NEWS RELEASE: Wed. Oct 28 - Chris Gaunt plead guilty in Polk Co Court for July trespass at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield - fined $150 plus court cost and fees
Frank Cordaro
NEWS RELEASE
For more info contact:
Mona Shaw Mona...@aol.com
Phil Berrigan CW House
713 Indiana Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50314
(515) 282-4781
http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org/healthcare.html
Long time peace activist Chris Gaunt plead guilty in Polk Co Court
yesterday for a July trespass charge at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue
Shield http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org/healthcarearrests1.html
(The other seven adult Wellmark defendants are schedule to start a
jury trial on Wed., Nov. 18th at the Polk Co Court House in DesMoines)
Chris went before Judge Carol Coppola. She was represented by student
attorneys Theresa Hassler & Sh'Myra Moore from the Drake Legal Clinic,
supervised by Law Professor Sally Frank. After making her statement
she was fined $150 plus court cost and fees. (Total close to $400)
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Chris explains in her own words what happen yesterday in court in the
below editorial "Demanding Health Care for ALL"
On Wednesday October 28 I stood in front of a judge in a courtroom in
Polk County to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal
trespass.
Much to the judge’s credit, in the midst of a very busy day in traffic
court, she did give me the opportunity to tell what I did and why I
did it.
Here is my statement to the court:
This is a David and Goliath story, you know, the story of the little
guy with a small stone that knocks out a giant. On July 27, I, Chris
Gaunt, threw a pebble at the giant corporation Wellmark. I threw
that pebble, symbolically, because I am angry that my government will
spend so much on wars and occupations and so little on human needs,
like health care.
Some of us here in Iowa are committed to proclaiming that Insurance
Profits Make Us Sick.
On June 19 we delivered a letter to the CEO of Wellmark here in Des
Moines, John Forsyth, and asked him to willingly give us information
about his for profit company. Transparency and accountability was
what we were seeking.
The only response we got when we showed up in person on July 27 was
that Mr. Forsyth was unavailable. So we decided to wait for him to
show up at his office. That’s when we were immediately charged with
criminal trespass. Before we even sat down to wait.
I believe that Health Care is a human right, and that we should ALL
get what we need, from birth to death, much like we all “get” K-12
education today.
For this to happen, Health Insurance companies as they exist will have
to be abolished. They exist to make a profit. Medicare for ALL would
exist to help provide care for all of us.
The judge gave me another chance to speak before she sentenced me:
I have a history, so far, of paying all my fines and court costs when
I have been punished by judges for doing the right thing in a
nonviolent manner.
I will not accept probation, nor can I accept community service as
punishment for doing the right thing.
I am prepared and I am unafraid to spend the next few days of my life
in jail as punishment for speaking up for Health Care for EVERYONE.
Today, October 28, people in cities and towns all across the U.S. are
doing the same thing we did on July 27 – demanding Health Care for
ALL. http://groups.google.com/group/iowa-peace-list/browse_frm/thread/c415f3512ff4ca2c?hl=en
It saddens me that our elected Congresswomen and men fail to hear the
cries of the American people. Shamefully, their ears and minds are
still more attuned to the call of MONEY than to the cry of human
suffering.
At that point she cut me off. Even though the prosecutor had
recommended the minimum $65 fine plus court costs (another $250), she
gave me a $150 fine, partly because I have a fairly long record of
misdemeanor charges.
I wanted to make one final point in my statement:
I stand here completely accountable for and very proud of the
nonviolent actions I took on July 27.
My hope is that someday the people at the top levels of our government
(both this administration and the previous one) and the CEOs of large
health insurance companies will stand before a judge and be held
accountable for the crimes they have committed.
Thank you for printing as much of my statement(s) as space will allow.
By publishing my message the $400 personal price tag has a lot less
sting.
Please join me, in your own way, in the struggle for Single Payer
Health Insurance. That means Everybody IN, Nobody OUT. Until we get
there as a nation, people continue to suffer and die for lack of
affordable health care.
Chris Gaunt / 278 350th Ave / Grinnell, IA 50112-8204 / H
641-236-3355 / Cell 641-990-6108 / [ga...@grinnell.edu]
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PREVIOUS NEWS RELEASE: Long time Iowa peace activist Chris Gaunt to
plea guilty Wed Oct 28 in Polk Co Court for trespass at Wellmark Blue
Cross Blue Shield
http://groups.google.com/group/iowa-peace-list/browse_frm/thread/17460ef564bb1974