FEDERAL JUDGE DROPS CHARGES AGAINST SEVEN PEACE ACTIVISTS

By Brian Terrell

Acting yesterday on a motion by the United States Attorney, US Magistrate Judge Celeste F. Bremer ordered that charges against seven central Iowa peace activists be dropped.

"The Court finds that the ends of Justice are served by granting the dismissal of Violation Notices, and FINDS that such dismissals are in the best interest of the public," ruled Judge Bremer in the case titled UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. EDWARD BLOOMER, et al.

Ed Bloomer, Elton Davis, Christine Gaunt, Chet Guinn, Kathleen McQuillen, Brian Terrell and Dixie Webb, members of the Occupation Project, "a national campaign of sustained civil disobedience to end the war in Iraq", had been scheduled to appear in US District Court next Thursday, June 7, to enter pleas to charges following their nonviolent occupation of Senator Grassley's Des Moines office on February 26th.

The seven were part of a delegation that called on the senator not to vote for continued funding for the war in Iraq. Disregarding the rights of citizens guaranteed by the US Constitution to "peacefully assemble, and to petition government for a redress of grievances" and the fact that the space occupied is a lobby of a publically funded building and took place during open office hours, the seven were arrested by officers of the US Homeland Security and Des Moines City Police Departments while quietly reading names of American and Iraqi victims of the war. Each of the "occupiers" had been charged with one of several federal violations, ranging from disorderly conduct to obstructing entrances to improper parking, all of which were dismissed by yesterday's ruling.


The protestors were also charged under Iowa's criminal trespass statute and some are scheduled to be tried for that crime by a Polk County jury on July 9. Eleven others who were arrested in Senator Grassley's office in Cedar Rapids in a simultaneous February 26 occupation were convicted of trespass Linn County and will be sentenced there on July 6.

Since the Occupation Project began on February 5, more than 300 activists have been arrested in offices of members of congress in communities around the nation demanding that their representatives pledge to vote against funding the war and occupation in Iraq. The project will continue and further occupations are being planned in Iowa in response to Senator Tom Harkin's and Senator Charles Grassley's affirmative votes last month on the supplemental spending bill.