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Jackson's wife refuses to post bail
By Marcelo Ballve
Associated Press Writer
VIEQUES, Puerto Rico -- The wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson was jailed Tuesday after she refused to post bail on a charge of trespassing during a protest on Vieques island, where the Navy has resumed military exercises using dummy bombs.
Jacqueline Jackson, 57, was arrested after she and a group of activists cut through a fence to break into the Navy's Camp Garcia. They were detained before reaching the firing range, where Navy fighter jets roared over the Puerto Rican island Monday and dropped 25-pound inert bombs.
The exercises had not resumed by midmorning Tuesday.
"When people raise their voice in protest and are not heard, the only recourse is civil disobedience," Jackson told federal Judge Jesus M. Castellanos, asking to be freed on her own recognizance. "We're not criminals but we are being treated like dangerous criminals."
The judge ordered Jackson to post bail of $3,000 as the condition for being freed while she awaits a court date to face the federal charge. She refused and was jailed along with fellow trespasser and labor leader Jimmy Torres, director of the AFL-CIO for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
If convicted, they can expect jail sentences of perhaps 40 days, the average handed out to dozens of other protesters.
At least 30 people were arrested for trespassing Monday and Tuesday as protesters ignored President Bush's announcement last week that the Navy would withdraw from Vieques in two years.
Such tactics are part of a "civil disobedience" campaign that began after years of resentment exploded in anger after a Marine jet practicing in April 1999 for the bombing of Kosovo dropped two bombs off-target that killed a civilian security guard on the range.
The issue united all political groups in this Spanish-speaking U.S. Caribbean territory and lately has drawn celebrities like Jackson and environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. to back charges that the bombing harms the environment and the health of the islanders. The Navy denies that and describes as unscientific local studies that show Vieques residents suffer a higher incidence of cancer and other ills.
Actor Edward James Olmos and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among 180 people arrested during exercises in late April and early May. Sharpton was given a 90-day sentence because it was his second civil disobedience offense, and has been on a hunger strike in a New York jail since May 29.
"For the people of Vieques!" Jackson, who shares the presidency of the Rainbow/Push Coalition civil rights group with her husband, cried as she was handcuffed Monday.
Protest leader Ismael Guadalupe said about 30 people, including his 25-year-old son, remained on the range during Monday's start of the latest round of training on what the Navy calls its "crown jewel."
"They are there to serve as human shields to try and stop the bombing," he said, charging the exercises pose "a threat to human life."
But Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Katherine Goode said security patrols had found no protesters. "If anyone is hiding really well, we hope they will come out and identify themselves so we can get them out of there," she said.
In announcing plans to stop the military exercises on Vieques by May 2003, Bush said the United States will start looking for an alternative to the island that the Navy says is ideal for lifesaving combat training in an era of precision-bombing.
The range, strategically located southeast of the U.S. mainland, has been used in every major conflict from World War II to the Gulf War.
Copyright ? 2001, The Associated Press
Jackson's wife refuses to post bail
By Marcelo Ballve
Associated Press Writer
VIEQUES, Puerto Rico -- The wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson was jailed Tuesday after she refused to post bail on a charge of trespassing during a protest on Vieques island, where the Navy has resumed military exercises using dummy bombs.
Jacqueline Jackson, 57, was arrested after she and a group of activists cut through a fence to break into the Navy's Camp Garcia. They were detained before reaching the firing range, where Navy fighter jets roared over the Puerto Rican island Monday and dropped 25-pound inert bombs.
The exercises had not resumed by midmorning Tuesday.
"When people raise their voice in protest and are not heard, the only recourse is civil disobedience," Jackson told federal Judge Jesus M. Castellanos, asking to be freed on her own recognizance. "We're not criminals but we are being treated like dangerous criminals."
The judge ordered Jackson to post bail of $3,000 as the condition for being freed while she awaits a court date to face the federal charge. She refused and was jailed along with fellow trespasser and labor leader Jimmy Torres, director of the AFL-CIO for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
If convicted, they can expect jail sentences of perhaps 40 days, the average handed out to dozens of other protesters.
At least 30 people were arrested for trespassing Monday and Tuesday as protesters ignored President Bush's announcement last week that the Navy would withdraw from Vieques in two years.
Such tactics are part of a "civil disobedience" campaign that began after years of resentment exploded in anger after a Marine jet practicing in April 1999 for the bombing of Kosovo dropped two bombs off-target that killed a civilian security guard on the range.
The issue united all political groups in this Spanish-speaking U.S. Caribbean territory and lately has drawn celebrities like Jackson and environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. to back charges that the bombing harms the environment and the health of the islanders. The Navy denies that and describes as unscientific local studies that show Vieques residents suffer a higher incidence of cancer and other ills.
Actor Edward James Olmos and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among 180 people arrested during exercises in late April and early May. Sharpton was given a 90-day sentence because it was his second civil disobedience offense, and has been on a hunger strike in a New York jail since May 29.
"For the people of Vieques!" Jackson, who shares the presidency of the Rainbow/Push Coalition civil rights group with her husband, cried as she was handcuffed Monday.
Protest leader Ismael Guadalupe said about 30 people, including his 25-year-old son, remained on the range during Monday's start of the latest round of training on what the Navy calls its "crown jewel."
"They are there to serve as human shields to try and stop the bombing," he said, charging the exercises pose "a threat to human life."
But Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Katherine Goode said security patrols had found no protesters. "If anyone is hiding really well, we hope they will come out and identify themselves so we can get them out of there," she said.
In announcing plans to stop the military exercises on Vieques by May 2003, Bush said the United States will start looking for an alternative to the island that the Navy says is ideal for lifesaving combat training in an era of precision-bombing.
The range, strategically located southeast of the U.S. mainland, has been used in every major conflict from World War II to the Gulf War.
Copyright ? 2001, The Associated Press