A War Resister's Invisible Fence

[babylonsister]

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=717

Wednesday, August 16th, 2006
A War Resister's Invisible Fence

By Mike Ferner, Navy corpsman 1969-72

Sitting at the computer, wearing my official Electronic Monitoring Ankle Bracelet is certainly better than sitting in jail…but it still does a pretty good job of reminding you you're are now in the criminal class.

On August 4, Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Charles Wittenberg sentenced me for two felony convictions for spraypainting “Troops Out Now!” on a highway overpass on January 1 of this year. Part of the sentence includes 60 days under house arrest, tethered to the 1,050 sq. ft. of my home in Toledo like it has one of those “invisible fences” for dogs at the front and back doors. The ankle bracelet ($60.00 weekly service fee) communicates with a black box ($40.00 installation fee) tied into the phone line to a company in Indiana that monitors the whole business by computer. I wonder how many and who are my fellow “monitorees,” and whether I should buy some stock. Incarceration in its various forms is clearly America's growth industry.

During the jury trial July 18-19, my attorney, Terry Lodge, and I did our best to put the war on trial, while the prosecutors did their best to narrow it to criminal vandalism – and “possession of criminal tools,” of course. Below you can read the letter I wrote the judge. He read it into the record prior to pronouncing his sentence.

more...

[gratuitous]

1. I'm moving to Lucas County

They apparently have so little other crime to attend to that graffiti on highway overpasses requires the full criminal treatment from citation through trial and post-conviction monitoring. And painting graffiti is a felony! Hell, here in Portland, you can't even get the cops to come out for car theft or a house break-in if you live in the wrong zip code (wealthy neighborhoods, as always, enjoy high police and fire responsiveness because their tax dollars are so much better than the tax dollars that come out of felony flats).

[nashville_brook]

2. "shovels and rakes and implements of destruction..."

criminal tools, you know.

[Contrary1]

3. I suggest we contact this guy

and chip in a few bucks to help defray his cost. Maybe because I'm tired of protesters being
made examples of, maybe because I wish there were more out there like him, willing to take a
public stand on the absurdity of Bush's war, or maybe because the old hippie is alive and well,
and still resides within.

Yeah, yeah, he broke the law. So what? If the president of the US can, I figure it's open season.