Published on National Catholic Reporter (http://ncronline.org)
Anti-drone
activist reports to jail for six-month sentence
Patrick O'Neill | Jan. 20, 2016
Wondering
if she will ever see her mother again, Catholic anti-drone activist and
grandmother Mary Anne Grady Flores [1] made
a final stop Tuesday, Jan. 19, to say goodbye to her mother, Teresa
Grady, before leaving Ithaca, N.Y., to report to jail to begin serving a six-month
jail sentence in East Syracuse, N.Y.
In a
case that has dragged on for almost three years, Grady Flores, 59, chauffeured
by two of her four children, headed off into a threatening winter snowstorm
hoping to get to the Town of DeWitt Court by Tuesday afternoon, where she was
remanded to custody at the Jamesville Correctional Facility.
In an
odd twist, Grady Flores, who also has three grandchildren, went to the Hancock
Field Air National Guard Base just to take photographs of her sister and seven
other Catholic activists who were blocking a road in a 2013 Ash Wednesday
protest. In a 2014 trial, Grady Flores was convicted, sentenced
to a year in jail [2] and fined $1,000. Ironically, the
other eight defendants, including Grady Flores' sister, Ellen Grady, were
acquitted.
She
was released on a $5,000 appeal bond after spending a week in jail. On Jan. 12
Grady Flores was notified by the court that her appeal was denied and she was
ordered to report to jail, her one-year sentence reduced to six months.
When
the camera-toting Grady Flores accidentally stepped into the road, she was
taken into custody for violating an "order of protection," that the
court put in place to thwart the anti-drone protests that have been going on
since 2010. The protection order, normally used in cases of domestic violence,
bars activists from going near Col. Earl Evans and his workplace -- Hancock.
Evans, mission support group commander for the 174th Attack Wing (which includes
drones) requested the order after an anti-drone demonstration at the base in
2012.
In an
interview with NCR, Grady Flores said Evans testified at her trial
that he did not know the defendant, that he was not afraid of her and never had
a conversation with her. "I just want those protesters away from my
base," Grady Flores said Evans told the court. Now, Grady Flores' lawyers
are taking her appeal to the N.Y. State Court of Appeals.
"Our
attorneys are arguing that you cannot take out an order of protection on behalf
of property," she said.
She
has requested a bond while the appeal is pending, but the legal process could
move so slowly that she may have to serve her full sentence, which she
calculates would be three months and three weeks with credit for time-served
and the "good time" she would receive under New York State sentencing
guidelines.
Most
important to Grady Flores is her mother's health. Teresa Grady is the
matriarch, and Grady Flores is the eldest sibling, of the renowned Grady family
of peace activists, all of whom live in Ithaca. Teresa Grady's late husband,
John, and her five children, as well as some of the grandchildren, have all
spent time in jail and prison for anti-war actions. The elder Grady, who is 88,
suffers from Alzheimer's Disease and has recently been in declining health.
Grady Flores said she had a hopeful, good visit with her mother Tuesday.
"It
was so sweet; she was so upbeat," Grady Flores said. "She was
smiling. She was saying, 'I hope to see you soon. I love you.' And she was full
of joy, and I told her, 'Mom, I'll be out.' She said, 'You come out
soon.'"
Grady
Flores said just three days earlier her mother "was not looking
good," but was doing better Tuesday. "If I had left having only seen
her on that night, I would not be walking with the right joy in my heart that I
am feeling now," Grady Flores said. "But you never know. There's all
kinds of possibilities, and so we just need to be real. I said to Mom, 'Thank
you Mom for teaching me how to do this, for teaching all of us how to do
this.'"
Asked
if she was afraid heading off to jail, Grady Flores replied: "No, I'm not
afraid. I feel so incredibly carried by this grace that is just lifting me and
helping me move through with a calm that I have not felt -- I don't think --
ever before considering what I'm facing and possibly losing Mom.
"I'm
set. I have an incredible support community. The drone pilots refer to their
program as 'bug splat,' which is really crude. That's one of the ways, only one
of the ways, that they dehumanize the other, the victims.
"I'm
going into jail, but I'm not bug splat. I'm alive, and I have an incredible,
loving community of people that are praying and joining the resistance. Of
course I'm going to go in and see a bunch of great friends in there --
including the guards. I've met them before and I have had great conversations
with them."
Patrick
O’Neill is a longtime NCR contributor.
Source URL (retrieved on 01/20/2016 - 13:59): http://ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/anti-drone-activist-reports-jail-six-month-sentence
Links:
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.
Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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