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SOA Watch Update & Action Alert from Columbus, Georgia
February 1, 2006
31 Sentenced to Prison, 1 to Probation as SOA Watch
Activists Take Struggle to the Courts
Another Co-Sponsor added to Congressional Bill to Close the SOA!
 View a photo slideshow of defendants!
Thirty-one of thirty-two defendants on trial this week for civil disobedience
actions to close the SOA were sentenced to prison last week. One person was sentenced to a year of probation, one person, a
grandmother of 23, was released on time served after spending 72 days in the local county jail. Many people also received
fines. (See below for full list of defendants and sentences).
Two people who took part in civil disobedience actions in November, Liam O'Reilly and Jonathan Robert, are scheduled for
court hearings tomorrow. One person, Charles Carney, was convicted last Friday but is still awaiting sentencing.
All 31 of those sentenced to prison opted to "self-report" instead of entering immediately into custody. Each returns home
and awaits a letter from the Bureau of Prisons that notifies them of a reporting date and to which prison they need to
report. Most will likely be required to report to prison within six to eight weeks. Check www.SOAW.org frequently for prison updates and addresses, and view a photo slideshow.
These draconian prison sentences come the week after a military jury in Colorado decided not to jail an Army interrogator,
even after they found him guilty of negligent homicide in the torture and killing of an Iraqi detainee.
"For eight years, I have been studying this issue and listening to the stories of those most affected by the School of the
Americas," said Delmar Schwaller, an 81-year-old World War II veteran, active community volunteer and one of those sentenced
to federal prison by Judge G. Mallon Faircloth. "My prison sentence doesn't change my feelings about my action. I know this
was the right thing to do."
Read more about these defendants and their sentences.
 Even in the face of these challenging sentences, the movement to close the SOA/ WHINSEC
continues to grow! This week another Member of Congress, Rep. Al Green of Texas, signed on as a co-sponsor to HR 1217,
the bill introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern to suspend operations at WHINSEC and to investigate the development and use of the
"torture manuals."
Thanks to the incredible grassroots pressure you have leveraged, the bill now has 124 bipartisan co-sponsors as we head
toward a vote as early as June! Keep the pressure on. Let your Member of Congress know you and other
constituents care about this issue! Find out more about the bill and contact your
Member of Congress.
Action Steps to Take Today to Close the SOA:
1. Call Congress today: 202-224-3121 or 1-888-355-3588
Check out the legislative action page on our website - to see if your
representative is already supporting HR 1217. If they're not, call the Capitol Hill Switchboard and ask to be connected to
your representative's office. Here is a suggested message for you to convey:
"I am a constituent from (city/zip code) calling Congressperson ________ to urge him/her to cosponsor HR 1217,
The Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2005. This bill would suspend operations at, and investigate, the School of
the Americas, which is now using the acronym WHINSEC. I urge the Congressman/woman to contact Rep. McGovern's office to
become a cosponsor of this bipartisan bill. This would be one very concrete step to support human rights and promote peace
and justice for the people of Latin America. As my elected official in Washington D.C., I hope you will represent me and
support HR 1217."
2. Support SOA Watch and those in and facing prison:
For SOA Watch to become a movement that has the power to make real change and to close the School of the Americas once and
for all, the organization needs your financial support. Please take a
moment now to make a donation. Thank you!
3. Come to Washington, DC in April for the Spring Lobby Days
Tell Congress to Close the SOA - in person! Join with many other SOA Watch activists and visit your Representatives and
Senators in Washington, DC on SOA Watch's Lobby Days, April 23-25, 2006. We need to build on the momentum of the Vigil with
increased pressure on members of Congress! Build crucial support for the upcoming vote to close the SOA.
Join SOA Watch in DC on April 23-25 for several days of legislative
trainings, rallies, lobbying, networking and more.
4. Support those in prison and learn more about the "prison-industrial complex."
Two SOA Watch activists, Chris Gaunt and Don Nelson, pled guilty at their arraignments in November and are currently serving
six- and three-month sentences in federal prison. Fr. Louis Vitale is serving his six months sentence in the Muscogee County
Jail, and Jonathan Robert remains in custody. Write to them to offer your support! Find addresses here.
Learn more about political prisoners and the prison industrial complex in the US: visit Critical Resistance, Prison Activist
Resource Center, and The Nuclear Resister.
5. Bring the vigil to your community.
This week those of us gathered here in Columbus to go on trial or offer support to those on trial had a small taste once
again of the power and spirit of the Vigil to Close the SOA. Let's all work to bring that power to our homes - to our
families, our temples, our churches, our union halls, our schools - to the doors of our Congressional
representatives!
Click here to find the tools you need to "Bring the Vigil Home" -
everything from organizing a vigil at home in your community to successful media actions and outreach to pursuing your Member
of Congress so that they can join our movement in this historic campaign to close the SOA/ WHINSEC and to build the world we
know is possible. Bring the vigil to your community.
Adjudicated Defendants, as of February 1
Sentenced to one month in prison
Anika Cunningham, 26, Bowling Green, Ohio ($500 fine)
Sentenced to two months in prison:
Joanne Cowan, 56, Boulder, Colorado (no fine)
Sam Foster, 70, Minneapolis, Minnesota ($500 fine)
Michael Gayman, 26, Davenport, Iowa ($500 fine)
Rita Hohenshell, 81, Des Moines, Iowa (no fine)
Dorothy Parker, 76, Chico, California (no fine)
Judith Ruland, 47, Springfield, Massachusetts ($500 fine)
Delmar Schwaller, 81, Appleton, Wisconsin (no fine)
Sentenced to three months in prison:
Buddy Bell, 23, Chicago, Illinois ($500 fine)
Fred Brancel, 79, Madison, Wisconsin ($500 fine)
Robert Call, 72, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey (no fine)
Stephen Clemens, 55, Minneapolis, Minnesota ($500 fine)
Scott Dempsky, 30, Denmark, Wisconsin ($500 fine)
Joe DeRaymond, 55, Freemansburg, Pennsylvania ($500 fine)
Sarah Harper, 36, Emeryville, California ($500 fine)
Robin Lloyd, 67, Burlington, Vermont ($500 fine)
Gail Phares, 66, Raleigh, North Carolina (no fine)
Donte Smith, 19, Washington, DC ($500 fine)
Cheryl Sommers, 68, Berkeley, California ($500 fine)
David Sylvester, 54, Oakland, California ($1,000 fine)
Frank Woolever, 72, Syracuse, New York (no fine)
Sentenced to six months in prison:
Ken Crowley, Washington, DC ($1,000 fine)
Jane Hosking, 37, Luck, Wisconsin ($1,000 fine)
John LaForge, 41, Luck, Wisconsin ($1,000 fine)
Sr. Mary Dennis Lentsch, 69, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (no fine)
Edward "Naed" Smith, 38, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (no fine)
Fr. Louis Vitale, 73, San Francisco, California (no fine)
Fr. Jerome Zawada, 68, Cedar Lake, Indiana (no fine)
Sentenced to time served (after 72 days in county jail):
Priscilla Treska, 66, Cleveland, Ohio (no fine)
Convicted last week, awaiting sentencing:
Charles Carney, 47, Kansas City, Kansas
Sentenced to 12 months probation:
Jamie Walters, 41, Columbia, Missouri ($1,000 fine)
Defendants Awaiting Trial
Jonathan Robert, Georgia
Liam O'Rielly, 22, Portland, Maine
Save the date! April 23-25 in Washington,
DC
Tell Congress to Close the SOA
Read more about the Spring
Lobby Days
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This work is in the public domain
