April 2, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Terry Lodge 419 255-7552 or Steve Miller 419 242-7317
At 9:00 a.m., Monday, April 2, four members of the NW Ohio Peace Coalition (NWOPC) will be at Toledo Municipal Court, 555 N. Erie St., in Judge Amy Berling’s courtroom (room 11) for a pretrial hearing for occupying Representative Marcy Kaptur’s office until she pledged to vote against the Bush administration’s $93,000,000,000 “supplemental” funding for the war in Iraq. Ms. Kaptur refused to make that pledge and the protestors refused to leave her office and were arrested after a 15 hour sit-in.
On February 21, 17 peace coalition members filled Rep. Kaptur’s office, met with her staff, and began reading the names of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians who have been killed in the war. After waiting 15 hours for an answer, the 1 Maritime Plaza building management called Toledo Police. Jeff Klein, Trudy Bond, Steven Miller, and Laurence Coleman chose to be arrested rather than end their demonstration against the war and the politicians who prolong it. The four are charged with a 4th degree misdemeanor for disorderly conduct. The sit in was part of the “Occupation Project,” which took place in local congressional offices in over 20 states in an effort to cut off the money, stop the war and bring the troops home.
In March, Rep. Kaptur voted to continue funding the Iraq war despite the fact that polls taken among U.S. troops stationed in Iraq indicate a significant majority want the occupation to end, as do a large majority of people polled in the U.S., and nearly 80 percent of Iraqis.
“I was charged with criminal trespass in an effort to stop the funding for the Iraq war. My trespass consumed a few hours of the Toledo Police Department’s time,” stated protester Steven Miller. “The Bush administration criminally trespassed on the sovereign country of Iraq and consumed over 3200 American lives, 600,000 Iraqi lives and destroyed a country. Who is the real criminal here?”
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