Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

BY JIM HOUSTON, Staff Writer

U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth found 13 SOA Watch protesters guilty Wednesday of trespassing onto the Fort Benning Military Reservation during the Nov. 18 protests that drew thousands of demonstrators to the post's gates.

The 13 join 18 other protesters awaiting sentencing by Faircloth after pleading guilty or being convicted during the first two days of U.S. District Court proceedings. Each faces up to six months in federal prison and a $5,000 fine. After finding 10 defendants guilty who had pleaded not guilty, but admitted by stipulation that they crossed onto Fort Benning, Faircloth told the group he was going to invite them to go to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation -- the successor to the School of the Americas, whose presence on Fort Benning has drawn a growing number of protesters each of the last 12 years.

The School of the Americas was closed more than 18 months ago, but the protesters who allege SOA graduates have carried out atrocities in Mexico, Central and Latin America, told Faircloth that WHISC is a change in name only. The protesters testified they will not cease their demonstrations until WHISC also is closed.

The judge suggested the invitation as part of a continuing dialogue he has conducted with the protesters as their cases were tried during the last three days. He has repeatedly urged that using the democratic process, rather than committing crimes of civil disobedience, is a more effective way of achieving their goal. Most of the defendants have countered that both tactics have been used and will continue.

During her trial, Chantilly J. Geigle, 19, of Salem, Ore., told Faircloth she has lobbied Oregon's congressmen, cornered countless business and political leaders and even garnered the support of the Salem City Council for efforts to close the Fort Benning school. But the avenue of the democratic process is not the only one she will employ, she said.

"Sometimes we are called to stand up for our country and our family," said Geigle. "I'm going to do that until the SOA -- now called WHISC -- is closed."

Geigle admitted she crossed onto Fort Benning as part of the Nov. 18 demonstration after having been banned from the post for a similar trespass during protests in November 2000.

Geigle was one of three defendants who demanded a trial Wednesday without signing an agreement stipulating that they crossed onto the military reservation. She was the only one, however, who testified.

Niklan Jones-Lezama, 38, of Blacksburg, Va., and Susan Jean Daniels, 41, of Pembroke, Va., presented no evidence and did not testify, relying on arguments by attorneys Bill Quigley and John Wilson Reed, both of New Orleans, that prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence of their guilt.

Faircloth ruled the evidence presented by U.S. Army Capt. Dave Anglin and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean Daskal -- including a videotape depicting both defendants' crossing onto the post -- was sufficient to support his finding of guilt.

Of the 37 protesters from across the nation who faced trial this week, only one has been acquitted of trespass. Trial of the remaining five, who will represent themselves, begins at 9 a.m. today in the third-floor courtroom of the federal building at 12th Street and Second Avenue.