Pace e Bene’s Louie Vitale joins Kathy Kelly, John Dear and others in nonviolent action at Nevada Drone base

Click here to see John Dear’s reflection on this experience: “My Night in the Las Vegas Jail”

Reported via cellphone from Peter Ediger on Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 4:27 p.m. Pacific (see update below):

A group of fourteen people are sitting inside the gate of Creech Air Force Base north of Las Vegas, Nevada singing and prayerfully challenging the business of the base: readying and directing the US drone fleet, including the Reaper (the MQ-9 Reaper Hunter/Killer UAV).  This witness is part of a ten day vigil being conducted at the base. After they entered the base and sat down, the gate was closed and base traffic was diverted to another entrance.  The group – organized by Nevada Desert Experience and endorsed by a number of organizations, including Pace e Bene – had requested by letter a meeting with the commander. 

Once the group entered the based, base authorities requested the Clark County Metro Police Force take responsibility for dealing with the group.  It demurred, passing this responsibility onto the State Police. 

Members of the State Police arrived and indicated that the group – including John Dear, S.J.(New Mexico); Kathy Kelly (Chicago - Voices for Creative Nonviolence); Louie Vitale, O.F.M.(Oakland); Renee Espeland (Des Moines Catholic Worker); Steve Kelly, S.J.(California - Pacific Life Community); Judy Homanich (Binghamton, NY); Jerry Zawada, O.F.M.(Arizona); Mariah Klusmire (New Mexico); Dennis DuVall (Arizona); Elizabeth Pappalardo (Illinois); Brian Terrell (Strangers & Guests Catholic Worker Farm, Maloy, Iowa); Eve Tetaz (Washington, D.C.); Brad Lyttle (Illinois); and Sister Megan Rice, S.H.C.J.(Nevada Desert Experience) – would have two choices: to be cited and released onsite for misdemeanor trespass, or to be taken to a police facility in Las Vegas some forty miles away to be booked on the same charge and held there until they were released.  The group has indicated that it will choose the latter.

The US fleet of unmanned drone aircraft, headquartered at Creech, has the current mission of information gathering and destruction in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Unlike the first Predator, an earlier unmanned aerial vehicle now widely used and armed with two Hellfire missiles, the Reaper has been pressed into service because it is capable of carrying 14 Hellfire missiles. As of this writing, the group continues to sit in a circle just inside Creech Air Force Base.

Update:

At about 6 p.m. Pacific, the group of fourteen were arrested and transported to the Metro (city) jail in Las Vegas, where they spent the night.  They were booked and processed, and received an arraignment date of June 9 to appear in court in Las Vegas.  All were released on their own recognizance except Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J., who refused to sign the release form.  

The thirteen arrestees returned to Creech Air Force Base to take part in a Good Friday “Stations of the Cross” service.  They will resume the Sacred Peace Walk to the southern gate of the Nevada Test Site on Saturday (April 11) and take part in an Easter religious service there on Sunday, celebrated by Fr. Louie Vitale.

 To learn more, click here from a report from Nevada Desert Experience and Voices for Creative Nonviolence.