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
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
What: Chris Gaunt to enter guilty plea for Wellmark9 Action
Date: Wed., Oct 28
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Place: Polk Co Court House, 500 Mulberry St. DM IA
Chris Gaunt long time Iowa peace activists (see below May 2008 DM Reg
story) and one of the nine people arrested last July 27 in the lobby
of the Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield demanding financial
transparency http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org/healthcarearrests1.html
is scheduled to change her plea from innocents to guilty Wed., Oct 28
at the Polk Co Court House. Chris wants to be free to travel to the
annual School of Americas Watch Demo - Nov. 20-22 http://soaw.org/
and can't join the remaining seven defendants for their jury trial
starting Wed., Nov. 18 in DM.
In her e-mail sent informing friends about her court plans, Chris
wrote, "I look forward to doing more actions with you for Health Care
for ALL until we get 'r done. It IS a matter of life or death for so
many."
Chris is not alone in her call for more direct actions against Health
Insurance Co's. Chris' Oct 28th court appearance takes place on the
same day that the national Mobilization for Health Care for All
http://mobilizeforhealthcare.org/ is calling for a second wave of
civil disobedience actions against Health Insurance Co's. The first
wave of civil disobedience actions against saw 55 people arrested on
Oct 15th http://groups.google.com/group/iowa-peace-list/browse_frm/thread/810d...
Chris's anticipated pre sentencing statement for Oct 28 court appearance:
"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.
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.
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 charged with the
misdemeanor of criminal trespass.
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.
So yes, I threw one of the tiny stones at the big giant Wellmark."
Christine Gaunt
ga...@grinnell.edu
278 350th Ave.,
Grinnell IA 50112
641- 236 3355
The other seven adult Wellmark defendants are schedule to start a jury
trial on Wed Nov 18th at the Polk Co Court House in DM.
-------------------------------------
May 27, 2008 Des Moines Register
Iowa farmer sows seeds of protest
By REID FORGRAVE
Grinnell, Ia. — Drive up the gravel road to Chris Gaunt's farmstead
and you'll be met with the sights and sounds of a typical Iowa hog
farm. You'll hear 1,200 hogs oinking in an adjacent building.
You'll see a sign outside her door: "Three Little Pigs Welcome You to
the Gaunt Farm." You'll see a door mat that reads "Pig Crossing" and
dozens of pink stuffed pigs throughout her house.
But soon you'll learn that Gaunt is anything but a typical Iowa farm wife.
A hint lies in a folded-up piece of paper in her hand.
"HABEAS CORPUS PETITION," it reads. "This habeas corpus petition is
filed on behalf of a prisoner who is being held illegally and unjustly
in military custody at Guantanamo Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by
the government of the United States."
It's the reason why today, in a Washington, D.C., courtroom, this
51-year-old grandmother and part-time employee at the Grinnell College
library will stand trial for the way she protests her government.
It was in January, on the sixth anniversary of the opening of the
Guantanamo Bay holding facility for terrorist suspects, when Gaunt and
74 activists from around the country went to the U.S. Supreme Court to
protest the government's treatment of detainees. Gaunt and dozens more
were arrested. She was charged with two misdemeanors.
If she goes to jail, that's OK. This jail time can't be as hard as her
six-month stint in federal prison after she crossed the line set by
police at a protest against the School of the Americas, the Fort
Benning, Ga., Army base that trains military officers for Latin
American countries.
Gaunt says it's essential to protest government activities like the
Cuban detention camp where hundreds of prisoners have been held
without charges, or the school in Georgia whose graduates have
allegedly returned to their home countries and committed atrocities.
Ask her why she feels called to protest. Gaunt's eyes well up, her voice rises.
"My country's on the wrong track," she said. "Why torture? When we're
living in our country, the greatest democracy ever created, and our
government has to resort to torture to get information from people?"
She pauses. Her voice gets louder.
"Can you stand it? I CAN'T EITHER!"
She pauses again, wipes a tear, and apologizes.
"It's getting to me."
How this Iowa farm girl became so passionate about American politics
is a story of spiritual growth and political awareness.
She grew up north of Grinnell in Gilman, one of eight children of a
tenant farmer, and attended church regularly. She came of age in the
politically volatile era of the Vietnam War but, Gaunt said,
"politically, I was asleep."
She became a third-generation farmer when she married Jay Gaunt in
1980. They had three children. Encouraged by her pastor, she started
pursuing political interests related to peace and justice. She got
involved with gay rights. She protested the School of the Americas.
She took a homeless man into their home, then became a subject of a
series of articles in The Des Moines Register about that man, Bob
Fitzlaff.
When terrorists struck the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, Gaunt was
offended by her government's response, which she calls "revenge
through military."
"When I follow the footsteps of Jesus, I stand up for the people who
are picked on and marginalized," she said.
Gaunt's family doesn't claim to understand her calling to protest and
her willingness to become a "prisoner of conscience." But, often
tacitly, they support her. Even while she's pent up in jail.
"She probably enjoys it more than I do," Jay Gaunt said of his wife's
jail time. "It's hard for me, just up and leaving here for six months.
At first you're mad. Then you feel she's doing what she thinks she has
to do."
For Gaunt, she said it's really that she can't not protest these things.
"It's part of who I am, I guess," Gaunt said. " 'Passionate,' some
people say. 'Stupid,' other people say."
-------------------------------
Attached Photo DM Reg by line: Peace activist Chris Gaunt keeps a
peace banner wrapped around the tree in the front yard of her rural
Grinnell home. Gaunt was arrested at the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 1,
2008 while protesting the denial of habeas corpus rights to terror
suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay. She will appear in municipal
court today in Washington, D.C., on misdemeanor charges.
