April 16, 2009

.....Peaceniks Target Killer Drones..... Sacred Peace Walk Results in 37 Arrests


Mercury, NV, April 13th
This morning at 7:45 am Nye County Sheriffs made two arrests (one man and one woman) in another ritual prayer-action of civil resistance against militarism and nuclearism at the Mercury exit of US Highway 95. 

Yesterday the same location—on the edge of the Nevada Test Site—at 11:15 am nine men and twelve women were arrested for crossing the white line while 30 others blocked the road watching the line-crossers. Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) organized the Easter Mass which was celebrated prior to seeing 21 people cross the line, each of whom was given a citation for $632.

This was the 27th year NDE has hosted prayers for peace at the Test Site, and the first time NDE has supported a prayer-action which included arrests at Creech Air Force Base (CAFB). Fourteen arrests were made at CAFB. Several of the prayer-activists were arrested in both locations. The CAFB arrests were made on Holy Thursday (April 9th), the third day of the Sacred Peace Walk, after a week of daily vigils on site in opposition to drone warfare. 

A Western Shoshone prayer-circle greeted the interfaith Walkers near Mercury before the arrests. Nye County hopes to extract $13,272 from those arrested. Jim Haber of NDE said, “Creech is the local ACUTE site of the war-making industry, and the Test Site is the local CHRONIC version. We need to stop both kinds of violence.” NDE organizes interfaith resistance to nuclear weapons each year (since 1982), with retreats, workshops and the week-long annual “Sacred Peace Walk” each Spring (since 1995).

The 21 adults who were arrested on Easter Sunday were:
Brenda Chung
“Jane Doe”
Fr. John Dear
Susan Dillon
Dennis DuVall
Juan Manuel Gutierrez
Charlie Hilfenhaus
Mary Ellen Holland
Judy Homanich
George Homanich
Kathy Kelly
Mariah Klusmire
Joan Monastero
Andrea Murillo
Laurie Pollack
Megan Rice
“Peter Maurin”
Eve Tataz
Mervin Tilden
Fr. Louis Vitale (co-founder of NDE),
Fr. Jerry Zawada

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