Protesters Have To Settle For Aide Group Challenges Nethercutt’S Vote To Fund Military School

Tue., March 28, 2000

By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com (509) 879-7461

A group protesting federal funds for a school that trains foreign soldiers got a delayed meeting Monday with an aide to U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt.

The 14 people peacefully entered the Spokane federal building that had been locked to them on Friday. They urged Nethercutt to oppose the School of the Americas and find more money to help the poor in Spokane.

“The School of the Americas is still a huge problem in our hemisphere,” Rusty Nelson of the Spokane Peace and Justice Action League told Nethercutt aide Don Gillespie. “We’re risking lives on the wrong side.”

The school, at Fort Benning, Ga., trains military officers from Central and South American countries. Some graduates have been linked to murders, terrorism and beatings in their home countries, including the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980.

Nethercutt has voted to continue the school’s funding, currently $20 million per year. He believes students learn about democracy and human rights, and develop valuable international contacts. He plans to go on a Pentagon tour of the school this spring.

Nancy Nelson, who with her husband has been active in peace issues in Spokane for more than a decade, said the group is frustrated that Nethercutt will not meet with them in Spokane. His predecessor, House Speaker Tom Foley, regularly met with them to discuss issues, she said.

“In person?” Gillespie asked.

“In person,” she replied.

Gillespie said he would try to arrange a meeting between Nethercutt and the group. He added that Nethercutt had nothing to do with barring the group from the building on Friday.

The Federal Protective Service had locked the building after one officer said he received a tip that some protesters wanted to stage a sit-in at Nethercutt’s office and get arrested.

Protesters said the building’s closure was a violation of their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly.

Monday, while about 20 protesters stood in the plaza in front of the building holding signs and banners, a delegation of 14 filed through the revolving door, cleared the metal detector and rode elevators up to Nethercutt’s office.

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