2 Spokane Activists Charged In Georgia Army Base Protest

Spokane residents Rusty Nelson and Paddy Inman were charged in Georgia on Wednesday with trespassing on government property

The two men were among 600 protesters arrested by the Department of Defense Police at Ft. Benning, Ga., on Sunday.

Nelson is the head of Spokane’s Peace and Justice Action League, Inman is a teacher at Mead Middle School on an unpaid leave of absence.

Sunday’s protest marked the eighth anniversary of the massacre of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador.

Nineteen of the 26 Salvadoran officers cited for the massacre were trained at the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, according to protesters who want to see the school closed.

Nelson and Inman were charged with the misdemeanor offense. Inman and Nelson chose not to enter their pleas before a U.S. District Court Magistrate, Inman said.

They were booked at the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Columbus, Ga., before being released on their own recognizance.

“We want to take this to a higher court,” Inman said Wednesday morning as he prepared to leave Georgia.

Inman and Nelson said they will return to Columbus, Ga., early next year to appear before a district court judge. The magistrate did not set a court date for them on Wednesday.

, DataTimes