Fwd: Activists to put nukes on trial Dec. 7 -- news release BANNISTER FEDERAL WEAPONS COMPLEX WORKERS

[mauri...@aol.com]

I Will be testifying at this trial, Dec. 7,2018. On Dec. 7, at 12:30 pm, the line-crossers will share reflections in the courthouse foyer before the trial, which begins at 1:30 pm in Court C of the Municipal Court at Locust and 11th Street, KC MO.

Those on trail have been protesting the actions of the Bannister Federal Weapons Complex for decades, many of their issues have directly related to the HEALTH AND WELFARE OF THE WORKERS.

Now we have the opportunity to speak for ourselves in court for the record. Please join me and express your appreciation for the protestors, AND ALSO express your hurt concerning the injustices you feel happening to you in the EEOICPA's Claims process.

I need to know if you will be participating, ASAP.

Maurice Copeland, (816)844-0304

Subject: Activists to put nukes on trial Dec. 7 -- news release

PeaceWorks, Kansas City

4509 Walnut, Kansas City MO 64111

816-561-1181, PeaceW...@gmail.com

www.PeaceWorksKC.org; facebook PeaceWorksKC

 

For immediate release Nov. 30, 2018

Contact: Henry Stoever, 913-206-4088, henrys...@sbcglobal.net

 

Activists to put nukes on trial Dec. 7 in KC MO Municipal Court

 

Five protesters who crossed the property line at the new nuclear weapons parts plant in Kansas City, Mo., come to trial Friday, Dec. 7. The five were arrested and quickly released on Memorial Day, May 28, 2018, during PeaceWorks-KC's annual remembrance of the more than 150 deaths from contaminants at the old plant in KC for making parts for nuclear weapons. The protesters are Henry Stoever, the chair of the PeaceWorks Board of Directors; Tom Fox, CEO and president of National Catholic Reporter, based in KC; Jordan Sunny Hamrick of the Christian community Jerusalem Farm in KC; Lu Mountenay, a Community of Christ minister in Independence, Mo.; and Brian Terrell, a Catholic Worker in Maloy, Iowa, and co-coordinator of the national peace organization Voices for Creative Non-Violence. 

 

On Dec. 6, from 7:30 to 9 pm, PeaceWorks will hold a Celebration of Hope, with talks by the protesters, at St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church, 3800 Troost, KC MO. On Dec. 7, at 12:30 pm, the line-crossers will share reflections in the courthouse foyer before the trial, which begins at 1:30 pm in Court C of the Municipal Court at Locust and 11th Street, KC MO.

 

Both the Celebration of Hope and the trial may note the high cost of nuclear weapons, with the Department of Energy requesting a budget of $804 million for the KC operations for fiscal year 2019. DOE’s overall budget request for FY 2019 for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which operates the KC plant and other nuclear weapon sites, is $32 billion.

Line-crosser Henry Stoever reflected recently on renewed calls from President Donald Trump for a build-up of nuclear weapons. “We are all more impoverished because of the arms race,” said Stoever. “What we need is a race of love, a race of brotherhood and sisterhood, a race to save our planet from further degradation, a race for simple living and corrective action.”

During the Dec. 6-7 events, the resisters will say why their action was lawful and the build-up of nuclear weapons is unlawful. Before crossing the property line May 28, Hamrick said his brother and sister-in-law would soon have a son, Jackson. “I want Jackson to come into a world that tries to love its enemies,” he said, indicating he was risking arrest for the sake of peace.

In a report May 29, Fox said he decided two years ago to take his protest to a new level: “I wanted to take this step because I want my grandchildren to remember anti-war activism. It is my hope this act of civil disobedience might stand out in their memories.” He spoke with each of his and Kim Hoa Fox’s seven grandchildren in advance, telling them he wanted a world free of nuclear weapons and he would cross the line May 28 on their behalf. “They expressed their worries,” he said, “seeing me somehow in jail as a law-breaker. I had to explain it was unlikely I would end up in jail. I hoped to allay their fears but nudge my arrest into their collective memories.” He imagined them saying, “My grandpa got arrested because he was against nuclear weapons.” Fox reflected, “If that memory lingers on, the action is well worth the effort.”

Mountenay also has her mind on her grandchildren. “We have a threatening arsenal being upgraded and enlarged in our neighborhood, one-step-over-the-line-away,” she said of what she plans to tell the judge Dec. 7. “I won’t be around in the next 50 years to protect my grandchildren when the poison leaks from the land, but hopefully they will know that I stood on one side of the line and then crossed over for justice. It is all I can do.”

On Oct. 24, Terrell reflected on an observation of Phil Berrigan, an anti-nuke activist and Catholic Worker. Terrell e-mailed: “Phil Berrigan once said, ‘We shudder under the blows of a society permanently mobilized against peace. Duplicity, propaganda, media indifference, institutional betrayal mark our plight. Our people are confused and hopeless. Let us not give up. Let us continue to nourish each other by consistent and prayerful presence at military installations, in courts and lock-ups.’ Since I often leave Iowa to travel to the ends of the earth to join such communities of resistance, answering the call to join good friends in Kansas City at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s ‘campus’ on Memorial Day was an easy decision! The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ doomsday clock is now set to two minutes to midnight, and it is critical to speak and act now. I will go to trial on Dec. 7 because on Memorial Day we did not break the law. I will argue that, once again, the police arrested the wrong people.”

For more info, see Come to ‘nukes on trial’ Dec. 7 and Celebration of Hope Dec. 6 and also see, for pictures and videos, Five persons arrested Memorial Day during PeaceWorks’ annual rally.