Anti-war grandmas gain records, but lose no money

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | April 4, 2007 | Adam Gorlick (A.P.)

[Graybeard58]

They came bearing chocolate chip cookies, as grandmothers often do. The nice man at the Army recruiting office wasn't interested.

After listening to their anti-war spiel and resisting their pleas for him to quit his job, the recruiter asked the ladies to leave. He was polite, but he had work to do.

"I said, 'That's where the rub comes, because we have work to do, too,' " said Paki Wieland, a 63-year-old with two grandsons. "Our work is to stop your work."

That's when the police came to haul away Wieland and four other grandmothers on trespassing charges.

Such things can happen when you're a Raging Granny, a member of an international group of socially conscious women who demonstrate against things like consumerism, poverty and war.

And on Tuesday, they had their day in court.

Other than the brightly colored hats they wear at rallies to sing protest songs, nothing seems too unusual about the five grandmothers arrested in November at the Army recruiting office in Greenfield.

They all have gray hair, except for the youngest -- 62-year-old Dusty Miller. Ann Wilson is the oldest. At 77, she wears a hearing aide, walks with a cane and has a tube blowing oxygen into her nose to ease the troubles of heart disease.

A few had been arrested at other civil disobedience demonstrations; others found themselves in hot water for the first time.

"I thought I'd be dead before I was ever arrested," Wilson said.

But she and the others say they were compelled to take some sort of action against a war they call unjust.

So it was decided last November they should visit the Army recruiting officer in Greenfield. At best, they'd get him to quit his job. At the least, they might be able to close the office for a little while, preventing one or two people from enlisting.

"This is not about serving your country," 68-year-old Hattie Nestel said when asked if she respects those who enlist. "This is serving the war machine."

About 30 grandmothers showed up at the recruiting office with plates of cookies. After being told to leave, five of them stayed until the police took them away.

The criminal trespassing charges were later converted to less serious civil infractions. Still, the commonwealth wanted its due: a $50 fine per grandmother.

In Greenfield District Court on Tuesday, the grannies each gave Judge Herbert Hodos their reason for their actions and accepted responsibility. He warned them they'll now have a permanent mark on their record, the judge let them walk without a fine.

So what's next for these Raging Grannies?

"It's hard to know what to do next," said Wilson, whose four grandchildren called Tuesday morning to say they are proud of her. "There's always tax resistance."

[\/\/ayne]

Well dang! Wish I lived near there. My daughter was a navy recruiter for a few years. I’d love to go cookie to cookie with those hags.

That's a great idea! Patriotic Grannies can get on the email list, find out when the "Raging Commies Grannies" are going to strike and get there first.

[Stepan12]

And before the existence of the Venona tapes was revealed, there was more evidence of the Rosenbergs' guilt, though not evidence that could've been used at trial. Julius Rosenberg tried to recruit someone for his spyring while he was in prison(!). Ethel Rosenberg's mother said her daughter was guilty and a soldier of Stalin.

[BlackElk]

Greenfield District Court???? Connecticut has 169 municipalities and 8 counties, none of them called "Greenfield." What state was involved in this story?

The Waterbury Republican American is in Waterbury, Connecticut but it must have been reporting an out-of-state story.

All that having been said, the judge is hilarious if he thinks these old leftist bags are worried about having "a record." Make them pay maximum fines and they will work them off $15 per day incarcerated as per statute. Then veterans groups should picket their houses when they get out.