GROUND ZERO CENTER FOR NONVIOLENT ACTION

16159 Clear Creek Rd, Poulsbo, WA 98370
Phone: 360-377-2586 Fax: 360-792-2267
Website: www.gzcenter.org
E-mail: info@gzcenter.org

For more information contact:
Jackie Hudson        360 377-2586
Karol Milner           206 365-7865

Four members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action were found not guilty today for their role in a nonviolent direct action at subase Bangor on August 9, 1999. The four were charged with displaying an "unauthorized sign" purporting to imitate an "official traffic-control device…which attempts to direct the movement of traffic…"

Jim Burns of Seattle, Betsy Collins of Kingston, Jackie Hudson of Bremerton, and Karol Milner of Lake Forest Park were found not guilty as charged in Kitsap County District Court by Judge Stephen J. Holman. The defendants, representing themselves, argued their first and fourteenth amendment rights as well as their obligations under International Law to call their government to accountability to abide by treaties signed regarding nuclear weapons.

Betsy Collins said "I have lived in Washington State all my life and watched it become trashed in the name of national defense. Are we any safer for this? Are we any more loved and respected around the world? The answer is no."

Karol Milner, a mother of three in Lake Forest Park, said "There is nothing complicated about this. The Trident nuclear weapon system is simply wrong."

The state has the right to place reasonable limitations on the right to redress grievances, Judge Holman stated but he ruled in this case that the defendants were exercising their "right to speak freely." The sign as such did not attempt to direct movement of traffic but instead gave information. The sign held by the four defendants on August 9th stated: "Bangor Closed - Trident Violates International Law."

This is the third acquittal in Kitsap County in the last three trials for demonstrations held at subase Bangor by Ground Zero members, two jury trials and the latest before Judge Holman.

Ground Zero members intend to be at the subase gate again on Martin Luther King Jr. day, January 17, 2000. The first D-5 Trident missile was tested on MLK day. One of the issues we bring by our presence at the gates of Bangor is to stop the planned upgrade of the Trident submarines based at Bangor from the C-4 nuclear missile to the D-5 nuclear missile, stated Jackie Hudson of Bremerton.