John
Ewers' Journal from Prison
Aug 18,
2001-Sept 17, 2001
08-18-01
Today starts my second month of journaling. I hope I enjoy the
second month as much as I did the first. I sent my first off to
Paula yesterday along with letters and other papers I received in
the first month.
Peter runs the Pike's Peak marathon today. I talked to him
yesterday. He says he is ready. May God go with him.
Bill & I are on call out for medical on Monday. I hope this
means we are cleared and I can go to work. I tried to weigh in
yesterday but the scale in recreation is not weighing correctly. I
took it to maintenance. Mr Kelly said they would try to repair it.
I do feel like I'm progressing with my weight loss and
conditioning but I'd like to be able to confirm it regularly.
I changed my running route on the hill yesterday. I'm still
doing two miles-seven laps-but in a different pattern. My right
knee feels better with this and the new shoes. We'll see.
I made progress on correspondence yesterday but I still have
fourteen unanswered letters. I wrote eight yesterday. I'd like to
do about five each day. I really like doing it.
I'm getting an expanded base of understanding of the federal
laws on prosecuting and sentencing. I finished reading the
internet material Margaret sent and I'm about a quarter of the way
through "Drug Crazy" that Willie sent. It's a good
project.
08-19-01
Bill & I had a great visit with Margaret, Beth and Jim
yesterday. They arrived a little before eleven and left about
2:30. I was surprised we had so much good stuff to talk about. The
other amazing thing was that they set the five of us up to sit
together. We had been advised that one visitor couldn't visit two
inmates.
Another amazing thing happened when Bill & I were getting
patted down at the end of the visit. Mr Noble, the same guy that I
had the SOA conversation with on Paula's first visit, was on duty.
We stood and talked for at least ten minutes about SOA Watch's
goal of promoting peace and good government by using the military
resources saved by closing the SOA. At one point, I figured our
conversation was done because he was so busy patting down other
inmates that had completed their visit. But he said to hang on a
minute-and we continued our conversation. At the end, he & I
shook hands. It was an excellent encounter.
Last evening I was in the middle of listening to "Prarie
Home Companion" when one of the guys invited me to a Sat nite
chapel service. I decided to go. The first hour was some good
singing-very enjoyable. The preaching that followed was very
uncomfortable for me. The preacher was "performing", in
my opinion-screaming and jumping around and up on chairs. At the
close, he had an altar call and he was practically dragging guys
up. The thrust of his preaching was that we're all sinners and
needed to be saved. In its basic sense, I don't disagree. But it
seems like every preacher that comes in has the same message. I
can't help feeling that they figure a bunch of inmates must need a
steady dose of this. I decided this morning to try to talk to the
chaplain and give him my observation.
It's time for the 10am stand-up count followed by Paula's
visit. It doesn't get any better than that!
8-20-01
Yesterday was excellent. We had a good Bible study. I changed
into my "visitor greens", did a little bit of
correspondence but couldn't really concentrate. I went outside and
waited for Paula's arrival. She got here about 10:45 and she left
at 2:45. We pretty much talked non-stop. It was an excellent
visit. This was her third visit. It seemed a little more routine.
She will come again the Saturday before Labor Day.
I find myself thinking about the visit to the nurse at 1pm
today. I sure hope it's good news. I really want to get going on
the maintenance crew.
I finished "Lift Up Your Voice Like a Trumpet" last
night. It is a good recap of the clergy involvement in the civil
rights and Vietnam War movements. One of the main themes that runs
thru it is the difficulty of parish clergy to get their
congregations in active support of the movements. When I think
about today's hot issues-homosexual rights, Iraq sanctions,
capital punishment, close the SOA-I think things are worse. I hate
to say it but I think it's true.
8-21-01
Well, I got cleared by medical. I'm not on today's call out to
report to Maintenance. I think I'll try to see Mr Byrd today or
tomorrow to see if he'll push it along. I'm also going to take
that opportunity to see if he'll discuss options for getting a
second TV.
I cleaned up most of my backlog of unanswered letters. I have
five recent ones unanswered and received nine new ones at last
night's mail call.
This morning during my prayers I remembered the name of the
woman from College Hill Church who is in prison in Texas-Joyce D.
I haven't heard from Robert E about the idea of having members
write her but I just wrote Bob last week.
I had a good conversation with "Mike" this morning at
breakfast. He's doing 15 months for answering the telephone: a
marijuana distributor called him to see if he wanted a buy. The
guy only said something like-"get yourself ready"
(meaning "get your money ready"). As it turned out, the
distributor had already been arrested and now he was
"cooperating" with the feds in order to get the
prosecutor to reduce his sentence. As it turned out this guy
implicated 18 people, including his wife, who were his customers.
Mike said he didn't even agree to a buy over the phone but the
call itself was enough to implicate him and get him convicted.
What happened to the distributor? As a result of cooperating,
agreeing to a drug program, got time in a half-way house, his
sentence dropped from 8 years to 28 months incarceration. I can't
help thinking that the 18 people arrested, not even physically
making a buy and only users, are just filling up prison space.
What a waste all the way around!
08-22-01
Well, I had an interesting conversation with Mr Byrd yesterday.
I first asked about pushing my clearance for work. He said he
didn't get the doctor's OK. He said the doctor usually clears
paperwork on Wed (today) so I'm thinking I may be on for the
Thursday call out or at the latest Friday. It seems peculiar that
I'm so eager to get going but that's the way it is! I think it
will be a new and interesting experience-we'll see!
I also talked to Mr Byrd about replacing the TV. I mentioned
that the way it is now, it will never be replaced. He agreed. I
suggested the possibility of restitution by the current B-2
inmates. He said that wouldn't work. He told me that the only
possible way it would happen would be for the person or persons
who damaged the TV to come forward and admit it. I might pass the
word.
Bill and I signed up for a Philsophy course on Mon & Wed
nights-6-8pm- for the next 12 weeks. It's a 50 minute video each
session followed by a discussion. Sounds interest.
Big News! I talked to Paula yesterday and she said I received a
letter from Tony Hall and he has signed on to HR1810 as a
co-sponsor. She is sending the letter. As soon as I get it, I will
send him a thank you letter. Then my "anniversary"
letter next month will ask him to try to get his colleagues to do
the same.
I sure wish I would hear from SOAWatch. I'm getting more and
more concerned that we are wasting valuable time. I think the
SOA26 could make a big push for letters and attendance at the Nov
vigil.
08-23-01
Yesterday was "same ole, same ole". I'm starting to
feel logey. I think and hope that getting on the work detail will
help. But there was no posting for me.
I finished reading "Drug Crazy". It was a very good
book. I want to make some notes and then get it to others to read.
The last chapter is a good summary of where our government should
go from here.
08-24-01
I went at "flank" speed all day yesterday but it did
pick up at the end of the day on a high note. Bill & I had a
very good solidarity time last evening. One of the guys dropped by
and said Bill and I are on today's Call-Out. I checked right after
Solidarity Hour and I'm on today's call-out for Maintenance! It
only took five weeks and three days - but who's counting!
I ate breakfast with some maintenance guys this morning and
found out I should report to maintenance at 6:45am. I quick ate my
meal, came back and brushed my teeth, read my Bible and prayed,
(forgot to make my bed) and hot-footed it over to maintenance. I
met Mr Salyers, one of the two supervisors. I found out there are
two crews. I'm on Mr Kelly's crew. Each crew works alternating
four and five day weeks. Guess what? My crew is off today! I don't
know whether to laugh or cry. I decided to laugh! So I'm going to
spend my "three day weekend" catching up on
correspondence and making notes on the "Drug Crazy"
book.
During our solidarity time, Bill and I hit on a few things. We
identified the nine prisoners of the SOA26 who are alone (no buddy
POC) and tried to think in terms of who might need the most
prayers. I think we decided all were pretty strong but it was a
fun exercise thinking of each one and talking about each one. My
mother used to say that your ears burn when someone is talking
about you. So I hope there were nine pairs of ears burning. I'm
looking at my picture right now, remembering again with love and
gratitude-Richard John, Clare, Dave, Jack, Russell, Jon, Steve,
Karl, Lois-and the rest of the 26.
Bill and I got talking about some anecdotes from our time
together in May and suddenly realized that it was the third month
anniversary of our sentencing. This means that Jack, Josh and Karl
are halfway through their sentence.
I reflected on how the last three years plus of my life have
changed, starting with my life-changing experience standing in the
midst of the Nelson Mandela Camp outside of Cartagena, Colombia.
I've also been realizing that I've met so many wonderful people.
My life has been expanded and enriched-and in ways, I think, I
don't understand now but, hopefully, will as my life goes on.
08-25-01
Today is Todd's 40th birthday! What a challenge and Oh what a
joy to have had him with us for his thirty years on earth! As
Bunni Magison said in her poem, "Todd": "He
enriched me beyond measure, finding joy in simple things" In
my prayer time this morning, thanking God for his life, it
occurred to me that Todd probably had something to do with molding
me in a way that has brought me to where I am this day, in this
place, doing what I'm doing. I love you, Todd.
Bill just dropped in as I finished the last sentence. I told
him it was Todd's birthday and talked about Todd amidst a few
tears. He had his hand on my shoulder. The timing was so precise
that I believe the Lord had his hand in it. Coupled with this is
that I tried to call Paula earlier. The connection was made but
she couldn't hear me. I just tried again and it happened again. I
have to wait an hour before I try again-which I will. Bill was
Paula's surrogate when I needed it. Wow!
On a different subject, yesterday was good-as most of them are.
We now have a scale for weigh-ins. I hadn't weighed in for two
weeks and I had dropped 1 1/2 pounds. This brings my total to four
pounds in 5 weeks. I'm right on target, if not a little ahead of
my 20 pound goal. It's getting easier to bend over and tie my
shoes!
My mail last night was big-the beat goes on-and I love it! It
is really keeping me energized. I'm going to take a shot at
writing ten letters today and keep my backlog current. I got
Paula's package with a bunch of stuff including Tony Hall's letter
of support and co-sponsorship of the bill to close the school!
08-26-01
I ended up getting eight letters out. Today is a little busier
with Bible study, church and washing. Maybe I can write five. I'll
try. I also have quite a bit of reading to do.
I finally got thru to Paula at dinner time. I think we figured
the problem was that Paula was so excited to get my call that she
punched the "5" button too quickly. She had a good day
yesterday. Not much else for now.
08-28-01
I missed journaling yesterday. It was my first official day of
work and I also had our first class in Philosophy and then had
Monday night Bible study.
Work is going OK. I'm getting the feel for the culture. There
are 2 teams with 7-8 people on each. I'm supervised by Mr Kelly. I
report at 6:45am, have 11-12 for noon meal and finish at 3pm.
Monday morning there was no work. I signed a few forms and got in
a conversation with both supervisors about why I'm here and why
we're trying to close the SOA. It was OK-nothing special-but I was
pleased they were curious. I wonder if they can relate to the PoC
willingness. Several of the inmates I talk to can't figure it out.
I sat around all morning with nothing to do. It was a very
long morning. I had a couple of good conversations on the federal
justice system. Pretty much the same scenario as previously
described. I noticed there were two cupolas on the maintenance
shop that needed paint pretty badly. I asked Mr Kelly after lunch
if I could paint them. He said, "OK." I also asked him
if I could write letters at times when there is no work. He again
said, "OK."
I checked out a ladder and the tools I needed and scraped the
loose paint on both cupolas the rest of the afternoon. It felt
good to go to work. This morning I finished scraping, caulked
cracks and crevices and started priming. I'll finish priming
tomorrow and then finish painting on Thursday. I need to nose
around for other jobs and hopefully some regular jobs will pop up.
Tonight Bill and I start a twelve week course in Conversational
Spanish-2 hours on Tues & Thurs.
I'm writing this while I wait for mail call. I think I'll try
to do the journaling at this time and see how it goes. I am pretty
tired because of starting work. I've run both days right after
work and I'm kind of dragging. I hope I'll pick up steam. I'm
getting up about 5:40am now - Paul across the way is waking me up.
This gives me just enough time to wash and shave, have breakfast,
brush my teeth, make my bunk, read my Bible and pray. I'll see how
this works out.
Today Bill and I start our 7th week of incarceration. It still
feels good. I'm where I shoud be. The support from outside I'm
getting is terrific except for SOA Watch. I'm sure they are busy
but I'd think they could at least acknowledge receipt of my
strategy proposal 3 weeks ago and my letter two weeks ago. I'm
still getting 20-25 letters a week. By far, it's the most anyone
here gets. There does not seem to be any resentment but there is
some kidding. Just went to mail call. Only one letter
09-01-01
My plan for journaling between evening meal and mail call
hasn't worked out as you can tell by the dates. I'll try to catch
up for the 3 days I missed. I'm feeling a little uneasy about
getting everything done. The things that have slipped are
journaling and letter writing. I haven't counted but I must have
15-20 unanswered letters. I'm going to try to catch up this
week-end which includes Labor Day.
Paula is coming today and I'm really looking forward to it. For
some reason, I'm missing her a bit more. It may be because we were
talking earlier in the week and the phone cut off in
mid-conversation. I didn't think much about it but after I went to
bed I started being concerned. I got up and tried to call her. I
got the message that I had reached my maximum calling minutes for
the month(300 minutes). Bill called Beth and asked her to call
Paula and let her know what happened.
I have a pretty good feeling for how work is going. There
really is very little work to do. At least half the guys just sit
around, talk, play bocci or horseshoes or read. I can't do that. I
need to be doing something useful. I've figured out that you can
"nose" around and come up with your own projects so
that's what I'll do plus volunteer for the regular projects when
they come up.
I finished the painting project Friday just before chow. It
looks very good. Several of the guys complimented me-but the
supervisors didn't. I do feel like they are "warming up"
a bit though. They certainly don't hassle me.
Right after lunch I talked to Mr Kelly about a project to clean
and caulk the gutters on the compound. He said, "OK." I
spent Friday afternoon checking to see what needed to be done,
gave him a plan and a timetable and material and tool
requirements. He said,"OK." I think it will take next
week which is only three days because of the holiday and having
Friday off. I'll be able to use one other guy.
I signed my first time slip. Mr Kelly said my rate of pay
hasn't been determined yet. He smiled and said it won't be much. I
smiled and said I understand. The pay range is four steps starting
at $.12 per hour. I think he has some discretion so I'm hoping he
will put me on step two which I think is $.19 per hour. We'll see.
On a related subject, Bill & I learned that Jon Hunt, one
of the 26, has decided to "non-cooperate." He will serve
his time in "the hole" (solitary). He will have one hour
per day for exercise and very limited privileges. I respect him
for this as I'm sure it is a well-thought out decision. It has
make me think of my decision on how to conduct myself while
inside.
My choice is to interact with other prisoners and staff as much
as possible and, hopefully, learn from them the nature of prison
life and perhaps become involved in improving it. At the same
time, as I interact, I can let them see how I talk, act, respond
and perhaps it can benefit them.
One of the things that happened this week was replacement of
the 2nd TV in our unit. I had sent a cop-out to Mr Byrd (previous
journal entries) and it was rejected. I discussed it with him and
he still gave no hope. I discussed it with some inmates and found
there was action on more cop-outs asking for replacement. I'll
never know what, if any, influence I had but I think the lesson I
"taught" was to persist rather than complain: keep
looking for solutions to problems that have a win-win aspect to
them.
On another subject, the classes that Bill & I enrolled in
are going well so far. We have had 2 Philosophy classes and 2
Spanish classes. We had a video on the nature and content of the
Old Testament followed by a lively discussion. There are about 15
in the class. I didn't participate much because I was tired from a
hard day of work plus Old Testament is not my "strong
suit." I still learned a bit and took some notes.
The 1st Spanish class left both Bill and me wondering if it
would be worthwhile. The 2nd class was very good. Frank &
Richard are inmates and not trained instructors but seem to work
together as a team very well. I'm feeling motivated. So far we've
been learning alphabet and its pronunciation, numbers, days of
week, months and some vocabulary. Frank is a Puerto Rican, about
50, long-termer, outspoken and "very colorful" in his
language. Richard is a doctor doing 5 months. He is a native of
Peru or Chile (can't remember which). He is laid-back but quite a
good instructor. I have high hopes for learning some Spanish.
Changing subjects, I weighed in yesterday and I think I lost 2
pounds last week, total of 6 in the first 6 weeks. I'm right on my
plan of a pound a week. I'm still exercising every day plus now
I'm working on physical tasks. Bill and I are both concentrating
on fruit, vegetables and salad. I still eat meat and most other
stuff. Guys that work in the garden or have access to it have been
bringing tomatoes- cherry and regular. I take to evening meals and
we share. Tony, one of the gardeners, has brought in 2 bags of
green beans. I've been steaming them in the microwave. They are
excellent!
Well, I think that may catch me up. I'm going to organize my
letter-writing for the week-end and I also hope to organize some
notes on drug offenses and minimum sentencing.
09-03-01
Yesterday was Sunday with the regular schedule of our class at
8:30-9:30 followed by a standing count, brunch, chapel at 11:30
till 1pm. Once again, the preacher was shouting and jumping with a
message of all of us sinning but having the opportunity to be
saved. Most of the guys seem to accept the message OK. I may talk
to the chaplian about variety. I don't know.
I didn't journal yesterday but I did work on my backlog of
correspondence. I counted my backlog at 29. When I finished
writing last night it was down to 18. I plan to write a lot
today-the Labor Day holiday-and hope to get into single digits.
Perhaps strangely (for those that know I'm not much of a letter
writer) I am really enjoying corresponding. I hope nobody stops
writing because I keep mentioning it.
Paula & I had a great visit Sat. She had dropped Mildred
Kalter off in Marietta on Friday, stayed the night and driven here
Sat. Kathy is coming next weekend for a meeting in Baltimore. She
and Paula will visit me on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it! At
the end of my visit Sat, I had a 15 minute discussion with my
favorite Correction Officer. He started it by asking me what I
would do to change the prison system. I mentioned reducing or
eliminating mandatory sentences and decriminalizing some drug
offenses. We were going strong at 3pm and I had to excuse myself
so I could get my run in before the 4pm standup count.
Today is the 42nd day of my incarceration & the end of my
first tablet of paper-both milestones!
09-05-01
I'm starting my 2nd pad of journaling paper today on an
inauspicious note. It looks like I won't have any work today. I'm
sitting at a picnic table outside of the Maintenance Building on a
sunny, cool morning. I probably will spend my day reading &
writing letters. Actually, this isn't bad at all, the more I think
about it. The problem is one of expectations. I expected to start
the gutter cleaning & caulking project today but at the last
minute they took the only 8 foot step ladder for a rush job
repairing a perimeter fence at the main prison across the road.
I nosed around for a half an hour looking for a useful job and
then decided this will be a "paper" day. The more I
think about this prospect, the better I feel. Onward and upward! I
had a great mail call last evening-15 letters & several
packages of e-mail & information. This translates to the
opportunity to write letters about what I'm doing, what I've
learned that hopefully will be interesting to others when I write
them. So now I've got a nice backlog of letters to write &
information to read.
I just had a half hour "interruption." Ray dropped
by. We got talking about his family & how he couldn't be at
his mother's funeral & how his so-called friends have screwed
him while he's inside for 6 years.
Little by little, guys are feeling more comfortable talking to
me. Yesterday I was on a fourman detail tearing out part of the
shower room in the A-2 unit, getting ready to replace tile. I tend
do go for the nasty stuff to do. In the process, I can see the
guys feel like I'm more like one of them even tho I'm different
for why I'm here. I got so nasty dirty, I had to change my t-shirt
for brunch & had to wash my work clothers at the end of the
day. It was a good day!
During a lull in the work, I got talking to Russ. He wanted to
know about the school. I had a good conversation going both ways.
I found out he is in for 4 years on an illegal gun ownership
charge. He was offered 18 months if he'd plead guilty. He declined
because he had 12 years in the Army & wanted to make the Army
his career. He went to trial expecting to be cleared, so he could
stay in the Army. Now when he gets out, he's a convicted felon
& can't get back in the Army. He says he has no respect for
the government.
Our Spanish class last night dragged a bit but it was OK. I
spent some time before class working on pronunciation, numbers,
days of the week & months of the year. We spent a big chunk of
time in class drilling on these ares. I'm starting to feel pretty
good. We are getting some vocabulary.
Bill got some mail last night but, again, didn't hear from
Hazel. I can tell he's concerned. Now he's thinking she may be
using the wrong address. I hope he gets a letter soon. He's
writing to her.
The last couple of weeks there have been a lot of guys coming
& going, mostly completing sentences or going to half-way
houses preparatory to their release. With all the new guys coming
in, I'm starting to feel like a "veteran" inmate even
tho we just started our 8th week yesterday. I have to start
thinking about what I'm going to write in my next round of letters
to Pres Bush et al. Well, I'm going to move on to reading the
stuff I got last night at mail call. Onward for the good of the
cause!
09-07-01
Yesterday, Thursday, was a very busy day but good. I'll try to
catch up today since I have the day off from Maintenance (every
other Friday).
I caught up on my reading of incoming mail & information
Wed. About 2pm they brought back the 8 ft ladder I need to start
the gutter project. I got excited & thought I could get
started. The guys in the tool room quickly told me not to start a
project that late. Little by litttle I'm getting a feeling for
what is an acceptable level of effort.
Wed night Bill & I got called out of our Philosophy class
to report to Mr Sparks' office. He's our Case Manager. I told Bill
on the way over that they were probably going to give us early
release. Of course, I was kidding. It turned out Mr Sparks wanted
us to sign a document saying we would make arrangements to pay the
balance of our $1000 fine when we were released. The document was
incorrect so we didn't sign it. He needs to get it corrected. As
it turns out, we don't want to "make arrrangements" and
make it easy on the government. This comes on the heels of Paula
finding out that my Social Security monthly payment cut-off will
cover 7 months rather than only for my 6 month sentence. She's
writing Tony Hall, our Representative.
The Philosophy course we are taking is an interesting overview
of the development of thinking leading to ethical thinking,
systems of governing, etc. Wed we saw a video on the New Testament
books of Mark & Matthew. Each session has this followed by a
group discussion with some leading questions.
Thursday I finally got the gutter project going. It looks like
it will take at least all next week. If I can keep my enthusiasm
in check, maybe it will take longer.
Mail call last night yielded 2 interesting letters which came
just in time for Bill's and my solidarity hour. Martha Hayward,
one of the 26 who got 3 year's probation, wrote & updated us
on her situation & on the newsletter she & Kathryn Temple
were putting together for the 26.
There was also a 5 page hand-written letter from Jeff Winder at
the SOA Watch office in response to my strategy proposal &
suggestion letter. I had expressed concern that I hadn't received
response from SOA Watch. I have been praying for them & for a
response & here it is on perfect timing for Bill & me to
discuss at length, which we did.
We also got the news in Jeff's letter that Sister Dorothy, the
88 year old nun, has been relocated to her hometown of Dubuque,
Iowa "for medical reasons." She is in a half-way house
and is doing OK but she wasn't too happy about it.
We also learned that Father Roy is going to prison again.
Neither Bill nor I had heard that he had been arrested, tried
& sentenced.
I'm going to write Jeff today & thank him for his letter
but also to push the idea of having the 26 as active as possible
while in prison.
And with that, I need to get to writing some letters!
09-07-01
Yesterday I did get some letters written but not as many as I
wanted to. I spent a good bit of the morning organizing my work
load & reading material that Paula, Margaret Knapke & Jim
Lucas have sent me. When I finished I felt like I knew what my
work ahead was. Today I hope to make a lot of progress answering
letters. Last night's mail brought this week's letters to about
30.
Bill Newcomb, Stated Clerk of Presbytery, sent me an article
from the "Economist" magazine on the drug situation. I
need to re-read it. Some points are new, esp the economics as the
"drug industry" is huge & flourishing.
A few days ago I received a letter from Guatamala. It was a
statement signed by about 50 Mayan-Catholic lay pastors/educators.
Bill & I were deeply moved by it. Here it is:
"...thank you one & all for risking imprisonment for
your protest to close down the School of the Americas at Ft
Benning, GA in November 2000. There is no need to remind us how US
foreign policy toward Central America has caused as much sorrow
for those of this parish in the past, and continues in the present
if the charges being brought against other SOA graduates for their
participation in the death of our former bishop, the beloved Juan
Gerardi, prove true. And just as the sacrifice made by our beloved
Oscar Romero resisting "military solutions" has born
fruit for his people, your choosing to do penance for the sins of
your congress & government will surely be accepted by the Lord
for the redemption of all. May the merciful Lord bless those who
seek a better world with justice."
The thing that struck us particularly was the phrase "your
choosing to do penance for the sins..". I am not Catholic but
I see part of what I do as penance because it absolves our
government of its collective sins against the people of Central
Amerca and it assumes that our government will change its
foreign policy to redress the grievances of the people of the
sovereign nations of Latin America.
As I have reflected on this, I think I will use this as the
body of my 2nd letter to President Bush et al on September 17th.
09-09-01
Yesterday was quiet and productive. I wrote 12 letters, visited
with several people, had a fine run, a little longer than usual
& read more of "The Grapes of Wrath."
I was troubled to learn that our friend, Greg, had been in a
fight & been pretty badly beaten. He has been moved across the
street for both treatment & discipline. He is in the hole. I'm
praying for him.
I talked to Peter & all is well with their family. He's
geting ready to run a half marathon in Boulder next week. I wrote
Rich another letter yesterday, hoping this will stimulate him to
write to me.
Margaret acquired the guidelines for submitting an article
to" Presbyterians Today" magazine. She suggests I pick
out a subject to write on & submit it directly to them, rather
than thru her. I wrote her & told her that is what I will do.
That's a project I'll have to give some real thought to.
Mentioning Margaret, reminds me that she has had much empathy
for my being celebate for these 6 months in prison (and of course
Paula is as well). She & Beth tried to set up a celebate
solidarity support group on the internet-and didn't get any
takers. Her latest effort has been to design a letterhead on
stationery that shows a monk sitting at his dest with quill pen in
hand repeatedly writing : Celibacy is not so bad
Celibacy is not so bad
Celibacy is not so bad.
She sent me some of this special paper. Now I have to decide
who to write letters to using it. Prison is just one challenge
after another-but I gladly take it on for this worthy cause for
which we all work!
09-12-01
It's 8:30pm & I just got back from Philosophy class. The
course is a struggle. The videos are hard to understand, there are
no handouts & no leaders' guide. The discussions are pretty
good. We'll keep on.
I'm in a state of shock with the events of yesterday. I am
better today. Yesterday I was dazed. I was having a very difficult
time accepting the reality of something so incredible.
I was working on my gutter project yesterday when I came in our
unit to get a pail of water. Greg hollered at me from the TV area.
I went in & saw the 2nd crash. I quickly put on my ear phones
& watched until chow. As guys came in there was a lot of
interest. There were a couple of guys who clapped their hands
& shouted. I was appalled at their reaction. I know both of
them and, afterward, I couldn't look at them Later yesterday I
watched with them & their attitude was different. As I thought
about their initial reaction, I realized they both are very bitter
with the way the government dealt with them. I haven't talked to
them about it. The education programs and all the work details
were shut down for the afternoon. I watched TV for the rest of the
day except for time our for our Spanish class.
Today was almost back to normal. I attribute this to how
regimented & insulated we are here.
I realized after watching the horror unfold yesterday that
Kathy was in Baltimore for a meeting & Paula was in Washington
with Mildred. I can't get in touch with Paula but I assume she is
safe but I feel like I really want to talk to her. She will be
home Thursday. I talked to Dave yesterday but he only had a
message from Kathy saying they are coping & going to give
blood. I talked to Eric & Zach tonight but Dave isn't home
from work yet. Zach said he thinks Dave has talked to Kathy. She's
due to fly from Baltimore Thursday. She may have a problem. I hope
not. I'll try Dave again before I go to bed.
The weather has been beautiful. I've been working all week on
the gutter cleaning & caulking project. Several of the guys
think I'm still working too hard. I tell them I'm only working
steady. I wore my headset all day today & listened to NPR
radio. I felt better being able to listen to today's developments,
analysis & plans.
Mail this week is a little lighter but not much. I received
some great stuff which I'll probably comment on later. One, tho,
was a whole bunch of greetings from the College Hill Choir
members. They wrote them as the "price of admissions" to
the choir picnic. I need to write them a real nice letter that
they can read at rehearsal!
09-15-01
It's Saturday morning-a beautiful, clear, cool fall morning. I
just called Paula & Kathy & got cut off in
mid-conversation. I realized I let my telephone account run
out-chalk one up for stupidity! I can call again in an hour. While
we were talking I learned Kathy's flight to Chicago was cancelled.
Bummer! They're trying to come up with an alternative.
I'm going to write a bunch of letters this weekend. Mail has
been relatively light this week as I should be able to catch up.
Today's big deal is a visit from Beth, Margaret & Mary
Hershberger. Officially, Beth & Margaret are visiting Bill
& Mary is visiting me. I hope we can all visit together like
we did last time. We'll see.
Bill & I had an interesting experience Thursday. We were
called into Mr Sparks' office. When we entered, he said,
"close the door." Oh Oh! But it was not a problem. It
seems the staff had become aware that the 1st month of this
journal was posted on the "poetics" web page. Mr Sparks
said they had no problem and, in fact, he said they couldn't do
anything about it if they wanted to-and they don't. He said he
respected what we were doing & didn't consider us to be
criminals. Their concern was that I fully identified some inmates
who I referred to in some of my journaling. I told him I was
trying to keep my stuff anonymous & will be more attentive.I
checked & found 2 full names & Bill found a 3rd. Paula
will try to get them removed. It was a cordial discussion. I told
Mr Sparks this discussion would be in my journal & he said to
make sure his name was spelled right. We laughed a little. He also
said he had observed the work I was doing on the gutter project
& he said I was doing a good job. I thanked him.
I'm still a bit dazed by the events of this week. I've watched
some TV to keep up on developments. I've also been able to listen
to the radio thru my head set while I'm working on the gutters.
I'm quite concerned about the reference to this as
"war." The upsurge of patriotism, the sale of flags in
large quantities, the congressional appropriation of 40 billion
dollars with one lone dissent all make this sound more and more
like the atmosphere of the Gulf War. And there isn't much I can do
about it-except pray-which I am doing! It is not a war. It is
massive terrorism. This is not one country attacking another. I
pray for cool, measure, thoughtful leadership. My hope is that the
perpetrators & collaborators will be brought thru our justice
system as they were in the '93 World Trade Center bombing.
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the atmosphere of the
government. We can only hope and pray.
09-16-01
Yesterday was not a normal day. I called home & talked to
Paula & Kathy and found out that Kathy's flight to Chicago was
cancelled. They were scrambling for alternatives. In
mid-conversation we got cut off because I forgot to transfer money
to my phone account. I did so after the fact but I called again
several times during the day but wasn't able to get through. I
talked to Paula first thing this morning and found out that Kathy
was able to rent a one-way car to Chicago & catch a train to
Denver from there.
Our visitors didn't arrive until 1:30pm so we only had a 90
minute visit. We weren't able to cover some areas but we did have
a good discussion about the bombing & particularly about the
possibility of not having the November vigil because Ft Benning is
on high alert.
Margaret was contacted by Father Roy & asked to secure
opinions on how to respond. I can't say our discussion yielded a
concensus. I will say Mary & I felt we should proceed with the
event since it is so important to the strategy of the movement to
close the school.
I failed to mention the circumstances. General LeMoyne, the Ft
Benning Commandant, talked to the Mayor of Columbus & told him
he would not allow the funeral procession onto the base because of
the base high-alert status. In turn, the mayor contacted Fr Roy
& told him the city would not issue a permit for the gathering
outside the base entrance.
A suggestion was made to challenge not issuing a permit,
securing legal representation to do so. The rational is that if we
"knuckle under" it shows that we are not strongly
committed to the movement & will lose support. Margaret will
feed back to SOA Watch staff.
Since then, I woke up in the middle of last night with a
thought which I "bounced off" Bill this morning Here it
is:
Agree to cancel the Nov gathering if Congress will pass
HR1810-Moakley's bill, which will shut down the school for a year
to study the need for the continuing existence of the school.
I've talked to Bill & he thinks it's a good idea. I tried
to call Margaret & couldn't reach her. I got thru later on
today. She will pass it on.
09-17-01
Well today is the anniversary of our 2nd month in prison. I've
certainly settled into a regular routine. I think I'll have to dig
a little deeper to keep my journal going-but I am enjoying the
time I spend keeping up on the happenings and insights I seem to
have. As I sign off and send this 2nd month to Paula, here is the
second letter I'm sending to Pres. Bush, Rep. Hall, Senators
DeWine & Voinovich & Secretaries Rumsfeld & Powell.
I am writing you for the 2nd time. I am at the end of my 2nd
month of incarceration for trespassing on the grounds of the
School of the Americas at Ft Benning, Georgia.
I have received many letters thanking me for my commitment
toward closing this school but none moved me more than the
following letter from fifty local leaders in Guatemala.
"We Mayan-Catholic Lay pastor-educators here in rural
Guatemala write you to thank you....for risking imprisonment for
your protest to close down the School of the Americas at Ft
Benning, Georgia in November 2000. There's no need to remind us
how US foreign policy toward Central America has caused so much
sorrow for those of this parish in the past, and continues in the
present if the charges being brought against other SOA graduates*
for their participation in the death of our former bishop, the
beloved Juan Gerardi, prove true. And just as the sacrifice made
by our beloved Oscar Romero resisting military solutions has borne
fruit for his people, your choosing to do penance for the sins of
your congress and government will surely be accepted by the Lord
for the redemption of all. May the merciful Lord bless those who
seek a better world with justice". - Signed by 50 lay leaders
in Guatemala.
*Since this letter was written in July, SOA graduates were, in
fact, convicted of the murder of Bishop Gerardi.
Sir, I urge you to use all of the authority of your office to
close this school and give new hope to the leaders of Guatemala
and all of Latin America.
Sincerely,
John Ewers
