DEATH AND TAXES
Arrests in Massachusetts and Wisconsin.

About 80 people gathered at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offices in Andover, Massachusetts on April 15, the traditional Tax Day, to celebrate an end to "Death and Taxes" with a rally and march from the IRS to Raytheon's corporate headquarters down the road. The festive march arrived to find Raytheon's corporate logo nearly concealed under a protective plastic covering on the main sign in anticipation of another blood-pouring protest.

Approaching the sign from the crowd, organizer Sean Donohue spoke of his reasons for protest. "The earth is tired of our blood....you can hear her crying out as she drinks in the blood of her innocent children in Iraq and Yugoslavia...dying slowly from dirty drinking water because Tomahawks destroyed the water treatment plants that served their towns..."

Donohue took a sample of his own blood drawn earlier and returned it to the earth as he knelt before the sign. Meanwhile, Alyosha Witness covered himself in his own blood, then collapsed in a die-in just over the property line. David Diamond poured red paint on the driveway just in front of the property line, and then crossed the line. These three, joined by Tom Jackson, Hattie Nestle, and Dade Singapuri, were arrested on charges of trespass and defacing private property. All refused to post $25 bail and were jailed until arraignment on Tuesday, April 18.

Early the morning of the 18th, five men knelt in prayer, blocking the Raytheon entrance again. Joseph Brien, Tom Lewis, David Maciewski, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy and Marc Tumeinski were arraigned with the earlier group of six a short time later.

All eleven arrested at Raytheon were released following arraignment. Trial for the six April 15 defendants will take place in Lawrence District Court on October 17. The five men arrested April 18 face trial on October 30.

For more information, contact Raytheon Peacemakers, c/o breadandroses_wrl@yahoo.com or call (978)688-3569.

Twenty-one people rallied outside the I.R.S. building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 17. They held placards denouncing military spending; the U.S. killing of people, mostly children, in Iraq; the School of the Americas; and the continued manufacture and testing of nuclear weapons.

After the rally, Ryan O'Rourke, Michael Rebholz, Lincoln Rice and Don Timmerman entered the building with their anti-war signs, and stood singing anti-war songs at the I.R.S. door. They refused to leave and were eventually arrested, cited for disorderly conduct, and released after several hours, pending news of a trial date.

For more information, contact Milwaukee War Tax Resistance, P.O. Box 05206, Milwaukee, WI 53205.