Photo by Regis Tremblay
from The Times Record
BATH — Bath police arrested 25 protesters who they say were blocking roadways outside Bath Iron Works Saturday morning during the christening ceremony for the USS Lyndon B. Johnson.
The protesters were arrested around 9 a.m. They face charges of obstructing a public way, a Class E crime punishable by up to six months incarceration and a $1,000 fine. The protesters were primarily members of Maine Veterans for Peace, Code Pink and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, according to police.
Members of more than a dozen peace groups were planning to protest the christening of the Navy’s third and final Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer at Bath Iron Works on Saturday. The ceremony began at 10 a.m.
Protesters issued a news release last week that said the Navy and BIW should focus their efforts on the national and global threats posed by climate change and not on building vessels that exacerbate climate change. They say the Pentagon has the largest carbon footprint on the planet.
“Making warships at BIW is not even a good jobs policy. Researchers have consistently found that investment of the same resources in sustainable energy solutions like commuter trains or wind turbines would produce many more jobs,” Mary Beth Sullivan, spokeswoman for PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, said in a statement.
Those arrested ranged in age from 52 to 88. Four live outside of Maine.
Photo by Regis Tremblay
According to Bath police, more than 75 protesters lined the sidewalks on both sides of Washington Street. The protesters went into the street around 9 a.m. and blocked traffic. Vehicles had to be turned around, and a bus was surrounded and couldn’t maneuver around the demonstrators.
Eight protesters at the rear of the bus were ordered to get out of the roadway or face arrest, according to a press release issued by Bath police.
“They refused and were taken into custody,” Bath Deputy Police Chief Robert Savary said in the release. “Officers were able to help the bus back up and proceed down King Street and on its way.”
According to Savary, 17 protesters blocking King Street near Washington Street were arrested at approximately 9:30 a.m., after refusing officers’ orders to move.
Savary said some of the protesters laid on the pavement in defiance of officers’ warnings to get out of the road. Otherwise, “all cooperated with the arrest and subsequent booking process.”
Troopers from the Maine State Police assisted with the arrests and deputies from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department helped transport those arrested to Bath Police Department.
This is not the first time Bath police have arrested protesters. Nine people who were arrested while protesting the christening of the USS Thomas Hudner at Bath Iron Works on April 1, 2017 were acquitted of the charges 10 months later.
Those nine were charged with trespassing. Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings granted a motion for judgment of acquittal, citing improper application of the law by Bath police and a lack of ordinances in the city.
Three of those arrested in 2017 were also charged in 2016 at a similar protest during the christening of the future USS Michael Monsoor.
The following were arrested by Bath PD Saturday:
Natalyn Mayers, 72, of Whitefield
Virginia Schneider, 60, of South Portland
Lisa Savage, 62, of Solon
James Freeman, 70, of Verona Island
Mark Roman 77, of Solon
Constance Jenkins, 71, of East Blue Hill
Meredith Bruskin, 71, of Swanville
Suzanne Hedrick, 88, of Nobleboro
Roy Pingel, 71, of Queens, NY
Dixie Searway, 81, from Parsonsfield
Sophia Ridgely Fuller, 72, of Belfast
Donald Cunning, 72, of Old Bridge, NJ
Dudley Hendrick, 77, of Deer Isle
Daniel Ellis, 71 of Brunswick
Julius Orkin, 80, of Bergenfield, NJ
Carolyn Coe, 52, of Orland
Mary Honan, 71, of Freeport
Ethan Hughes, 48, of Belfast
Russell Wray, 64 of Hancock
Judith Robbins, 70, of Sedgwick
Ellen Barfield, 62 of Baltimore, MD
Robert Shetterly, 72, of Brooksville
Jason Rawn, 45, of Lincolnville
Michael Donnelly, 82, of Brunswick
Mary Garvey-Donnelly, 80, of Brunswick
All were booked, bailed and are scheduled to appear in West Bath District Court on June 18.
xxx
from Common Dreams We Must Be Out in the Streets
Three years ago, I was arrested along with 11 others for blocking Washington Street in an act of civil resistance against the “christening” of the USS Michael Mansour, the second Zumwalt destroyer built at Bath Iron Works. Today the same shameful ceremony will be repeated.
My reasons for taking part in the demonstration in 2016 and risking arrest are the same now as they were then:
- I’m a Christian peace activist, a member of Pax Christi Maine, and have taken a vow of nonviolence.
- I’m a mother, grandmother and great grandmother who would take every nonviolent measure to keep those I love from being sacrificed to the horrors of War.
- I’m a retired nurse practitioner who took an oath to protect life and do no harm.
- And I’m an American citizen who grieves for her country, for I believe we have truly lost our way.
I was as sickened in 2016 as I am now by the deception and evil carried out in the name of “democracy” and “freedom” and “security”.
What’s different for me this time around is a deepened focus on “connecting the dots” of permanent warfare, systemic violence and catastrophic climate change as symptoms of a disease, natural consequences of the unrestrained greed that’s part and parcel of our economic system.
You may have seen an “Earth Day” message from Public Citizen that says it all about where things stand in Washington these days. But in case you didn’t, here’s the scorecard:
- A coal lobbyist runs the Environmental Protection Agency
- An oil lobbyist runs the Department of the Interior
- A Monsanto executive runs US Fish & Wildlife
- A BP oil attorney is the nation’s top environmental lawyer
- A fossil fuel lobbyist is the EPA’s air pollution chief
- A big energy insider regulates our power grid
If that isn’t awful enough, the climate crisis is also being directly fueled by U.S. foreign policy. Even the Pentagon says that climate change poses “immediate risks” to national security, that it’s a “threat multiplier.” But the Pentagon serves the War Profiteers. And General Dynamics, owner of Bath Iron Works, is right at the top of the heap in raking in profits from our War Economy.
It helps that they have “friends” in Congress. If you take a look at the website of the Center for Responsive Politics, you’ll see that PACs and individuals associated with General Dynamics contributed close to $2 million to federal candidates last year. It was pretty disappointing to see Angus King’s name at the top of the list, receiving $62,000. But Angus wasn’t the only one to benefit: Chellie Pingree got $11,000, Susan Collins, $9000, and Jared Golden $615. This might help explain why I haven’t received a response to the letter I sent each of them on April 8th. I’d like to share the last 2 paragraphs of that letter with you:
I’m writing to ask you not to honor the naming of another weapon of mass destruction with your presence. How ironic and yet appropriate that the USS LBJ bears the name of the president responsible for so much death and devastation in Viet Nam. Unfortunately, we seem to have learned nothing since that time. For we are now living with the consequences of George W. Bush’s global “War on Terror,” another debacle based on lies, poor judgment, and hubris.
I find it impossible to believe you truly think the wreckage caused by the notion of “American Exceptionalism” can ever be justified. Please reconsider your attendance at this shameful event. I appreciate your attention to my concerns.
It seems we are long past the point where it’s enough just to write letters to our representatives, send emails, and visit congressional offices for scheduled appointments. Those things are important to do, but we don’t have time for business as usual because climate change is the existential threat to most life on the planet, including humanity.
I believe we need to follow the lead of the climate youth activists and movements who’ve put world leaders to shame:
- If we are mothers or fathers who want to save our children, we must be out in the streets.
- If we are grandparents who want our grandchildren to have a future, we must be out in the streets.
- If we are people of faith who believe we are called to be peacemakers and stewards of the gift of Creation, we must be out in the streets
- If we are environmentalists who cherish and have vowed to protect Mother Earth, we must be out in the streets
- And if we are activists working to end systemic violence in any of its forms, we must be out in the streets.
I’d like to end with part of a prayer from one of my guides on the path to peace and nonviolence, Fr. John Dear. This is from his book Radical Prayers on Peace, Love, & Nonviolence:
Dear God,
Give us a new will,
a new spirit,
a new heart,
a new grassroots movement to protect creation,
that we might respect and protect creation
and create a new culture of nonviolence for Mother Earth.
We love you for the gift of your creation
For the beauty of Mother Earth.
Thank you for such a gift.
Do not let us destroy it.
Do not let the nations of the world burn it down.,
wage permanent war,
and kill millions of sisters and brothers
along the way.
Give us the wisdom and way forward,
that we might become who you created us to be—
your loving stewards of your beautiful paradise.
Amen
xxx
from the Bangor Daily News
Climate change inspired 25 protesters who were arrested at Bath Iron Works
Twenty-five protesters, including an 87-year-old Nobleboro woman, were arrested Saturday morning outside Bath Iron Works after allegedly blocking traffic during a christening ceremony for the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson.
The protesters, placed in plastic handcuffs and arrested by Bath police, Sagadahoc County sheriff’s deputies and Maine state troopers, were charged with the Class E misdemeanor of obstructing a public way.
Fifty to 75 members of Maine Veterans for Peace, Durham Quaker Meeting, Midcoast Peace and Justice Group, Pax Christi Maine, Peace Action Maine and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space lined the sidewalks on Washington Street early Saturday morning before stepping into the roadway and blocking traffic for approximately an hour.
The group said their act of civil resistance was to protest the destroyer’s christening and demand that Bath Iron Works convert its mission to working to halt climate change.
At approximately 9 a.m., the group walked into Washington Street and blocked traffic, according to Bath police Deputy Chief Robert Savary.
Protesters allegedly stood at the front and back of a bus carrying people to the christening ceremony, preventing it from moving. Eight protesters at the rear of the bus were arrested after refusing to move, Savary said.
Police then blocked that section of Washington Street with police vehicles, as a large group of protesters remained on Washington Street.
At about 9:30 a.m., another group of protesters allegedly blocked King Street — some lying in the street — and were arrested after refusing to leave the road, Savary said.
A group of protesters remained on Washington Street until police ordered them to leave. All roads were opened to traffic at approximately 10 a.m.
Suzanne Hedrick, 87, of Nobleboro said in a statement that she spoke with U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, in Augusta last week during a Youth Day of Action on Climate Crisis.
“I told Chellie that many in the peace community were upset with her inability to address the massive defense budget,” Hedrick wrote in an email.
“The United States has become the world’s military monster,” Hedrick wrote Monday in an email. “Saturday’s ‘christening’ of a weapon of war is a sacrilege. It is a sin to worship a warship … there are many reasons I chose to be arrested. My conscience could not live otherwise.”
“Endorsing the Conversion Campaign addresses these truths and provides a rational ‘lens’ through which to ‘see’ an apocalyptic reality,” Dudley Hendrick, 77, of Deer Isle, a past president of Maine Veterans for Peace, said in a statement. “The absolute imperative of ‘conversion’ is all the more undeniable to us in Maine, having the longest coastline in the nation.”
Hendrick, who has previously protested at BIW, wrote Monday that as a veteran of the Vietnam War, “the christening of the LBJ was particularly disturbing in as much as such sanctification further enables the perpetuation of our endless wars. The lies of the Johnson administration justified the escalation of that tragic war.”
“It is the welfare of our very planet that has us so alarmed,” Hendrick wrote in an email.
In addition to Hendrick and Hedrick, police arrested Ellen Barfield, 62, of Baltimore, Maryland; Meredith Bruskin, 71, of Swanville; Carolyn Coe, 71, of Freeport; Donald Cunning, 72, of New Jersey; Michael Donnelly, 82, of Brunswick; Daniel Ellis, 71, of Brunswick; James Freeman, 70, of Verona Island; Sophia Ridgely Fuller, 72, of Belfast; Mary Garvey-Donnelly, 80, of Brunswick; Ethan Hughes, 48, of Belfast; Constance Jenkins, 71, of East Blue Hill; Natasha Mayers, 72, of Whitefield; Julius Orkin, 80, of New Jersey; Roy Pingel, 71, of Queens, New York; Jason Rawn, 45, of Lincolnville; Judith Robbins, 70, of Sedgwick; Mark Roman, 77, of Solon; Lisa Savage, 62, of Solon; Virginia Schneider, 60, of South Portland; Dixie Searway, 81, of Parsonsfield; Robert Shetterly, 72, of Brooksville; and Russell Wray, 64, of Hancock.
All were booked and bailed from the Bath Police Department. They are scheduled to appear at West Bath District Court on June 18.
“It is the welfare of our very planet that has us so alarmed,” Hendrick wrote in an email.
In addition to Hendrick and Hedrick, police arrested Ellen Barfield, 62, of Baltimore, Maryland; Meredith Bruskin, 71, of Swanville; Carolyn Coe, 71, of Freeport; Donald Cunning, 72, of New Jersey; Michael Donnelly, 82, of Brunswick; Daniel Ellis, 71, of Brunswick; James Freeman, 70, of Verona Island; Sophia Ridgely Fuller, 72, of Belfast; Mary Garvey-Donnelly, 80, of Brunswick; Ethan Hughes, 48, of Belfast; Constance Jenkins, 71, of East Blue Hill; Natasha Mayers, 72, of Whitefield; Julius Orkin, 80, of New Jersey; Roy Pingel, 71, of Queens, New York; Jason Rawn, 45, of Lincolnville; Judith Robbins, 70, of Sedgwick; Mark Roman, 77, of Solon; Lisa Savage, 62, of Solon; Virginia Schneider, 60, of South Portland; Dixie Searway, 81, of Parsonsfield; Robert Shetterly, 72, of Brooksville; and Russell Wray, 64, of Hancock.
All were booked and bailed from the Bath Police Department. They are scheduled to appear at West Bath District Court on June 18.
But Bruce Gagnon, one of the 10, said the following month that the group would continue to protest future events.
In April 2017, nine anti-war activists — including Mayers, Rawn, Roman and Wray — were arrested outside BIW during the christening of the future USS Thomas Hudner and charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass — charges subsequently dismissed by Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings.
The maximum sentence for a Class E misdemeanor is six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.