AUGUST 8, 2006

3 peace activists, held in jail, arraigned today for August 7, 2006 and May 15, 2006 demonstrations at the Trident submarine base at Bangor.

Contact: Mary Gleysteen at the courthouse (360) 265-1589
         Jackie Hudson at the courthouse (360) 286-9036
         Karol Milner or Glen Milner (206) 365-7865

The arraignment is at 1:30 PM, August 8, 2006, in the Port Orchard courthouse, Room 201.

Three demonstrators were held after an early-morning demonstration on August 7, 2006 at the Trident nuclear submarine base at Bangor. The three demonstrators are scheduled for a 1:30 PM arraignment on Tuesday, August 8 even though three opportunities for arraignment were passed up by Kitsap County prosecutors, at 9 AM and 1:30 PM on Monday, and 9 AM on Tuesday. Demonstrators have refused to pay a $5,000 bail requested by Kitsap County prosecutors for each demonstrator held.

In a strange turn of events, the three demonstrators were informed today that they will be arraigned and charged for two demonstrations at the same time, for May 15, 2006 and August 7, 2006. The demonstrations were both at the Trident submarine base, in commemoration of Mother’s Day and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Three other demonstrators, arrested with the three currently held, were booked and released within hours on August 7, 2006. These three demonstrators from August 7, and three different demonstrators from May 15, 2006 have not been charged.

Mary Gleysteen, member of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, today stated, “Kitsap County would like Trident demonstrators to go away. Prosecutors have been stymied on how to win in court so they are now trying to deter future demonstrations.”

Kitsap County prosecutors have been unable to get convictions against nonviolent activists arrested at Bangor the last four times they have tried. Juries and judges have found that people arrested at Bangor protests have the legal right to redress grievances under International and US law with nonviolent direct action.

One of the demonstrators currently held in jail, Shirley Morrison, is 84 years old, a member of the Seattle-based Raging Grannies, and a long-time Seattle peace activist.

Brian Watson, 36, is a long-time organizer and member of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and lives in Bremerton.

Carol Ann Barrows, 54, is a well-known peace and justice activist, living on Bainbridge Island.

Demonstrators are being charged twice for Disorderly Conduct. The charge is a misdemeanor with a possible penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.