Occupy Asheville Trial: Citizen Journalist Lisa Landis "Not Guilty!"

 

Attorney Ben Scales with a victorious Lisa Landis 

“Homefree" In More Ways Than One!

by Clare Hanrahan

“It was a half a cigarette verdict,” Lisa Landis joked, with a wide grin and obvious relief outside the Buncombe County Courthouse in Asheville, North Carolina.  Landis had earlier been called back to the courtroom less than fifteen minutes after the jury left to deliberate her case. She was on trial for impeding traffic, a misdemeanor with potential for 20 days jail time.  Landis maintained her innocence and contends she was targeted for prosecution because she is a critic of Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore, and was well known as a public media producer on the free-speech forum UR-TV.

 “I’ve never seen a not guilty that fast,” said defense attorney Ben Scales. Even the court bailiff was pleased, winking at Landis as she left the courtroom and telling Scales, “I’m glad people are standing up for what they believe in.” Jury members in the elevator and leaving the courthouse were also in high spirits and glad to get out into the cool, bright mountain day. “I’ve still got time to go fishing,” one said.

Landis, a 53 year old homeless grandmother, is “homefree” as she calls her current circumstance.  She hitched rides eight times from Florida to Asheville and back to make her numerous court appearances.  “Flying a sign” is how she characterized her travel. “If I didn’t have faith, I couldn’t make it,” she said of the ordeal. “I was falsely arrested.”

It was a heartening two-day trial despite a surprising lack of supportive presence from among Asheville’s Occupy movement and the more than 150 persons who occupied the streets during the Nov. 2 march and rally for which Lisa faced charges. In addition to court officials and attorneys, only three others were present for the trial.

Landis appealed an April 26, 2012, conviction in the Buncombe County District Court. She had been filming a march and rally on November 2, 2012, in which Occupy Asheville participants took to the streets in solidarity with Occupy Oakland’s Scott Olsen, a two-time Iraq war veteran seriously wounded by a police projectile during an Oakland street demonstration.

Landis, a former producer with the now-dismantled community television station UR-TV had been picked up three days after the Nov. 2 rally on three warrants, charged with Resist, Delay and Obstruct, Impeding the Flow of Traffic and Unlawful Assembly. Prosecutors dropped two of the charges prior to trial. Police testimony in her earlier trial revealed that downtown officers were ordered by supervisors to review surveillance video and pick out individuals they knew.  Eleven persons, including this writer serving as a National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer at the time, were selected for prosecution based on police surveillance video and arrested on warrants.

A humorous moment occurred the first day of trial when Asheville’s familiar flying nun, who accompanies the La Zoom tourist bus, was called for jury duty.  During the jury interview process, he quipped “I might have a problem because I regularly impede traffic.”  (S)he was dismissed from jury duty. Another in the pool, a professed anti-war activist, remained on the jury as did a student videographer.  “I looked at the jury and I knew I had at least one,” the defense attorney said later. The final jury consisted of four women, and eight men, who appeared to range from their mid 20s to mid 50s in age.

Defense Attorney Ben Scales, in what he later revealed was his first ever solo jury trial, has appeared in court numerous times in the past few months to offer pro-bono defense for Occupy Asheville participants.  He characterized his clients as “the real heroes,” but he articulately championed Landis’ case and his closing arguments clearly moved the jury to return the just verdict of not guilty. It was an important victory for civil liberties and the freedom of citizen journalists to cover public dissent without fear of prosecution.

This writer was not present during the first day of trial where, according to Scales, Asheville police sergeant Brown testified that he ordered the streets blocked by police cars “in the interest of public safety,” as the Nov. 2 marchers moved through the streets. Police surveillance video and video by citizen journalist Landis was introduced as evidence, and Occupy Asheville chants, including “Give the police a raise!” once again rang through the courtroom.

On the first day of Landis’ trial, former UR-TV producer Larry Grillo, who arrived at the Buncombe County courthouse at 8:30 a.m. to support Landis was misdirected to the wrong courtroom, then misdirected again to a jury room where he was held until 11:30 a.m.  “I was trying to get to her trial, but I was pushed into a jury room,” he said.  I thought the trial was on the fifth floor, but they told me “There’s nothing going on down there.”  He returned for the final day to witness Landis’ victory in court.

Lisa Landis arrives for trial Buncombe County Superior Court

Asheville Legal Observer Sunny Rawls attended both days, observing from a front pew in the ornate Courtroom No. 5. All but two of the 18 mahogany pews in the magnificent courtroom were vacant.  Tall windows draped with deep green velvet curtains trimmed in gold braid with gold tasseled tiebacks let in the morning light and fluted flat columns gave the walls a stately feel, hung with oil portraits of judges who presided in years past. The ornate ceiling was decorated elaborately and a wide balcony in the rear could accommodate another fifty observers had they realized the first amendment import of this case.

Judge Gary Gavenus presided from a mahogany dais with a large round seal of North Carolina behind him.  His courtroom was a model of due process and his interactions with the prosecution and defense attorneys and his instructions to the jury were detailed and informative, a fine civics lesson for those of us who seldom find ourselves before a judge.  

Assistant District Attorney Steen prosecuted the case, calling the charges against Landis “a simple, straightforward case,” and asked the jury to convict her on the charge of impeding traffic.  “She stood in the street,” he charged. “Traffic could not flow because of her actions.”

Defense Attorney Scales, in his closing argument, emphasized the “willful” element of the charge. “Impeding of traffic must be willful,” he said, citing a case law that he said he had discovered at 6:30 a.m. the day of the trial. “The Defendant must intend to impede traffic….If you find that she did not willfully impede traffic, you must find her not guilty.”  

“Lisa Landis did not want to get arrested. She did not participate in civil disobedience. She was trying to observe the expression of free speech engaged in by the marchers. …Ms. Landis is a citizen journalist, sympathetic to the movement.  She was totally caught off guard when she was arrested. Not at the event, but days later. 

If we allow our police to do that, when are they coming after the rest of us?” 

At 11:30 a.m. on June 7, 2012, twelve jurors in Buncombe County Superior Court returned a not guilty verdict for citizen journalist Lisa Landis.  Homefree!  Justice was served today in Buncombe County.

Landis says she will file a civil suit for false arrest on three false charges.

 Photo by Clare Hanrahan (with camera generously gifted by Anne Gietzen to this citizen journalist!)

NATO Chicago: "Let Them March All They Want..."

Brad Lyttle, Coleman Smith, Clare Hanrahan and Kima Garrison in Chicago

"Let them march all they want, just so long as they pay their taxes."  

U.S. Sec. of State Alexander Haig, 1982.

It was a telling detour when we New South Network field organizers missed our exit off the I-90 Skyway to emerge in the economically oppressed and under served Chicago South Side, rather than our Hyde Park meeting destination. This unplanned drive through the disenfranchised side of Chicago underscored how important it is in our work to not overlook class and race. More and more we see increasing numbers of people who must struggle daily to maintain themselves, while the war-waging, capitalist elite, profit obscenely from what seems to be an endless War on Earth through a culture of violence, exploitation and domination.

New South Network friend and supporter Ellen Thomas, of Proposition One and an original occupier in front of the White House for nearly two decades, loaned us her car for the journey from Asheville to Chicago, and war tax resister and  organizing colleague Redmoonsong helped out with funds for the long journey.  We participated in the twice yearly gathering of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC)  and the rally, march, and protest against the NATO Summit.   NWTRCC is a coalition of groups and individuals from across the United States, formed in 1982 to provide information and support to people involved in or considering some form of war tax resistance.   At our twice annual meetings we strategize about ways and means of refusing to pay for war, building and sustaining community and providing mutual support.

May 2012 NWTRCC in Chicago

Clare Hanrahan rotated off the NWTRCC Administrative Committee as Carlos Steward, recently released from federal prison for his conscientious objection to paying for war,  was accepted for a two year term.  Carlos did final editing on the NWTRCC film Death and Taxes, with interviews of war tax resisters from across the US, showing their varied lifestyles and challenges as conscientious objectors to paying for war.... "If you work against war, why are you paying for it?"   

NWTRCC's May 2013 meeting will be held in Asheville, N. C.  We are looking for a site to celebrate NWTRCC’s 30^th anniversary this November.  One of the most dynamic, supportive aspects of our meetings is hearing the stories and reports about local resistance work happening around the country, and re-connecting with one another.                                     
A current project is the Rapid Outreach Working Group (ROWG), organized to quickly respond to requests for information, speakers, and materials on war tax resistance as new situations arise. You can contact ROWG through Action South for more details.               

Given that NATO is, for the most part, an International Military Intervention Force  under the command of the United States, it was doubly appropriate to meet in consultation with war tax resisters from across the country, while some of the world's worse offending war mongers gathered nearby. With security for the NATO Summit on high alert, major highways were shut down, traffic was detoured in and around a large part of central Chicago, which had been converted into a militarized zone, cordoned off, with check points and a massive police presence, helicopters and fighter jets patrolling over head, and rumored inflatable Zodiac boats, mounted with machine guns, keeping an eye on the Lake Michigan approach to the Exposition Center - ground zero for the NATO dignitaries.

Along the way we stayed with our friends Jim Scheff and Tina Marie Johnson who coordinate and direct the forest protection network Kentucky Heartwood. They opened their beautifully crafted home in Berea, Kentucky to us for an overnight respite and fed us well at the family table  as we compared how the work we each do supports and sustains the just world we seek. We work to end the death and destruction of our planetary systems by violent conflict; and they to assure that what is left of the natural world is thriving and whole, and continues to lift and regenerate us all. We were in a moment of realization that the anti-militarism/peace and justice movement has a direct connection to the environmental justice movement and in fact are part of an even larger need to end ruthless exploitations of all human, plant, animal, and natural resources on Earth.      

For our weekend of radical organizing and protest in Chicago, we enjoyed the hospitality of our 84 year old friend and colleague,  Brad Lyttle, long time peace activist and icon of the movement.  In 2011 Brad was with us in Asheville for our gathering of Southeast Nonviolent Direct Action trainers.  Brad has lived in what was his parent's home since 1942. With one sailboat docked in his small front yard and two more behind the house amid miscellaneous materials and artifacts, you might say that Brad is not your typical Hyde Park resident - but more on our generous host and intrepid peace warrior in our next Action South post.

As we weaved our way through street construction, detours and primarily black neighborhoods, looking for Brad's house, the dramatic transition out of the South 
Side, continued through what can only be described as a  physical, socioeconomic,  and cultural demarcation - formed by solid urban infield, a hospital district, blending with the University of Chicago/Hyde Park area, multi-cultural, well educated and privileged with its well manicured lawns, public landscapes, beautiful homes and structures. Brad recalled a description of the Hyde Park district by a Chicago journalist as “...black and white, standing shoulder to shoulder, against the lower class.”  

On Friday evening, our merry band of war tax resisters traveled to the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ which served as a welcome center for protesters. Author and activist  David Swanson spoke on the Military Industrial Complex.  He was introduced by Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, who two days later was on her way on another peace mission to Kabul, Afghanistan.

On Saturday we stood for two hours in Grant Park with our banners while we distributed hundreds of pieces of  informational literature on war tax resistance. We fit seamlessly into what was the perfect spot to catch the eyes and ears of the thousands of people gathering to march against NATO's and the United States' prosecution of war for profit and military hegemony of our planet. 

We fielded press interviews for TV, radio, and print media.  There seemed to be people from all over the world, with colorful signs, banners, and powerful messages declaring that we will not accept a doctrine of war for our lives and the future.

 An estimated 6-7,000 people marched through downtown Chicago for another two hot hours amid a massive police presence which itself was in the thousands.

As the peaceful demonstration approached McCormick Place near where world leaders were meeting, we were being corralled into an area of chain link fencing surrounded by fully armored tactical police on foot and horses while  helicopters hovered above.  Dozens of Iraq Veterans Against the War, protected by a ring of Veterans for Peace, demonstrated their disgust with the war and how they have been betrayed by the Pentagon and its "global war on terror," by hurling their medals over the fence at the building were the world leaders met.

As our group was making its way out of the area, through dense layers of even more police squadrons, ready for action,we heard our friend and IVAW member Jason Hurd declare to the assembly through a microphone,  how deeply sorry he was for the destruction of the war.  Jason had just visited Asheville with Operation Recovery, and IVAW campaign for GI and Veterans' Right to Heal. Their courage to confront the military hegemony of the US and it's NATO pawn must spring from their basic warrior's training to face and defeat an enemy. One is left with the obvious question of,  "Who is the real enemy?"    --coleman smith 

Photos by Ruth Benn, NWTRCC staff 

High Drama as Occupy Asheville Takes to the Courts

 by Clare Hanrahan

Asheville activists occupied two Buncombe County, NC courtrooms for much of the day April 26, 2012.
They were ordered to court to face various charges including trespass and impeding traffic resulting from asserting first amendment rights to peaceably assemble in various nonviolent direct actions throughout the city in October, November and December of 2011. Only one “not guilty” verdict was returned for the six defendants whose cases were heard. Continuance until June 28 was granted for about 21 other cases. Pro bono attorney Ben Scales, who has provided countless hours of assistance to the First Amendment defenders, asked for the continuance because many of the arresting officers were not present to testify.  They are “essential witnesses to our case,” he said.

The first person to go before District Court Judge Patricia K. Young in the basement courtroom was Lyudmila Dhiraja, a native of the Ukraine. She had been cited for impeding traffic around Vance monument on October 15, 2011 during a rally at the monument, a location that has been acknowledged by the city of Asheville as a “traditional forum for free speech,” after over a decade of weekly vigils and protests against violence and war by Women in Black and Veterans for Peace.

Virato and Dhiraja at Occupy event

Dhiraja pled guilty and was sentenced to 12 months probation and 20 days suspended sentence. Her husband, Joseph Bacanskas, also known as Virato, and the first of Occupy Asheville activists to be charged, was found guilty April 17 of willfully impeding traffic at Vance Monument and ordered to pay $190.

Attorney Ben scales also assisted Matthew Burd, who opted to serve as his own attorney. Burd was sent upstairs to courtroom 3 where he was tried before District Court Judge Julie M. Keple.  Numerous supporters and co-defendants whose trials had been postponed followed him to the 2^nd floor courtroom. Assistant District Attorney Milton Fletcher prosecuted Burd on charges of trespass for a November 2 march and rally at Vance monument.  Burd maintained he was asserting his First Amendment Rights to peaceably assemble.  He asked Asheville Police Sgt. Jonathan Brown if he had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, but when he asked Brown to recite the oath, the ten year police veteran was unable to do so. Sgt. Brown has been present at many Occupy Asheville events, and told the court in a later trial that afternoon that “we became familiar with people inside the movement. I had a lot of dialog. ..we were prepared for multiple scenarios.”

Matt Burd's Mug

Several National Lawyers Guild Legal Observers, including this writer were present in the court room throughout the day. Asheville has a dozen Legal Observers, trained by retired attorney Curry First, who is also the president of the Western North Carolina chapter of the ACLU.  I had barely settled in to the 2^nd floor courtroom to observe when defendant Matthew Burd called me forward as a witness.  This is one of the roles we Legal Observers agree to as part of our training through the National Lawyers Guild.  With my notes in hand from the Nov. 2 march from Lexington Ave. underpass and the rally at Vance monument, I approached the stand.

To the best of my recollection, and aided with my Legal Observer notes, I was able to answer questions regarding the arrests and interactions with the police. Unlike the encounters in many cities where the occupy movement is active, all the interactions I have observed between Asheville police and occupy activists have been civil and polite, as each play out the roles they feel a duty to assert.

Under cross examination, I had to correct the Assistant District Attorney, who kept referring to what he called “your organization.”  Occupy is a “movement” I asserted, not an organization.  I was serving as a trained Legal Observer, not as a participant. The prosecuting attorney’s style was aggressive and badgering, often interrupting, and as one observer later commented, “He seems more interested in getting a conviction than getting at the truth of what happened.”

As is typical in these cases where individuals may violate city ordinances to assert a higher law and bring attention to an injustice, the prosecution is only interested in the bare bones: “Did you or did you not remain after being warned to leave?” Burd was found guilty and sentenced to time served.

Amber Williams & Steve Norris & BOA windmill

Back in the basement courtroom, Warren Wilson College professor Steve Norris faced Judge Young. He plead guilty for a December 2 action in front of Bank of America, coordinated by the Rainforest Action Network with large participation from the Occupy Asheville movement.  Norris and Amber Williams chained themselves to a replica of a windmill to dramatically demonstrate the egregious crimes aided and abetted by $3.9 billion in loans from Bank of America to fund mountain top removal coal mining.  Norris was sentenced to time served for his conscientious action which Attorney Scales characterized as being undertaken as a “necessity” in the spirit of the civil disobedience actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi to bring attention to an injustice.

Amber Williams opted to defend herself, pleading not guilty at her trial that afternoon before Judge Young. Her case was joined with that of Caleb Shaw and Thomas Beckett. Both men had been charged with trespass for being on the grassy area in front of the Bank of America. 

Hanrahan & Rawls at Occupy Asheville

Attorney Scales called both me and Legal Observer Sonny Rawls to the stand to testify to our observations during the arrests. The prosecution called  Jason Dowell, a former Branch Manager at Asheville’s downtown branch of Bank of America (now with Merrill-Lynch)  to the stand, as well as Asheville police Sgt. Brown, who spent most of the day testifying at the various trials. Police moved to arrest after Dowell complained that protestors were not welcome on the property, Sgt. Brown said.  Under cross examination from Williams, Sgt. Brown revealed that the Asheville Police had been alerted to the planned rally by Bank of America.   

“They have an intelligence unit” he testified, “The Bank of America Director of Security out of Charlotte…certain intelligence information passed to and from the Asheville Police Department.”

In a dramatic scene, the police video of the Bank of America action was shown.  As Judge Young, the prosecutor, defense attorney Scales, defendant Williams, Sgt. Brown, the court bailiff and another court official clustered together by the judge’s dais to view the laptop screen, the chants and statements of that day rang through the courtroom: “No money for coal. No more money for coal…” and “Our children get sicker, their profits get bigger.”  It was an unusual scene in that basement courtroom, that is more often the site of an assembly line justice of guilty pleas and fines collected as one low income person after another is sentenced for misdemeanor offenses.

Sgt. Brown, during cross-examination, could not recall if his order to move from the grass in front of the Bank of America came before or after defendant Thomas Beckett arrived on the scene, Beckett was found not guilty because, as the judge declared, there was “reasonable doubt” he had heard an order to move. Beckett is a local attorney who had just happened upon the scene and stepped off the sidewalk to take photos.  Caleb Shaw, an activist with the occupy movement, and facing other occupy related charges, was found guilty.  Sgt. Brown had characterized Shaw as stepping back on to the grass in an “act of defiance.”  Both Williams and Shaw were found guilty and sentenced to time served.

After the lunch break, we returned to the second floor courtroom for the trial of citizen journalist Lisa Landis. We shared the tiny courtroom elevator with Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore, under scrutiny because of missing guns, money and drugs from the county evidence room.  Also on the elevator was Assistant District Attorney Fletcher and defendants, Norris, Landis and Becket, and Defense Attorney Scales and Legal Observer Rawls and myself. Quite a mix of players in the courtroom dramas unfolding that day.

Lisa Landis "Glo Lady"

Landis was charged with “impeding traffic.”  Two other charges, “resist, obstruct & delay” and “blocking the roadway” were dropped by the prosecutor just prior to the trial. Landis has been both documenting and participating in various Occupy Asheville events since its inception. Landis, a former URTV public media producer, and 4 others, including this writer, had been picked up on warrants issued after the Nov. 2 march and rally after being easily identified and targeted from police video tape of the event.  Landis maintained she arrived at the Nov. 2 rally with no intention of risking arrest, but rather to act as a journalist.  This writer was serving as a Legal Observer, keeping close to the march and rally and taking note of all police, protester interactions. I was later arrested on 3 warrants while serving as a legal observer for a Southeast Student Renewable Energy conference-led march on Nov. 6 through downtown Asheville.

During Lisa Landis’ (also known as Glo Lady) trial, Sgt. Brown was again called to testify. When asked by Landis about the police video, Brown indicated that he used a video camera on his shirt to record the event.  Landis’ own video was introduced as evidence and once again, the chants and high energy of the Occupy Asheville rally reverberated through the Buncombe county District courtroom: "How do you fix the deficit? End the Wars! Tax the Rich!"

Some of Asheville's Legal Observer Team

This Legal Observer was called again to the stand. As part of our training we note the presence of any media at marches and rallies.  I testified that I had observed Landis, who I recognized as a citizen journalist, standing across the street from Vance monument, on the sidewalk, filming with her camera on November 2.

There are numerous videos and surveillance of Occupy Asheville events. One civilian forensic  technician, Lynn Fraser, hired by the Asheville Police Department posted on her Facebook account after a day of filming a march and rally, “Glad to be off work and not dealing with dirtasses that want to preach their 'Constitutional rights' to me, then in the same breath tell me that videotaping them in a PUBLIC park (which none of them worked and contributed tax money to pay for) is an invasion of privacy," Her comments, including a later post saying “some people just need a hug…around the neck…with a rope” resulted only in a suspension with pay.

As Landis’ trial continued, she testified, “In my role as a journalist I filmed my whole participation. I heard a siren and got on the sidewalk …I did not want to be arrested. I never heard any verbal command to get off the street."

Sgt. Brown testified that when he first arrived in an electric car, the march was underway, and that  he stepped out of the car and “gave a loud command: ‘move to the right. Get off the side walk’, and motioned to the side walk.”  He further testified that he then closed off the streets “trying to mitigate the public safety threat.” 

Under cross-examination from Defense attorney Scales, Sgt.Brown could not say if or when he specifically ordered the defendant Landis to move. This legal observer, who accompanied the entire march, never heard such a command. Nor did the notes of other legal observers reflect such a command.  In fact, as Landis would testify, “I was under the assumption that Asheville police were escorting the picket. ” 

Defense Attorney Scales’ motion to dismiss was denied.

In his closing remarks, the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Fletcher, in an odd effort to discredit the defendant and witness, called Landis  “cowardly…hiding behind a camera.” He then characterized this writer and Legal Observer witness as “cowardly… hiding behind a notebook.”

Despite her clear role as a citizen journalist, Lisa Landis was found guilty and sentenced to time served. Landis immediately indicated her intent to appeal the sentence, telling the judge, “I was targeted and forcefully arrested because I continue to speak about the corruption of District Attorney Ron Moore…I will not stop until Ron Moore is arrested.”

Attorney Scales out of court

In closing remarks, Defense Attorney Scales said the state has taken “an extremely adversarial position," one that is “not sympathetic to protests of any kind.”

 “The DA calls Ms. Landis cowardly," Scales told the judge.  "She is not hiding behind anything. They picked her out, singled her out, singled Ms. Hanrahan out and several others."
 

Thus ended a dramatic day in court for Occupy Asheville defendants arrested for speaking and acting nonviolently to call for social and environmental justice in these urgent times.  

Upcoming trial dates:  May 24, 2012 – Legal Observer Clare Hanrahan, on two remaining charges after Nov. 6 arrest on warrants based on video surveillance of the Nov. 2 march and rally.

June 28, 2012.  The remaining 21 defendants arrested for First Amendment activities Nov. 2 and Nov. 11, 2011.

Community support needed as these trials continue. 

The South: A National Sacrifice Zone?

      The New South Network's  current presentation is a stunning indictment of the environmental impact and toxic legacy of the Military Industrial Complex on the people and culture of  the Southeast U.S.
      This startling wake up call depicts the scope and depth of the social, economic, racial and cultural injustices thrust upon the South revealing the cumulative impact of the Military Industrial Complex's wasting of an entire region.  The devastation was accelerated by a political trade off that seeded the Jim Crow South with military bases in exchange for Congressional votes to pass FDR's New Deal legislation.
      Earlier versions of this research were presented at  the first MIC@50 Conference in Greensboro, NC (Jan. 14-16, 2011), and again in Charlottesville, Virginia, (Sept.16-18,2011). We continue to research and refine the presentation based on our travels in the region and the questions and feedback from students, activists, and others in Environmental Justice classes at universities, civic groups and peace and justice organizations.
      War on Earth! stimulates lively discussion of the real costs of war and of the often hidden but hazardous, toxic, and radioactive poisons left behind as the War Machine expands its relentless march across the South.
     Visually stimulating, the images and information conveyed are at times difficult to face, asking of the viewer to accept a truth which our Government, the Pentagon, and Corporate America have buried in an effort to keep the public blind to a toxic legacy that persists  for generations.
      War on the Earth! is a one-hour presentation that just scratches the surface of the deadly environmental impacts on the Southeast region from manufacture and storage of conventional high explosives, production of incapacitating and nerve agents, rocket fuel, weaponized uranium, thermo-nuclear weapons, commercial nuclear power and radioactive waste.
      As native Southern activists,  Coleman Smith and Clare Hanrahan feel particularly compelled to expose the injustices done to an entire region which the U.S. military has used as a " national sacrifice zone.

Interested? To schedule a presentation, contact:  newsouthnetwork@gmail.com; 
P.O. Box 2551, Asheville,NC 28802; 828-301-6683.
Negotiable stipend and travel costs requested.