April 27/28 - Stop the Drones! at Beale with Kathy Kelly, Brian Terrell

Let's make this the largest Anti-Drone Action at Beale AFB yet,

And give KATHY KELLY a big welcome to freedom after 3 mos of prison time!

Anti-Drone Vigils at Beale with Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell

Monday, April 27, 3 to 5 p.m. at Beale’s Wheatland Gate

Tuesday, April 28, 6 to 8 a.m. at the Main Gate, 

with nonviolent direct action planned

Join the event on Facebook and invite others!

Peace activists Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell

Peace activists Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell will join anti-drone activists at Beale Air Force Base on Monday afternoon, April 27 and Tuesday morning, April 28, to demonstrate opposition to the U.S. drone warfare program. Nonviolent direct action is planned for Tuesday morning.

Beale, near Marysville, California, is home of the Global Hawk Drone, a surveillance drone that assists in finding targets for Predator and Reaper weaponized drones. Kathy Kelly was arrested last year at Beale Air Force Base with twelve others at a Good Friday anti-drone action. The charges were subsequently dismissed.

Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell are co-coordinators of Voices of Creative Nonviolence.

Kathy Kelly, an internationally recognized peace activist, is currently serving a three-month prison term in Lexington, Kentucky, for crossing onto Whiteman Air Force Base property with another demonstrator while attempting to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to the base commander, asking him to stop his troops from piloting lethal drone flights over Afghanistan from within the base. (See Kathy Kelly's video "Let's rehabilitate CREECH!" on the No Drones Illinois website.)

Brian Terrell, a Catholic Worker and lifelong peace activist from Maloy, Iowa, has been arrested for anti-drone protests in Nevada and New York. He was one of the “Creech 14,” arrested in 2009 at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada in the first anti-drone action in the United States. In 2012-2013, Brian Terrell served a six-month sentence in federal prison for another anti-drone action. (See Brian Terrell's letter "I go in solidarity with prisoners every place" on the No Drones Missouri website.)

The theme of the April 

demonstrations will be 

“Taxes for human need, not for war.” 

(For directions, see below.)

The Monday afternoon vigil will be at the Wheatland Gate from 3 to 5 p.m. Following the vigil on Monday at the Wheatland Gate, we will drive to the Main Gate and set up a table and chairs for a potluck. Bring folding chairs or a blanket and some simple food to share. Mosquito repellent comes in handy, as do flashlights if you stay late. Some people will camp there or stay overnight in Marysville.

The Tuesday morning vigil will be from 6 to 8 a.m. at the Main Gate, with nonviolent direct action planned. Come to take this action in solidarity with others or stand in support.

This is a drug-free and alcohol-free action. Occupy Beale actions are strictly nonviolent. We come in the spirit of peace and good will, with respect to all.

(Yuba College is about five minutes down North Beale Road away from the Main Gate. There are bathrooms at the side entrance of the administration and there is a cafeteria also.)

These events are being organized by Occupy Beale Air Force Base. For more information, contact us at occupybeale@earth-justice.org. To keep current with demonstrations at Beale, check out the Occupy Beale Air Force Base Facebook Page.

Please carpool for Mother Earth!
For Coordinating rides Please Contact:
From Bay Area: Toby Blome, ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net, 510-215-5974
From Grass Valley: Shirley Osgood, 941-320-0291
From Sacramento: John Reiger, reigers@earthlink.net
For Chico & Marysville areas: Flora, (831) 235-0486


DIRECTIONS

 If you get lost on the way to Beale, call Shirley by cell phone at 941-320-0291.

Yuba College is about five minutes down North Beale Road away from the Main Gate. (There are bathrooms at the side entrance of the administration and there is a cafeteria also.)

Kathy and Brian will also be speaking in Grass Valley on Tuesday evening, April 28, at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, 246 South Church Street, in Grass Valley.

Directions To Wheatland Gate (Monday afternoon vigil, 3 to 5 p.m.), At intersection of So. Beale Rd. and Ostrom Rd.:

From the North (Chico/Marysville):
Take Hwy. 70 south from Marysville, merge to left onto Hwy. 65. Take Ostrom Rd. to left until it meets So. Beale Rd. Turn left on So. Beale Rd. and park car to side of Rd. If you miss the Ostrom Rd. turn off, continue south on Hwy 65, and turn left on So. Beale Rd. (marked with Beale AFB sign).

From the South (Sacramento/SF Bay Area):
Take North bound I-5, CA 99 N, merge onto CA 70 to Marysville Oroville. Take the McGowan Parkway exit (EXIT 16), Turn Right. Merge onto CA 65 S to Roseville. Turn Left onto S Beale Road. Continue to intersection of Ostrom and S Beale Road.

From Grass Valley: Take the Highway 20 Exit toward Marysville. Go approximately 15 miles until you see the sign "to Beale Air Force Base," then turn left onto Hammonton-Smartville Road (the name of the road is abbreviated on the sign). After about eight miles you will pass the Doolittle gate, then in three miles or so you will get to Brophy. Turn left onto Brophy, and take it all the way to North Beale Road (a mile or two). Turn right onto North Beale and go about 2 miles, turn left onto Griffin and go one mile, turn left onto Erle and go 1 or 2 miles until it turns into Virginia (ignore the sharp left turn onto Erle) and continue straight on Virginia for 2 1/2 miles, turn left onto Ostrom and go 1-2 miles to the entrance. Park on the side of the road.

For Monday evening potluck and camping and for Tuesday Morning vigil- 6 to 8 a.m.: Directions to the Main (Schneider) Gate: 4875 N. Beale Road.

From Sacramento:
Take I-80 to I-5 north of Sacramento, almost immediately after leaving I-80, take exit 525B to transfer to Hwy 99, continue 12.5. mi. and stay right to transfer onto Hwy 70, continue about 20 miles, exit at Feather River Blvd., just after the Erle Rd. exit. Do not take the 1st Feather River Blvd. which is about 10 miles earlier! (note sign to Beale AFB), turn right at ramp, You’ll be facing Burger King, across the street, a good bathroom stop. If you don’t cross the intersection, turn immediately right at the light (Lindhurst Ave.) and left at 2nd light to get on N. Beale Rd. Continue on N. Beale Rd. for over 6 miles. It dead ends at the Gate Entrance. Parking on left side of Rd. near the gate.

From Grass Valley:
Take the Highway 20 Exit toward Marysville. Go approximately 15 miles until you see the sign "to Beale Air Force Base," then turn left onto Hammonton-Smartville Road (the name of the road is abbreviated on the sign). After about eight miles you will pass the Doolittle gate, then in three miles or so you will get to Brophy. Turn left onto Brophy, and take it all the way to to the end, where it stops at North Beale Road (a mile or two) . Turn left onto North Beale (no sign) and go 2 to 3 miles to the Schneider Gate. Park on the left side of the road.


Related posts

Perhaps the single most significant consequence of the advent of killer drones is that they allow the state to efficiently separate war-making from the emotional involvement of the people of the country using them. In other words, with the coming of drone warfare, we have been denied the opportunity for empathy with those affected by our (direct and indirect) actions.

(See Why is "Ending the military drone program" a pillar of Campaign Nonviolence?)


Beale pilots control the Global Hawk, an important surveillance and reconnaissance drone that plays an important role in finding military drone targets and coordinating information before and during drone strikes. Pilots at Beale witness the carnage and devastation of drone strikes and are complicit in the assassination program.

(See Beale: Occupy Militarism, Ground the Drones, Shut the Base Down! )

The "Veterans Spring Days Drone Action" temporarily blocked traffic at the two busiest gates entering Beale AFB, the home to Global Hawk (Surveillance drone), the U2 and the MC12 Liberty aircraft, all participants in the so-called "war on terror." They have been complicit in the deaths and injuries thousands of innocent civilians.

(See Occupy Beale AFB Update: The ultimate right is the right to life! )