Five more prison sentences were handed to long-time opponents of the School of the Americas in late July by Federal Judge Robert Elliott. Elliot had already sentenced four of the five - Fr. Bill Bichsel SJ, Sr. Marge Eilerman OSF, Ed Kinane, and Mary Trotochaud - as part of a group of 25 people given maximum six-month prison sentences for re-entry trespass at Fort Benning on November 16, 1997. Kathleen Rumpf joined the four in making uninterrupted statements to the court before being sentenced on two charges: felony destruction and attempted destruction of government property "with malicious intent." In their September 29, 1997 protest, the five pried metal letters off of Ft. Benning's main entrance sign, and used paint to stencil in their place: "Home of School of Americas/School of Shame" and "SOA=torture".

After entering the courtroom in overalls, Rumpf pulled on a T-shirt. The back displayed an American flag shrouding a pile of bodies, with the words "Judge Frees Calley," a reference to Judge Elliot's reversal of the conviction of the U.S. Army lieutenant accused of the massacre at My Lai, Vietnam. In large words with her own picture, the front of Rumpf's T-shirt proclaimed, "Pardon Me, Too."

The tone of remarks made by each of the five struck a major chord of confessing guilt: not the guilt of the shamed vandal, but, as Bill Bichsel explained: "I'm guilty of blood...guilty of living safely here while the massacre of over 200,000 Mayan people was taking place in Guatemala under the direction of an illustrious SOA graduate... guilty of failing to live out Isaiah's vision of peace, by not trying to beat automatic weapons and helicopters into plowshares."

Kinane admitted that "for most of my 53 years I have had far more than my share of the fruits of the labor of others. And that of course is exactly what the School of the Americas is all about: it's about systematically terrorizing Latin Americans so that North Americans can enjoy the fruits of their cheap labor."

In her statement, Rumpf reminded Elliot that "SOA graduates are notorious for abusing their own people."

Mary Trotochaud noted the "irony of going to prison when SOA graduates implicated in the hemisphere's most atrocious human rights violations remain free."

Sister Marge Eilerman added, "Our time in prison will be worth it if it hastens the closure of the SOA. Given the scale of terrorism perpetrated by SOA-trained militaries now operating in Chiapas, Mexico and Colombia, the stakes are high... I accept this prison time as some small restitution for the crime in which each of us present are all accomplices."

Elliott issued the following prison sentences: Fr. William Bichsel, 12 months; Sr. Marge Eilerman, 8 months; Ed Kinane, 10 months; Kathleen Rumpf, 12 months; and Mary Trotochaud, 8 months; plus two years probation and varying fines and restitution for each.

The four under previous sentence were ordered to serve the new terms consecutive to their completion of the first six months. Their request to self-surrender to a designated prison when notified was granted. Kathleen Rumpf asked for "the privilege of starting my sentence as the poor do," and was immediately taken into custody.

The four will turn themselves in on dates between September 21 and October 5.

Richard Streb, sentenced last December after pleading no contest to the November re-entry trespass, is also set to begin his six-month term on September 21. Two who joined Streb in the December plea - Carol Richardson and Anne Herman - completed their six month sentences in late July and have been released from federal prison.

Twenty other SOA foes will conclude their six-month prison sentences on September 18.

Arrests in Richmond

On July 27, about 60 people joined a mid-day protest of the SOA at the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia, followed by a die-in and the arrest of twelve people. All were taken to a holding cell inside the courthouse and an hour later appeared before a federal magistrate. After consulting with the prosecutor, former Jesuit priest Thomas Cleary pled no contest to illegally blocking the entrance and was fined $5. Cleary told the magistrate that the courthouse was an appropriate place to protest because the Department of Justice is prosecuting the wrong people in Georgia, and not the criminals at the Department of Defense responsible for training Latin American soldiers to kill civilians. The defendants were then all released, and the prosecutor requested dismissal of the remaining charges.

Back in Georgia, Kathleen Rumpf remains at a county jail near Columbus, awaiting imminent transfer to a federal prison. Patrick Liteky, who in June began serving a one year prison sentence for blood-pouring SOA protests at the Pentagon, was recently flown into Columbus from a federal prison camp in Oregon. Shuffling in ankle chains up to Judge Elliott's bench, coincidentally on Hiroshima Day, Liteky pleaded "not guilty by reason of moral necessity" to a felony criminal damage charge from his solo Ash Wednesday action: throwing red paint on the walls at the SOA. Elliott entered a not guilty plea, and set Liteky's trial for early September.

For more information, contact the School of the America's Watch, 1719 Irving St. NW, Washington, DC 20010, (202)234-3440.

Letters of support can be sent to the SOA prisoners at the addresses in Inside & Out. If mail is returned, please forward it to SOA Watch in Washington (above), for eventual forwarding to the prisoner.