Posted on 09/15/2006 5:34:09 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ Three peace activists accused of vandalizing a Minuteman III missile silo site near Garrison have been convicted by a federal jury of destroying government property.
Greg Boertje-Obed, 51, and Michael Walli, 57, both of Duluth, Minn., and Carl Kabat, 72, of St. Louis, admitted during the course of a two-day trial to dressing up as clowns, breaking into the missile silo site June 20, spray-painting messages and splattering blood, and pounding on the lid of the underground silo with hammers.
The jury deliberated only about 1½ hours Thursday before convicting the men.
The three men, members of the Wisconsin-based group Nukewatch, showed little reaction when the verdict was read. They each face up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland ordered the men jailed until their sentencing Dec. 4, after they said they would not cooperate with the rules of a halfway house.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Hochhalter said after the trial that he respected the right of the defendants to express their beliefs, but only "within the bounds of the law." Prosecutors said the men did more than $14,000 worth of damage.
The defendants did not deny the government's allegations. They instead implored the jurors to, as Kabat said in his closing statement, "be the conscience of the community here, the state and the country." Some supporters of the defendants held banners outside the courthouse.
"Our action was for the sake of children's futures," Boertje-Obed said.
Kabat said the men dressed in clown suits during the incident because they were being "fools for God and humanity."
The 91st Space Wing at Minot Air Force Base oversees 150 Minuteman III missiles, buried in silos across 8,500 square miles of northwest and north-central North Dakota.
Do these people have homes, families, jobs or any other commitment in life? Apparently not.
Through this act of stupidity, they are removing themselves from society, thus ensuring that they do not influence any children. I say mission accomplished.
Indeed, and I'm glad the jury convicted them. I hope the new felons have to pay for the damage, in addition to serving jail time. They don't appear to have learned anything from their trial.
What a bunch of creeps. I think one is a minister, ought to have known better.
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How were they able to get so close to our Nuke missles? i think that is more distrubing than anything else.. and for the record.. these people are just plan stupid...
[The defendants did not deny the government's allegations. They instead implored the jurors to, as Kabat said in his closing statement, "be the conscience of the community here, the state and the country."]
Considering the three were convicted, it looks like the jurors did as they were implored.
Anyone can become a Minister or Reverend today. Jesse Jackson stands proof of that. Just cut out and send in you're $10.00 for the membership card.
Soon they will be playthings for other inmates.
L
And the felony rap was for dressing as clowns.
Actually, this is the Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid rat party of 2006.
Yes, how could anybody get to where he could "hammer on the lid of a silo" without getting stopped or shot first? Who's watching these silos? How do we know some nut isn't sneaking around super gluing them shut?
Need to get redline security back...and with teeth!
Just because you are close to a silo doesn't mean you are close to getting a nuclear missile. The silos are spread out from one another so that if a nuclear attack occurred one nuke couldn't take out multiple silos. But they are also built very securely (tons and tons of cement), with high tech monitoring equipment. Once the alarm goes off helicopters are sent to deal with the problem. I'm surprised that they weren't shot on the grounds. They only had a couple of minutes to stand on a concrete slab and throw paint and deface sensors. Now they will have a few years to contemplate how they accomplished nothing (nor could accomplish anything).
What are you in for?
Dressing up like a clown and destroying government property.
Oh yeah, that's going go well.
As a former Auggie Dawgie with the 50TFW Security, we would shoot people without a badge in a NWSA, without remorse. One verbal warning, then shoot.
Thanks for sharing that little detail with the world. Now how about asking the moderator to remove your post?
That is one outstanding tagline!
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