Courtroom, from left: Prosecutor Jesse Sendejas questions Lt. Michael Clark, standing at the podium; Judge Ardie A. Bland presides; and defendants listen (from left)—Brother Louis Rodemann, Jim Hannah, Tom Mountenay, Brian Terrell.—Sketch by Pat Marrin
PeaceWorks KC Nuclear weapons

Judge tells nuke resisters, ‘Continue to fight for what you believe is right’

The four defendants at the Feb. 18 trial were voluntarily arrested for trespassing May 31, 2021, at the National Security Campus, operated by Honeywell for the National Nuclear Security Administration. As one of the defendants stated the day of the trial, “Why are we on trial and not those who make these weapons?”

Bennette Dibben, foreground, left, and Tom Mountenay lead the one-mile march to the National Security Campus entry road on May 31, 2021, before Tom crosses the property line—his witness for the peace of a nuclear-weapons-free world.—Photo by Jane Stoever
PeaceWorks KC Nuclear weapons

‘Loving, dreaming, and living toward a future where war will be no more’

Defendant Tom Mountenay made this statement in KC MO Municipal Court, noting, “It is in the spirit of love that I will try to live PeaceWorks’ core truth: peace works!”

Handcuffed: (in back) Henry Stoever, and (from left) Brian Terrell, Jim Hannah, Tom Mountenay, and Brother Louis Rodemann.—Photo by Hai Chen
PeaceWorks KC Nuclear weapons

Reminder of trials 2/18 & 2/23, and why we keep crossing the line

Last Memorial Day, five persons crossed the line that guards drew on the entry road to the National Security Campus, where 80 percent of the parts for US nuclear weapons are made or procured. Now come the trials. On Friday, Feb. 18, defendants Jim Hannah, Tom Mountenay, Christian Brother Louis Rodemann, and Brian Terrell will … Continue reading Reminder of trials 2/18 & 2/23, and why we keep crossing the line

Caption:     Imagine! Defendants and supporters, from left: Jim Hannah, Jane Stoever, Sister Theresa Maly, Brother Louis Rodemann, Henry Stoever, Brian Terrell, Bennette Dibben, and Tom Mountenay.—Photo by Mary Hladky
PeaceWorks KC Nuclear weapons

New court hearing date for nuke resisters: 9/13

A new court hearing for the nuclear weapon resisters was set at 10 a.m. Sept. 13. I was happy and proud to stand with these five men as they created awareness of the horrors of nuclear weapons.

Bennette Dibben, waving the flag of Honduras, the 50th ratifier of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and Tom Mountenay, waving his family’s peace flag, lead the one-mile walk toward the National Security Campus entry road on May 31. Soon Tom was to cross the NSC property line.—Photo by Jane Stoever
PeaceWorks KC Nuclear weapons, PeaceWorks events

Court hearing Aug. 11; no trial date yet set for nuke resisters

We don’t always get what we expect. We knew, well in advance, that five men in PeaceWorks would cross the property line May 31, Memorial Day, at the National Security Campus, the Kansas City, Mo., plant that makes parts for nuclear weapons. Done. We knew they’d be briefly arrested and processed. Done. An arraignment was set for July 1, via videoconference. But—surprise—Judge Martina Peterson said our five should come to court in person Aug. 11 to speak to a different judge.

Detainees handcuffed after crossing the National Security Campus property line May 31—from left: Henry Stoever, Brian Terrell, Jim Hannah (contented), Tom Mountenay (smiling!), and Christian Brother Louis Rodemann. —Photo by Hai Chen
PeaceWorks KC Nuclear weapons, PeaceWorks events

Trial date pending for some Memorial Day line-crossers 

On the tenth anniversary of PeaceWorks-KC's annual Memorial Day peace witness, five members of the PeaceWorks-KC family “crossed the line” and were arrested for trespass at the National Security Campus, where more than 80 percent of the parts for the U.S. nuclear arsenal are made or procured. The resisters’ action helped the 70 or so in attendance re-frame what the weapons plant truly is: a Global Insecurity Factory. 

Tom Mountenay of Independence, MO, is arrested after crossing the property line at the National Security Campus, a nuclear weapon production facility.--Photo by Bennette Dibben
PeaceWorks KC Nuclear weapons

Why cross the line vs. nukes? ‘To be on the right side of history! And of the Beloved Community’

“I am taking a simple step, an act of love,” said Tom Mountenay, “towards a future when there will be no weapons of war." Tom was saying on Memorial Day why he was going to step across the purple property line on the road to the Kansas City National Security Campus,

An elders’ circle strung out, cuffed, speaking volumes in silence—after crossing the nuke-plant property line May 31. From left: Henry Stoever, Brian Terrell, Brother Louis Rodemann, Jim Hannah, Tom Mountenay.—Photo by Tom Fox
PeaceWorks KC Nonviolence, Nuclear weapons, PeaceWorks events

Memorial Day event: ‘We spoke truth, we cried, we witnessed, we rejoiced’

This Memorial Day was the first time I was able to join PeaceWorks-KC at the National Security Campus, where non-nuclear parts are made for nuclear weapons. It was our 10th annual event there. I was moved by the experience.