On November 12,1984, Carl Rabat, Paul Rabat, Larry Cloud Morgan, and Helen Woodson entered the N-5 missile silo site near Kansas City, Missouri, in order to disarm a Minuteman II missile. After damaging the silo's concrete lid, they held a worship service. The four activists were arrested about an hour after their action. Calling themselves the Silo Pruning Hooks, they acted in solidarity with previous Plowshares disarmament actions.
After being found guilty in March 1985, Carl was sentenced to 18 years, Paul to 10 years, Larry to eight years, and Helen to 18 years--later reduced to 12 years--in prison. Also, each was given three to five years probation and ordered to pay $2,932.80 in restitution.
On February 18, 1985, the day before the Silo Pruning Hooks trial was to begin, Art Laffin, Pat Mulvehill, Mim Olsen, Roberta Plant, and Larry Rosebaugh entered the same missile site to pray for peace and were arrested. While in Ray County Jail, in Richmond, Missouri, awaiting his own trial, Art Laffin wrote the following reflections to Carl, Paul, Larry, and Helen after learning that they had been found guilty. We offer it on the first anniversary of their sentencing as a reminder of the many risks being taken for peace. --The Editors
Amidst a minefield of 20 Minuteman missiles, each with the destructive power 100 times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, we vigiled on your behalf. Imprisoned for praying the Lord's Prayer at the very site you partially disarmed, we felt as though we were on trial with you.
In anticipation of the verdict, we dreamed of miracles--miracles of conversion and breakthroughs of conscience--for the judge, prosecutor, jury, and all who would hear of your life-giving witness. We prayed and fasted, hoping against hope. Trusting that God would watch over you regardless of what happened.
Then the verdict came over the news. FLASH....The newscaster spoke: "In most trials there is a degree of uncertainty and suspense about what kind of verdict a jury will render. But that was not the case for the Silo Pruning Hooks....The jury took only an hour to render the verdict requested by the prosecutor: Guilty."
Guilty of conspiracy. Guilty of damaging government property. Guilty of trespass.
Maximum sentence: 25 years.
My heart cried. How long must we wait before the courts render the bomb illegal? How long will it take before the nuclear death sentence looming over the world is forever abolished? Only God knows!
Despite 40 years of superpower summitry and no disarmament; despite military, political, corporate, and legal decrees sanctioning genocidal first-strike nuclear war preparations; and despite the seeming futility of it all, you told the truth, like countless people of faith and conscience throughout history who have gone before you. This truth must continue to be proclaimed in season and out, regardless of the consequences.
As I saw you on the jailhouse TV, being led away in chains and back into captivity, I longed to embrace each of you and let you know how much I love you.
What can be said of your plight as captives, a plight shared by so many prisoners of conscience the world over? Except to say: truth, peace, and justice will reign--in God's time, not ours.
But not before the people repent and reform their lives. Not before they relinquish their lust for materialism and power and unequivocally renounce the nuclear idol. Not before we place our trust in the God of Life, arrange our lives in accordance with the gospel of nonviolence, and, out of love for God and neighbor, accept the risk of the cross.
From the prisons of South Africa, the Philippines, South Korea, Central and South America, Northern Ireland, the Soviet Union, and the United States where 16 other Plowshares prisoners and many other war resisters make their home, a resounding cry for justice is proclaimed. Because of your witness, and that of countless others, the truth prevails.
Beloved, continue to persevere and keep hope. Remember always: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5). Remember, too (as I know you do), God will render the final verdict.
Art Laffin, a member of the Atlantic Life Community, worked with the Isaiah Peace Ministry and lived in New Haven, Connecticut at the time this article appeared. He was also co-author of The Risk of the Cross: Christian Discipleship in a Nuclear Age (The Seabury Press, 1981) and had participated in numerous nonviolent actions for disarmament and social justice.
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