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Suggested Responses to Stephanie Salter's article:
(1) Write letters to the editor. (letters@sfchronicle.com)
(2) Send the article to Representatives who have not yet signed on to HR 1810. Representative Thompson, Lantos, Stark, Honda, Tauscher, Matsui, or Ose U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
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FEDERAL JUDGE MAKES WORLD SAFER,
SENDS ELDERLY NUNS TO JAIL
By Stephanie Salter
Thursday, June 14, 2001
©2001 San Francisco Chronicle, Page A - 29
URL: A href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/14/ED119000.DTL"> www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/....

IT MIGHT be fine and dandy with some of you that the government of the United States has thrown the book at an 88-year-old nun and her 68-year-old kid sister, who is also a nun. Then again, maybe you don't even know about this. Last month, in Columbus, Ga., U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth apparently decided to make the world safe from religious women of conscience who peacefully trespass on federal property -- specifically, the military training facility at Fort Benning formerly known as the School of the Americas:

He sentenced Franciscan nun Dorothy Hennessey, 88, and her younger sister, Gwen, 68, who is also a Franciscan nun, to six months each in federal prison -- the maximum possible penalty.

Since 1990, when Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois and a handful of other protesters showed up at the gates of the school (recently renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), it has been targeted by tens of thousands of demonstrators. Every October, adults, students and little kids gather at the entrance to Fort Benning to decry the school's deadly role in Latin American politics and to demand its closure.

Some of the protesters -- more each year -- "cross the line" and trespass onto the grounds. Usually, they carry coffins and name placards that represent the people who've died at the hands of SOA graduates.

The Hennessey sisters were among several thousand who crossed the line last October and got arrested. So were two other nuns from different orders -- Elizabeth Anne McKenzie from the Sisters of St. Joseph and Miriam Spencer from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Faircloth slapped them with the maximum six months in prison, too. McKenzie is 71, Spencer, 75.

Proving that he is an interdenominational kind of guy, Faircloth also sent a Quaker couple from Ohio -- Bill Houston, 72, and Hazel Tulecke, 77 -- to federal prison. Like the nuns, Houston got the max, but Tulecke received a break: only three months.

Altogether, 26 peaceful trespassers were sentenced by the judge. Most (21) got the max, but two got off with a few years probation. One man from Mississippi, Steve Jacobs, received two 6-month sentences.

Merciful magistrate that he is, Faircloth told Gwen Hennessey that she didn't have to report to the federal pen at Pekin, Ill. -- the nearest prison to her order's Dubuque, Iowa, motherhouse -- until after she celebrates the 50th anniversary of taking her vows.

He also offered the older Dorothy the option of serving her sentence under "motherhouse arrest" in Dubuque. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Sister Dorothy told the judge, "No thanks" because she is not an invalid and wanted to be treated the same as her 25 co-defendants.

Two of 15 Hennessey siblings, Dorothy and Gwen told the Reporter that their peaceful civil disobedience was a kind of activist memorial to their late brother, Franciscan friar Ron Hennessey. He served for 34 years as a missionary in Latin America and was friends with Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Romero's 1980 assassination was master-minded by graduates of the School of the Americas.

Like their fellow convicts, the Hennessey sisters said they weren't looking forward to jail, but they planned to make the best of it.

Said Dorothy: "If there's time left after we get out we might want to go into prison ministry."

Just knowing that those two women will be off the street for six months should really make us all sleep better at night, don't you think?

National

Readers: This posting is from one of my "lost" periods when I was unable to keep up with the material coming in. I was tempted to archive it, but, old as it is, I thought it would be a good look back at the changing of the guard in January.

Judy wrote:

"This writer has been following SOA/WHISC for several years. This is going out now to a small group of SOAWW activists. In solidarity, Judy"

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Thursday, January 18, 2001
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
New school, same foes
By Richard Hyatt, Staff Writer
--

In an aging building where Fort Benning history was made, a somber Washington bureaucrat talked about the future and how Wednesday's opening of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation signals the turning of a page. Across Upatoi Creek, near the stone gate that welcomes visitors to the 84-year-old installation, a Catholic priest with a cross clutched in his hand knelt at a line that separates civilian and military as seven people -- four of them connected by chains and pipes -- were arrested for carrying their message onto Fort Benning soil.

The ceremony at Ridgway Hall never mentioned the School of the Americas. U.S. Army Col. Glenn Weidner, its last commander, was on the front row but was never asked to stand. Its artifacts are on their way to a military museum, replaced by a new patch and a new unit flag.

The protest on Fort Benning Road was the same as it has been for 11 years, chronicling atrocities committed by SOA alumni. One woman, a small broom in her hand, carried a sign proclaiming "You Can't Whisc Away the Past." Shortly after noon, a uniformed soldier read a statement reminding demonstrators of the law against political protests on Army posts. His job done, he walked away, telling them to "Have a nice day."

Wednesday was set aside for the military ribbon-cutting for WHISC and an opportunity for the Army to add another acronym to its vocabulary. Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon was the speaker, a reminder that the institute is now under the umbrella of the Department of Defense. De Leon painted a picture of change in Latin America - the region from which WHISC will draw its student body. Talking about democratic values and principles, de Leon said ultimately "it depends on our people ... and so we will look to the Western Hemisphere Institute to produce these men and women of quality and so to play an important part in supporting our regional partnerships and mutual security."

Col. Richard Downie arrived only Tuesday. He will be the first commandant of the institute and said it will be a forum for education and doctrine. "(It) offers us the freedom to look in new ways at the threats to this region," he said.

Speaking to detractors of SOA, de Leon said the new facility is not the same institution they protest. "A region has turned a page, and we are reflecting that change," he said.

Rep. Mac Collins, R-Hampton, was a strong supporter of SOA. Several democracies have sprung up in the region and Collins said "it is up to the hemisphere to keep them in place" - including institutions such as WHISC. De Leon said the school will have an open-door policy and would welcome examination. Maj. Gen. John LeMoyne said that will include the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, the founder of SOA Watch, who Wednesday was once again protesting at the gate.

LeMoyne, Fort Benning's commanding general, said he will work on a date in February when he will formally invite Bourgeois and others to visit the institute. Bourgeois is on the list of people banned from the post after past convictions for trespassing, but last year LeMoyne allowed SOA Watch leader Charlie Liteky to come to Ridgway Hall for a briefing and tour.

Seven more protesters were arrested Wednesday, including three women carrying a baby's coffin who said they wanted to join the ceremony for the opening of WHISC. All were charged with trespassing, and four men who locked their arms together with chains and metal pipes were also charged with resisting arrest. Rebecca Johnson, 21, and Laurel Paget-Seekins, 20, both seniors at Oberlin College in Ohio, were previously banned from the post and could face up to six months in federal prison and a $5,000 fine. Johnson's mother, Deborah Meem, also was detained by military officials.

Noting the attention her daughter had received for her 17-day fast and her arrest, Meem said, "I feel like the mother of the bride."

See WHISC, Page A3

[This next part gives the captions on photos printed in the paper.]

WHISC x School will have open-door policy

From A1

ROBIN TRIMARCHI Ledger-Enquirer
Rebecca Johnson of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, listens Wednesday as the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, who leads the School of the Americas Watch protest group, speaks to the media at the entrance to Fort Benning.

SHERRI LAROSE Ledger-Enquirer
Commandant Col. Richard Downie holds the school's flag after it was unveiled Wednesday at the activation ceremony at Benning.

SHERRI LAROSE Ledger-Enquirer
Fort Benning military police drag away four protesters including Jole McGreevy, 20, of Carlisle, Pa., left, and Rebecca Johnson, 21, of Cincinnati after they entered the post and blocked the entrance to protest Wednesday's opening of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, which replaced the School of the Americas.

SHERRI LAROSE Ledger-Enquirer
A protester holds several crosses Wednesday as she waits to cross onto Fort Benning to protest the opening of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.


Thursday, January 18, 2001
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer

New commandant: We have our work cut out for us
By Richard Hyatt, Staff Writer
--

His son was celebrating his 16th birthday Wednesday and Richard Downie had his own reason to celebrate.

Downie took over as commandant of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation - a job the U.S. Army colonel knows will be challenging. "You can tell we have our work cut out for us," Downie said.

He assumes command from Col. Glenn Weidner who announced his retirement from the military last November. Downie comes to WHISC from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City where he has been the U.S. Army attache for Mexico. Downie participated Wednesday in the opening ceremony for the new school, which replaces the beleaguered School of the Americas. On their way to the event, Secretary of the Army Lewis Caldera told the West Point graduate he must be the happiest man in the U.S. Army.

"And I am," Downie said, returning to the post where he was stationed as a young lieutenant. "As an infantryman, Fort Benning is home."

Downie earned a master's degree and a doctorate in International Relations at the University of Southern California. He has qualified as a foreign area officer for Latin America serving numerous tours in Colombia, Panama and Mexico. While in Colombia, he was the distinguished graduate of LANCERO, a prestigious international Ranger program.

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