Mike Ferner

August 4, 2006

Friends,

Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Charles Wittenberg sentenced me this morning for the two felonies I was convicted of last month for spraypainting “TROOPS OUT NOW!” on a highway overpass near Toledo. Here’s the “box score,” as they say in baseball:

Two months electronically monitored house arrest.

18 months probation

Court costs, plus cost of prosecution

1/2 of cost of Ohio Dept. of Transportation’s ripoff estimate for repainting the overpass (my brother is paying the other half).

Dollar-wise that’s:

• “Installation fee” for the electronic monitoring (I kid you not) — $40.00
• Usage fee for electronic monitoring @ $60/week — 480.00
• Court costs — 75.00
• Cost of prosecution (who knows, but likely) — 2,000.00 +
• 1/2 of repainting overpass — 1,800.00

Earlier this week, I sent the judge a letter and he read it aloud in court today. He responded by saying this was not a case of civil disobedience, but one of vandalism and it was his duty to uphold the law. While it’s not surprising he would say that, and I have to say he was fair during the trial, it does make one wonder what the penalty would have been if I’d written “I heart Sue” instead of “TROOPS OUT NOW!”

So ends this small episode in the resistance to our criminal war in Iraq. I’m not happy with the result but I have no regrets for taking that can of spraypaint and writing “TROOPS OUT NOW!” over U.S. Route 23. Thousands of people in this area and elsewhere were confronted with the news of this case and had to stop and think, if only briefly, about this war instead of sleepwalking past the bodies. Whatever discomfort or inconvenience I’ll go through is nothing compared to what our troops, and even more so, the people of Iraq are subjected to every day.

My sincere thanks to the two dozen or more peace activists from Toledo who came to the sentencing today, and thank you to all near or distant email friends for your interest and support.

Be well. Raise hell.

Mike

Read the Letter to Judge Charles Wittenberg