"I must decline your offer to enter a plea of guilty," retired lawyer Henry Stoever says in a Sept. 11 letter to a prosecutor at Jackson County Court. Stoever, who stepped across the property line of the local nuclear weapon facility, hopes to explain to a jury next year why he was not guilty of the crime of trespass.
From “Trespassing” to “Rainy Daffodils”—April poems
A passel of poems by Ron Faust: “Trespassing,” crossing a line not irrelevant; “The Great Divide,” honoring a falsely accused senator; “On Earth Day,” walking the tender Earth; and “Rainy Daffodils.”
Different Vibes
The drumbeats of war grow louder / As Russia forays into Ukraine on 2/22/22 … One disarmed lone lawyer goes to trial
Come to KC nuke protest on Memorial Day, leader says on national webinar
Join us in protesting and committing civil disobedience next Memorial Day at the Kansas City, Mo., nuclear bomb parts plant.
Trial brief supports defendants’ line-crossing at nuclear weapons parts plant
Defense attorney Henry Stoever submitted a 19-page legal brief Oct. 23 for the Nov. 1 trial; the 15 defendants had crossed a property line at the nuclear weapons parts plant in Kansas City, Mo. Stoever says in the brief, “Where defendants know even a limited exchange of nuclear weapons would cause irreparable harm to our planet, then the defendants assert … that they are exercising their constitutional rights and privileges to protect this very precious U.S. Constitution.”
Putting nukes on trial, 15 line-crossers at a nuke-parts plant receive guilty verdict
The Kansas City, Mo., Municipal Court trial Nov. 1, 2019, put nuclear weapons on trial. The fifteen defendants had crossed the property line at the local nuclear weapons parts plant, and each spoke about the need to take that action to call for a nuke-free world. For example, Jim Hannah admitted it breaks the law to cross the property line at the nuke-parts plant. He added, “At one time, slavery was the law, and my ancestors broke the law. I believe there’s a higher law concerning these destructive weapons.”
Guilty: 15 activists in KC seeking a nuclear-weapon-free world
On Nov. 1, in the Kansas City, Mo., Municipal Court, 15 peace activists, in an act of nonviolent civil resistance, were found guilty of trespassing at the National Security Campus in Kansas City, Mo. The NSC plant is where 85 percent of the non-nuclear parts are manufactured or procured for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The peace activists, insisting that nuclear weapons are illegal, immoral, and threaten all life, crossed the “property line” at the plant after a PeaceWorks-KC rally. The line-crossers were arrested on Memorial Day, May 27, to heighten awareness to the dangers of producing nuclear weapons—many workers at KC’s former nuke-parts plant have died.
Byron Clemens comes to trial Sept. 5 in KC for ‘trespassing’ at nuke-parts plant
Byron Clemens gained “diversion” instead of a stiffer sentence Sept. 5 in the Kansas City, Mo., Municipal Court. He was charged with trespassing July 4 at KC’s National Security Campus (NSC), where 85 percent of the non-nuclear parts for US nuclear weapons are made or procured.
Trial turns to impromptu anti-nuke symposium when witness fails to show
A planned trial of five protesters who were arrested for trespassing on the property of a weapons producer became an impromptu symposium about the dangers of nuclear weapons manufacturing after a key witness for the prosecution failed to appear in court Dec. 7.
Stand Up KC caps work vs. Puzder with victory rally
On Feb. 16, Stand Up KC held a “victory” march and rally at a local Hardee’s fast food restaurant. The day before, Andrew Puzder, CEO of the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., had stepped down as President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor. This concluded a two-month nationwide campaign.