolina

Mark Corville, 55, New Haven, Connecticut

Stephen Kelly, 69, Los Gatos, California

The seven will appear Friday morning at a bond hearing.

[Wildbill22]

Beat them?

Hell they shouldn’t be alive!

SAC bases were much tighter than this disaster of security.

[rusty schucklefurd]

Thanks.

[BBell]

I foresee a change of command. They will probably try to pin it on some dumb PFC.

[Vendome]

“I don’t think they feel they were breaking the law. I think they feel they were following international law, which calls on citizens to prevent unjust war and the proliferation of nuclear weapons and crimes against humanity.”

Well now they can experience American Law...

[smokingfrog]

Nuttier than a Baby Ruth bar.

[eyedigress]

Lock them up.

[BBell]

Maybe we should use Chinese or Russian laws while dealing with them. Not sure which one would be better.

[DarthVader]

This is the days of Trump and Mattis. I see much more than a change of command. I see most of the civilian program management and engineering staff (contractors etc) get the boot too.

[Trillian]

Reliving their glory days.

[eyedigress]

We go there from time to time and it is just the same as any other top facility.

You will be searched and your vehicles will be searched.

Lock these morons up. 2 years in the local jail might cool their jets. Moonbats amaze me. Just leave already

[BBell]

The thought of their glory days and free love makes me shiver.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

If they're lucky, there will be geriatric cell block at the prison.
 

[Mears]

Geezers.

.

[Spruce]

Exactly what I knew they would look like

[eyedigress]

I forgot to add, you better have a reason to be there and it is imperative that a sponsor is on the installation.

[digger48]

Someone needs to be busted to latrine duty for the rest of their lives.

Permanent Latrine Orderly?

[Aliska]

Must be next gen of Catholic Workers who had similar mo only they supposedly collected their own blood and threw it onto government buildings on Rock Island Arsenal. That was in the early 1980's.

[Always A Marine]

Relax, people. There’s a big difference between getting onto a base and gaining access to one of its sensitive areas. Bases are like small cities, and they’re not all holy ground. On the other hand, sensitive areas within those bases are heavily guarded, and only a relative handful of those stationed on the “base” are permitted within those areas. “Breaking into” a city is not the same as robbing one of its banks.

[DarthVader]

It depends on where they got into. If it is where I think then heads are going to roll everywhere throughout SSP.