BY GRETCHEN KEISER

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Five people received sentences ranging from eight to 12 months in federal prison July 23 for a demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning last September against the School of the Americas.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Robert Elliott, 90, in Columbus also ordered that four of the five, including a Jesuit priest and a Franciscan nun, must serve their terms consecutively with a six-month sentence previously imposed for a protest at the base in January.

The five are Father William Bichsel, SJ, 70, of Tacoma, Wash., sentenced to 12 months; Sister Marge Eilerman, OSF, 60, of Booneville, Ky., sentenced to eight months; Ed Kinane, 53, of Syracuse, N.Y., sentenced to 10 months; Kathleen Rumpf, 47, of Syracuse, sentenced to 12 months; and Mary Trotochaud, 47, of Atlanta, sentenced to eight months.

Sister Eilerman is a former missionary to Mexico. All except Rumpf have an additional six months to serve based on their earlier conviction in the same court. In January Judge Elliott sentenced 25 people to six-month terms for “unlawful re-entry” onto the base during a prayer vigil involving several thousand people Nov. 16, 1997.

Rumpf was taken into custody July 23 because she chose not to pay a bond required by the court for release. The other four were released to self-surrender at the federal prison where each is assigned in the near future.

“We were expecting consecutive terms,” Trotochaud said July 24. “It is a very harsh sentence. In another courtroom it would not have played out that way.”

However, she said the sentence is short in comparison with the suffering of the poor in Latin American countries where military trained at the School of the Americas hold power.

“Our time in prison is very short compared to a lifetime without a parent or without a child because of disappearances, or torture, or assassinations in Latin America,” Trotochaud said. “Hopefully this (prison sentence) helps that to stop.”

The five went to the base Sept. 29 and took metal letters off the Fort Benning sign, replacing them with a stenciled message: “Home of School of Americas/school of shame” and “SOA=torture.”

They were convicted of destruction of property with malicious intent, a felony, and a misdemeanor charge. They also received fines and restitution ranging from $1,000 to $3,050 and two years supervised probation.

Trotochaud, a potter, is single and from a Catholic family of 11 children. With no prior record, Trotochaud said that she has experienced anxiety and fear about what she will face in prison, but that the five made a retreat together before the sentencing and have decided to fast each Thursday while in jail in solidarity with one another and with the poor of Latin America.

“In the process of discernment to do this action, in the process of discernment to go to court, I have always been led by the Spirit,” she said. “I believe the Spirit will bring me through this too. I hope I have the strength to do it in a manner that honors the people for whom we are doing it.”

The five have invited others to join with them in fasting on Thursdays, which they chose because Jesus was arrested on Holy Thursday.

In addition, SOA Watch has received a permit to hold a prayer vigil daily from 7-8 a.m. and from 4-5:30 p.m. outside Fort Benning and from 8:30-9:30 a.m. outside the federal courthouse in Columbus, according to Margaret Birdlebough. A “vigil house” is open to those who want to take part.

“It is an ongoing vigil until the School closes,” said Birdlebough of Syracuse, who has been there since early June.

In Congress SOA Watch is lobbying for the closure of the School of the Americas. House of Representatives bill 611 has 144 co-sponsors and Senate bill 980 has 15 co-sponsors, according to Trotochaud. She said the five have spent their time since they were convicted in March lobbying for the measures.

“We are hopeful,” Trotochaud said. “We have found that the prison witness has encouraged more people to look at this issue and act from their conscience.”