Des Moines Catholic Workers Ed Bloomer and Fr. Frank Cordaro were sentenced on March 6 at separate federal court hearings in Omaha. Last August 9, the two men crossed the line at Offutt Air Force Base, a Nagasaki Day witness for peace at the nerve center of nuclear war planning, the U.S. Strategic Command (StratCom). Both had previously been barred from the base after similar line-crossings, and both pleaded no contest to the charge of re-entry trespass.

Bloomer, facing his first charge of re-entry at Offutt, was first up to the bar. Federal Magistrate Thomas Thalken sentenced him to 30 days behind bars, plus a $200 fine and one year probation. Bloomer is still waiting for word about where and when he is to serve his sentence.

Fr. Cordaro, who has witnessed for peace regularly at StratCom for the last quarter of a century, appeared before Federal Magistrate Kathleen Jaudzemis in the afternoon. It was his sixth time before a federal bench on the same charge. And for the sixth time, he received the maximum six month sentence. Cordaro and his physician assured the court that he was sufficiently recovered from a major heart attack last September to survive the prison sentence. He was taken into custody immediately.

En route to federal prison, Cordaro wrote:

"At the moment, I'm holed up at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha. Life is filled with ironies. When I was an associate pastor at St. Patrick's in Council Bluffs, I tried getting into this jail to do jail ministry. The sheriff refused to let me minister because I was an unrepentant law-breaker. He was right, and now they can't keep me out."

For more information, contact the Des Moines Catholic Worker, POB 4551, Des Moines, IA, 50306, 515-243-0765 no-nukes.org/dmcw; frankcordaro@earthlink.net (ask to receive Fr. Frank's weekly reflections via e-mail, if interested).

Letters of support should be sent to Fr. Frank Cordaro #13093-047, Correctional Corporation of America, Inc., 100 Highway Terrace, Leavenworth, KS 66048.