11 arrested in Grassley office protest
Mason Kerns - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 2/27/07 Section: Metro
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Assembling at 3:30 p.m. in the downtown Federal Building, protesters - predominately UI Antiwar Committee members - demanded that Iowa's senior senator, who at the time was traveling to Washington, pledge to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. After the petitioners said they wouldn't leave the building at its 5 p.m. closure unless Grassley communicated with them via telephone, U.S. marshals overseeing the complex notified the Cedar Rapids police.
The authorities charged 11 protesters - a group that included priest-turned-antiwar activist Frank Cordaro, Iowa City resident Rosemary Persaud, and eight UI students - with criminal trespass. As of 8:30 p.m. Monday, those individuals were being held in the Linn County jail on $325 cash, or surety, bond.
Among the student protesters was Joshua Casteel, a member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War who received Grassley's 1998 nomination to attend the prestigious West Point Academy. Last week, Casteel's play The Abu Ghraib Missive - a fact-based piece about his role as an Army interrogator at the notorious Iraqi prison - premièred at the UI.
Through a press release written by Grassley spokeswoman Beth Pellett Levine, the senator said that before traveling to Washington, he held three town-hall meetings Monday in Iowa - events, the statement indicated, that would have provided ample opportunity for civil discourse. In addition, "The state offices maintained by Sen. Grassley do not handle policy questions," the press release said.
UI College Republicans President Greg Baker said before the event that while he respects the protesters' constitutional right to assemble, the Cedar Rapids office was not a proper venue.
"No politics goes through that office," said Baker, a war supporter. "They're not really going to be able to do anything there."
David Goodner, a UI undergraduate and Antiwar Committee member, said in an e-mail before the event that the group decided to employ extralegal means after failing with "traditional lobbying tactics" to persuade Grassley to alter his policy stands. That statement, which chastised the senator for voting to block Senate debate on an Iraq war resolution, noted that 15 dissenters had pledged to risk arrest.
The event coincided with an identical protest at Grassley's office in Des Moines, where the Associated Press reported that seven petitioners were jailed.
Leaders indicated that the acts were part of the nationwide Occupation Project, a branch of the Chicago-based Voices for Creative Nonviolence meant to spur war-related, nonviolent protests. Dan Pearson, the group's co-coordinator, said in an interview before Monday's rally that roughly 85 members of his group had been arrested this year in protests nationwide.
Pearson said he was charged with "disturbance" by federal officers and criminal trespass by the Chicago police when he protested Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., unwillingness to cut off funding at his Chicago office.
Meanwhile, Cordaro said in a pre-protest interview that the Christian community has also failed to decry what he called an "unjust, illegal, and immoral" Iraq war.
"Catholicism, in particular, has followed the Bush administration," Cordaro said. "Instead of following fundamental teachings, the church has gotten sucked into blind nationalism."
Cordaro, passionately addressing the students in the hallway as the 5 p.m. arrest deadline drew near, continued to plead for word from Grassley as the senator's office aide asserted that he'd be unable to call the group. The former priest then assured U.S. Marshal Timothy Junker - who informed the group at 4:55 that they'd be arrested unless they left in five minutes - that the protest would continue peacefully and respectfully.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Toby Michael said Monday marked the only time he'd seen protesters arrested in 23 years working in the Federal Building.
E-mail DI reporter Mason Kerns at:
mason-kerns@uiowa.edu
Protesting Grassley's Iraq Policies
Cited for criminal trespass Monday night in Cedar Rapids for nonviolent protest
- Andrew Alemao, UI student
- Frank Cordaro, Des Moines Catholic Worker, former priest
- Joshua Casteel, UI graduate student; The Abu Ghraib Missive creator
- John Paul Hornbeck, UI graduate student; member, Iraq Veterans Against the War
- David Goodner, UI student
- Timothy Gauger, UI employee
- Megan Feld, Iowa City resident
- Conor Murphy, UI student
- Ryan Merz, UI student
- Rosemary Persaud, Iowa City resident
- Justin Riley, UI student
*Note: List may be incomplete
Source: Linn County jail official
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 44
dclark1
Daniel G. Clark
posted 2/27/07 @ 2:40 AM CST
"No politics goes through that office." What? Of course, it does.
"The state offices maintained by Sen. Grassley do not handle policy questions." Do not handle? What does that mean? Staff get paid to facilitate all sorts of communications between the senator and his constituents--but no "policy questions" allowed? Absurd. (Continued…)
jerry obrien
posted 2/27/07 @ 7:59 AM CST
These students should be charged with treason under the Sedition Act as was practiced so effectively by FDR, a great liberal president of the 1930's and 40's (have these unpatriotic students heard of him?). (Continued…)
HD
posted 2/27/07 @ 8:01 AM CST
"Peace in our time."
KF
posted 2/27/07 @ 8:37 AM CST
I agree that more might have been done to inquire why 'no politics go through that building," since it doesn't seem to make sense on its face. Also, I am shocked that Cordardo would generalize another religious denomination - saying that all Catholics side with Bush is quite untrue. (Continued…)
EE
posted 2/27/07 @ 8:48 AM CST
"... do not handle policy questions." What does that mean? Obviously, at least to some extent they do as many of my concerns dealing directly with policy have been fielded by the office. (Continued…)
Jimbo
posted 2/27/07 @ 8:50 AM CST
Hippies piss me off
Bill
posted 2/27/07 @ 9:41 AM CST
It's time to stand up against these liberal communist scum bags! And we should start with charging them and all there Democratic icons with "Treason. (Continued…)
Shari
posted 2/27/07 @ 10:18 AM CST
Wow, war mongers don't want anyone to have free speech. We can take your hate because we have peace and love in our hearts. Even President Roosevelt would not stick to our guns in this war. (Continued…)
Daniel G. Clark
posted 2/27/07 @ 10:38 AM CST
From the news story, it sounds to me like the protesters and Grassley field staffers and Cedar Rapids cops displayed a more "civil dialogue" than we see in the cheap shots and name-calling here. (Continued…)
brennan
posted 2/27/07 @ 10:46 AM CST
BILL,
What are you talking about, "WE"? Get some Guns, and do it yourself... Coward.
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