Peace activist Nancy Hill, 53, of Stonington, Maine, was jailed in Maine for her part in the sit-in at Sen. Snowe's office last September.
Hill was jailed on Dec. 1, 2006, for 24 hours in the Penobscot County Jail in what is believed to be the first court-ordered incarceration in Maine for a non-violent sit-in at a U.S. Senate office. Hill was one of eleven protesters who refused to leave the Bangor office of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in September after Snowe refused to respond to repeated requests to sign a Declaration of Peace.
The eleven peace activists were part of a contingent of several dozen protesters (I was among them) who visited the office as part of a national Congressional Outreach and nonviolent action to end funding for the U.S. War in Iraq and to support a comprehensive plan for peace.
The group presented to Snowe staffer Gail Kelly dozens of Declaration of Peace petitions signed by hundreds of people, as well as piles of paired baby shoes representing the children of Iraq killed by our bombs and artillery.
Snowe's office had been notified of the planned visit well in advance, and had been asked well in advance for a response from her to the group's request that she sign the Declaration of Peace. Spokesmen for the group made it clear during the September event that any response, even a negative response, from Snowe was all they wanted.
In an attempt to ameliorate the situation, Snowe staffer Gail Kelly went into another room to try to reach Snowe, who was then in Washington DC, but came back into the outer office without an official reply.
So we had a situation where Sen. Snowe could have ended the sit-in peacefully, prior to any "criminal trespass" charges being made, by simply acknowledging the group's request for her to sign the Declaration, and then politely declining the request. Sen. Snowe chose not to do that. And because she chose not to do that, Sen. Snowe elevated the situation to the next level.
I was part of the larger group, but I did leave prior to the building's owner ordering everyone out after the normal 5 p.m. closing time.
Nancy Hill was the first of the eleven to have her day in court. Because she had been part of a similar sit-in in March 2003, Hill expected her sentence to be harsher than the hundreds of hours of community service and fine she had been assessed for that first offense. But, according to other defendants, this time the judge decided that uniformity was paramount, and that all second offenders charged with criminal trespass, regardless of the underlying circumstances, should receive the same sentence, which is normally jail time. Since the complainant was the building's owner, not Snowe or her office staff, the political nature of the offense was simply wiped away.
I have a problem with the judge ignoring that component of the situation. We have a First Amendment right "to petition the Government for redress of grievances," and that is what the group was doing.
I also can't believe that, had the building's owner been asked by Snowe's staff to allow Snowe's "visitors" to stay beyond the 5 p.m. normal closing time, he would have refused to do so.
It may be time for some enterprising member of the Maine Legislature to make a separate category under the Criminal Trespass statues that recognizes the political and non-violent nature of such sit-ins. It is a waste of taxpayer money to fill our jails with such protesters, and it is a violation of our Constitutional rights to be jailed for simply petitioning a sitting federal politician "for redress of grievances."
Other defendants in this case are scheduled for trial on Jan. 9, 2006.
Jean Hay Bright
Dixmont, Maine
www.jeanhaybright.us
