August 11, 2009
By Gil Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio
SPARTA, Wis. (WPR) Nine anti-war protesters face trespassing charges following a demonstration at the U.S. Army base at Fort McCoy over the weekend.
The protest was part of an annual three-day peace walk held to commemorate the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago.
Bonnie Urfer of Luck, Wisconsin has been arrested dozens of times during similar walks. She says all those who were arrested for trespassing on base did so because they oppose war in all forms. She says the soldiers deploying from the base are part of a failed policy that uses violence to try to end the violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Urfer says peace never comes through violence and terrorism is not an option for creating peace.
There were 50 people on the peace walk. Of the nine arrested, Urfer was one of four from Wisconsin. Other protesters came from Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and New York. They all face jail and trespassing fines
The U.S. prosecutor in Madison says the trial will be scheduled sometime over the next two months. U.S. attorney John Vaudreuil, says a glitch in communications between his office and military police at the base led to four of the protesters spending a night in the Dane County jail. He says the Justice Department’s routine procedures for these annual protests are to ticket trespassers and release them for trial at a later date.
