EAU CLAIRE [WISCONSIN] LEADER-TELEGRAM State News
MAY 12, 2002

Special to the Leader-Telegram

MADISON -- Six people, including Eau Claire attorney John Bachman, were cited for trespassing Saturday during an anti-war demonstration at an U.S. Navy radio installation in northern Wisconsin, according to spokesman for the protesters.

About 100 anti-war activists attended a six-hour rally Saturday in the Chequamegon National Forest at the Navy’s Project ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) antenna system, said John LaForge, of Nukewatch, a Wisconsin-based peace action and environmental group.

The ELF facility, located near Clam Lake in Ashland County, is used to send one-way messages to nuclear missile-carrying U.S. and British submarines around the world. The rally capped three days of peace workshops hosted by Nukewatch.

Besides Bachman, others arrested for trespassing include: Cory Bartholomew, 33, of Blue Mounds; Jeff Leys, 38, of Milwaukee; Judy Minor of Madison; John LaForge, 46, and Jane Hosking, 34, both of Luck.

Last year Bachman represented one of two people convicted of criminal damage in connection with cutting down three antenna poles which temporarily disabled ELF in the summer of 2000. Efforts to reach Bachman for comment Saturday were unsuccessful.

The six people cited Saturday all have initial court appearances June 11 before Federal Magistrate Stephen Crocker. If convicted, they face maximum penalties of six months in jail and fines of $5,000. LaForge said the trespassers will be seeking trials to contest their citations.

Earlier this year, Crocker fined three other peace activists up to $500 for trespassing at the ELF site in October. Three more alleged trespassers were ticketed in January.

The previously convicted trespassers claimed in court that ELF violates an international treaty the U.S. has signed that bans the use of first-strike nuclear weapons.

Nukewatch has hosted Mother’s Day weekend demonstrations at the ELF site for 17 years to commemorate it as a day of peace, said LaForge.

LaForge called Saturday’s demonstration a non-violent protest. Those who crossed the fence at the ELF site on Saturday were immediately issued citations by U.S. Forest Service rangers without further incident, LaForge said.