Valerie Fillenwarth of Indianapolis has just gotten the word: the 64-year-old Catholic grandma of 17 will spend 100 days in a Connecticut prison for standing up for peace.

This is an old, sad story, one that happens every year -- and gets more outrageous each time. In November of 2006, Fillenwarth was one of 22,000 people who peacefully marched at the notorious School of the Americas in Georgia. The SOA, long a target of peace activists, has served for many years as a training ground to carry out U.S. terrorist policy against Latin America. The poor, the disenfranchised and all who dare to oppose cruel dictatorships and military regimes in Latin America have been tortured, raped and killed as a result of SOA involvement.

Fillenwarth is well-connected in Indy. In January, the Criterion newspaper, the paper of the Catholic archdiocese, wrote a story about her:

Now word is circulating that she will leave for prison on April 17 -- and so far, the Gannett-owed Indianapolis Star has refused to write about the case.

Fillenwarth's son-in-law is Bob Schultz, whose job it is to bring tourism to Indianapolis. He has sent out the following email update from Valerie, which she had written to friends and family:

"Hi! THE CALL we've been waiting six weeks for came this afternoon, Tuesday, March 13.

"My prison assignment is to FCI Danbury, in Connecticut, and I will report on April 17.

"The website for that federal prison camp is
here in case you'd like to check it out.

"That place has two parts, a low-medium security building and a minimum security camp.

"Our friends Dee Mattingly and Alice Gerard were in the minimum security camp, so I assume I will be, too. When Ed and I visited them in September,
2005, they told us the camp was built in the '70's for the Watergate bad guys. Now it's crowded with twice that number of inmates, all women. They live in dormatories, not cells, and do jobs to earn 12 cents an hour so they can buy toothpaste and all that.

"Well, my home for one hundred days is 782 miles from our house. I feel really sad for Ed and the kids about that. That will be the hard part. Alice Gerard will report to the same place on March 21.

"I'll do my best to take part in the National Days of Fast (water and juice only fast April 25 -27) as we prepare for a vote in Congress to close the SOA. You can keep track of the Bill to be introduced in the House soon by Jim McGovern (D-MA) and pretty soon you can also find addresses for the sixteen of us going to prison on the website at www.soaw.org

"Ok, stick together like glue, hold hands crossing the street and eat your
carrots. And work and pray for peace, ok?

Love to you all,
Mom / Mop / Val"

This email is making the rounds in Indiana. Those who care about peace are urged to contact Dennis Ryerson, exeuctive editor of the Indianapolis Star, and ask that the newspaper cover the story.

Others may want to contact their congressmen and women, to get behind Rep. McGovern.

E-mail me: ruth@ruthholladay.com

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