-Silo Pruning Hooks  
(1984 revisited)  
Fr. Carl Kabat appeared July 12 for sentencing in federal court in Denver, accompanied by about 60 supporters. He had already been in prison since May, when he was convicted of trespass for climbing the fence at nuclear missile silo N-7 in northeast Colorado on August 6, 2000.

The prosecutor asked for the maximum one year sentence, claiming that Kabat - a self-professed "fool for Christ" - had made a mockery of the law by wearing a clown's costume and makeup when he climbed the fence and left bread, wine, and a hammer symbolizing disarmament atop the silo. Defense Attorney Walter Gerash and Fr. Kabat also addressed the court. Gerash passionately praised the long-time resister and his worthy cause. Kabat chided the judge for not "stretching himself" and responding to the moral issues in the case.

Judge Boyd Boland noted that additional jail time would serve no purpose for society nor make a better person of Kabat. He sentenced Kabat to time served, 83 days, and ordered the priest released from custody.

Kabat's freedom came as a surprise, because the Colorado conviction also violated parole restrictions currently in place for his 1984 Silo Pruning Hooks direct disarmament action. In clothes borrowed for the unexpected occasion, Kabat joined supporters outside, enjoyed a cigarette, then moved on.

The parole revocation hearing was set for August 6 before an East St. Louis federal magistrate, but Kabat was nowhere to be found to receive the summons. Federal agents were on his trail, however, and they arrested the priest August 14 as he attended the funeral of an Oblate brother's mother at the Shrine of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Belleville, Illinois. He was brought before Magistrate Murphy the following day and sentenced to one year and one day for parole violation.

For more information, contact Citizens for Peace in Space, POB 915, Colorado Springs, CO 80901.

Kabat's co-defendant from the Silo Pruning Hooks direct disarmament action, Helen Woodson, expects to face a similar parole revocation hearing early next year. In December, Woodson will complete her sentence for 1993 direct actions exposing the idolatry of money and challenging the government bureaucrats and corporate officers responsible for industrial pollution, committed shortly after her involuntary parole on the Silo Pruning Hooks sentence.

Letters of support can be sent to Carl Kabat, #03230-045, FCI Greenville, P.O. Box 5000, Greenville, IL 62246, and Helen Woodson, #03231-045, FMC Carswell, Max Unit, POB 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127.