Anti-war arrests occurred during the last week of December, as the bombing and starvation of Iraq became the theme of annual gatherings for religious resisters observing the Feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28.  As a result, three Catholic Workers remain in jail.

In Washington, 75 people from the Atlantic Life Community’s annual Faith and Resistance retreat arrived at the Pentagon early on December 28.  A river of blood mixed with food dye was poured across the River Entrance.  A human blockade then closed the entrance, and nearby, banners commemorating the massacres at Wounded Knee, El Mozote, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Baghdad were unfurled.  A leaflet was read:

“Today is the feast day in the Christian calendar when we commemorate the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.  It is a day to remember and mourn, not only this tragic slaughter 2000 years ago, but the ongoing slaughter of the innocents around the world today...”

Hillel Arnold, Bill Frankel-Streit, Anne Herman, Scott Kenji Warren, and Kim Williams were arrested for willful destruction of government property (pouring blood and oil) and Scott Mathern-Jacobson was picked out of the line for a charge of blockading.

The retreat continued the next day with a noon demonstration at the White House.  Outside, the “rubble of Iraq” was deposited on the front sidewalk, blood and dye stained the area, and a symbolic die-in took place.  Fifteen people were arrested for holding a “stationary demonstration” in the restricted zone, and three were additionally charged with vandalism.  All were released pending court dates.

While the die-in was happening outside, sixteen children and young adults, accompanied by other adults, took the White House tour wearing shirts they made with photos of Iraqi children and their mothers.  They painted on their shirts messages like “don’t kill my sister.”  The kids chanted and sang on the tour, were told to stop, but kept at it anyway in conversation tone voices.  Guards then separated them from the other tourists, many of whom waited for the young demonstrators outside to take their photos.
Most of those arrested during the retreat were convicted and sentenced to unsupervised probation, with one notable exception.

By the time of Bill Frankel-Streit’s sentencing on April 27, more egregious assaults on the innocent held the media spotlight.  Decrying the bombings of Yugoslavia and the continued sanctions and bombings against Iraq, Frankel-Streit told Federal Judge Theresa Buchanan:

“Our addiction to violence is destroying us. Every-one looks in horror at the shootings in Colorado, yet what example does our country give to our own children?

“My wife heard a story on National Public Radio about a teacher who went into the cafeteria during the bombing and saved some children by putting himself between them and the kids who were doing the shooting.  The teacher was killed.  He is now being eulogized as a hero.  Yet whom does the Pentagon resemble - The unarmed teacher or the children shooting wildly in all directions?

“Why can’t we be like that teacher?  Why can’t we stand unarmed between the victims and aggressors in Yugoslavia?  Sure, it’s dangerous.  We might be killed.  We might be jailed for our nonviolence.  But violence will only begat more violence...

“I wish this bombing would stop, Judge.  I don’t like to do this.  To tell you the truth, I’d rather be home shoveling manure in the garden than standing before you now.  I don’t like going to prison - that can be a violent place, too.  I don’t like to be separated from my family. But as long as the bombs continue to fall, you will continue to see me here...”

Judge Buchanan responded that because Frankel-Streit couldn’t be deterred, he’d just have to be prevented for awhile.  She sentenced him to five months in prison, denied his request for self-surrender, and he was taken to the Alexandria City Jail.
His co-defendants had all earlier received a sentence of unsupervised probation.

Frankel-Streit has asked to be transferred to the federal prison at Petersburg, Virginia, closer to home.  For now, letters of support can be sent to Bill Frankel-Streit, c/o Little Flower Catholic Worker Farm, 2780 Hadensville-Fife Road, Goochland, VA 23063. Contributions to the fledging rural community’s purse for his family’s travel to and from the prison will be appreciated, as would letters of support for children Isaac and Anna, especially from kids whose parents have done time.

-Jail found three California women more quickly following their protests, and two are still behind bars.

During a Holy Innocents liturgy organized by Los Angeles Catholic Workers at the downtown federal building, Eric DeBode, Jeff Dietrich, and Kurt Grove poured blood and a large bucket of oil on the sign and down the steps.  The three were arrested and released a few hours later, pending a court date.

Two days later, after news of another bombing of Iraq, two more members of the extended Los Angeles Catholic Worker community, Sandi Huckaby and Martha Scarborough, decided also to respond with a blood and oil action.  Both women were taken into custody and held on outstanding warrants.  Huckaby was jailed overnight on a warrant from a 1994 arrest at the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, where she and others called for Mordechai Vanunu’s freedom.

Scarborough began a much longer sojourn in the company of concrete and steel when an outstanding warrant from Nevada led quickly to her extradition from California.  On August 10, 1997, she and Joyce Parkhurst had cut down over 400 yards of perimeter fence at the Nevada Nuclear Weapons Test Site.  They served eight days in jail for trespass immediately after their arrest, and were under order to return a month later for sentencing on destruction of property charges.  They had not.  In solidarity, Parkhurst, now part of a Catholic Worker community in Oakland, California, surrendered to Nevada authorities and joined Scarborough in Nye County jail.

Three dozen supporters filled the Tonopah, Nevada, courtroom when the women were sentenced January 19.  The probation department recommended a one year sentence, but the judge, while unsympathetic with the defendants’ Catholic Worker theology, ordered nine months in jail for each woman.

Letters of support should be individually addressed and sent to Martha Scarborough, inmate, & Joyce Parkhurst, inmate, c/o Nye County Sheriff, Detention Center, P.O. Box 831, Tonopah, NV  89049.