Three Ithacans Arrested at the White House

Lisa Guido, Peter DeMott and Grace Ritter of Ithaca and 13 others were arrested on December 28, 1:30 pm at the White House in Washington DC for participating in a nonviolent, peaceful die-in to protest the ongoing war against Iraq and the invasion of Iraq, now well underway. Some of the participants poured their own blood on themselves during the protest.

DeMott and Ritter were charged with participating in a stationary demonstration in a restricted area and released with an order to appear in DC court on April 16; Guido is still being held. All three were part of the group who were arrested at the Ithaca Army Recruitment Center on December 21st for participating in a similar die-in there.

DeMott and Ritter were interviewed by Pacifica Peacewatch this morning about the anti-war effort in Ithaca; the show will be aired sometime this week. Contact WEOS Geneva for the times of broadcast.

As a Marine Corps veteran of the war in Viet Nam, I know firsthand that war is organized mass murder. Violence begets more violence. We need to solve international disputes peacefully and through negotiation.

We need to solve international disputes peacefully and through negotiation.

I guess my memory is getting faulty. Exactly when did Osama bin Laden attempt to negotiate with us before his terrorists slammed airplanes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon? What negotiations did Hussein engage in before he invaded Kuwait?

All three were part of the group who were arrested at the Ithaca Army Recruitment Center on December 21st for participating in a similar die-in there.

That story can be found here. Hopefully, the DC justice system will be a little less forgiving than one expects from an Ithaca jury.

Ithaca is the City of Evil.

On December 13, 1980 Peter DeMott, former seminarian and Vietnam veteran from Jonah House, entered the General Dynamics Electric Boat (EB) shipyard in Groton, Connecticut during the launch ceremony for the "USS Baltimore" fast attack submarine. Noticing an empty EB security van with keys in it, he got into the van and repeatedly rammed the Trident "USS Florida" denting the rudder. Security guards then broke into the van and arrested him. He was tried by a jury in New London Superior Court and convicted of criminal mischief and criminal trespass. He was sentenced to one year in jail.

http://www.plowsharesactions.org/webpages/plow2.htm

Where's that 3 strikes rule when you really need it?

PETER DE MOTT AND FELTON DAVIS IN PRISON ... IS IT THEY - OR IS IT THE PENTAGON - THAT IS ABOVE & BEYOND THE LAW?

from Jonah House, Oct 24 2000
Today Peter Demott of Ithaca, NY and Felton Davis of New York City were sentenced in the Federal court in Alexandria, Va. for their participation in an Hiroshima commemoration vigil at the Pentagon in August of 1999. The two were charged with refusing to obey a police officer who ordered them to leave the steps of the Pentagon. They were not blocking or impeding traffic in any way. They were simply holding banners and praying.

Peter and Felton both received 60 day sentences; Felton received an additional 30 days for probation violation - consecutive to the 60 days otherwise imposed. The prosecution asked that they be given time in prison because it's clear that they feel that they are somehow above the law and that the limits that others accept don't apply to them.

Felton had no prepared text for sentencing and was able to respond to the condemning spirit that the prosecution expressed. He pointed out that both he and Peter were there for sentencing; they were ready to take the conseqences for their actions; they always have. Further, he said, it is the Pentagon that feels above the the law; it is the Pentagon that accepts no limits. This is manifest by their actions around the world.

It's unclear, as of now, as to where Felton and Peter will be serving there time. We will give further information later.

Peter De Mott had a prepared statement for the court. His statement follows:
I have been duly tried and found guilty of refusing an order to leave the Pentagon. I freely and openly admit to having so refused and furthermore to having done so now consistently in numerous non-violent protests for more than twenty years.

Why? As a husband and as a father of three beautiful, loving daughters I cannot help but persevere in my protest at an institution which generates fear, hatred and violence, which threatens to destroy with its vast arsenal of nuclear and other weapons not only my family but the entire human family , to say nothing of the very planet on which we all live.

As a veteran of the Vietnam war I cannot help but cry out belatedly, in an act of atonement, against the martial mentality which justifies warmaking as a means of resolving human conflict and differences. I know from first hand experience that death and destructiion perpetuate a cycle of violence that results in yet more death and destruction.

As an aspiring Christian I refuse to stop protesting at the Pentagon because Jesus tells us to love one another, to love our enemies, not to kill, that the greatest in his kin-dom will be the least of all and the servant of all. I cannot tacitly approve by my silence and inactivity the Pentagon's policy of developing ever more deadly and ever more numerous weapons such as depleted uranium, even as its diversion of resources claims lives every day both here and around the world.

The federal government finds it necessary to punish me in hopes of discouraging me and others of like mind and heart from further acts of protest. As a husband and father, as a Vietnam veteran and a would be Christian I cannot and will not stop until the Pentagon transforms itself into an institution promoting unity and love, justice and peace.

VETERANS FOR PEACE
Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. Wage Peace!

VFP is a 501(c)3 organ-
ization. All contributions
are tax deductible.

Veterans for Peace
Wilson "Woody" Powell
National Administrator
World Community Center
438 North Skinker
St. Louis MO 63130
(314) 725-6005 A new publication by the SOAW (School of the Americas Watch) is just off the presses.

"From Warriors To Resisters" is the often painful, always illuminating stories of eleven veterans (Laura Slattery, Jeff Moebus, Bill McNulty, Jack Gilroy, Peter Demott, Wayne Wittman, Ellen Barfield, Charles Litkey, Roy Bourgeois, and Bill and Lillian Corrigan) who awoke to the reality of US foreign policy, changed their thinking and their lives and became dedicated and effective resisters of war and its terrors.

You will read your own story in theirs, gain further validation for your actions on behalf of Peace and Justice. This is a must read for all Veterans For Peace members and a wonderful tool for influencing prospective members.

Smedley Butler, a two-time Medal of Honor winner, Marine Corps General and self-confessed "thug for the United Fruit Company", is quoted in the center section: He warned us all when he said, in a 1933 speech, that, "War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses."
The book is selling for $6.00 and is obtainable from SOAW, Washington, DC (202) 234-3440.

This book is available from the National VFP office. They can be ordered from the VFP Products Page and will have them at the convention.

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