THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130360
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BATH, MAINE LENGTH: 49 lines
In a protest timed to coincide with Ash Wednesday, antiwar activist Philip Berrigan and five others, including a Norfolk man, allegedly broke into a defense contractor's site and spread what appeared to be blood on a Navy ship.
Berrigan, an excommunicated Catholic priest from Baltimore, Steven J. Baggarly of Norfolk, and the four others were arrested peacefully and arraigned on charges of criminal trespass and criminal mischief, police said.
The six cut a lock at Bath Iron Works at about 5 a.m. and boarded the Sullivans, an AEGIS destroyer launched at BIW in 1995, Bath police Chief Max Dawson said.
Shipyard spokesman Kevin Gildart said a substance that looked like an animal's blood was spilled and other unspecified damage was done. Navy criminal investigators were called to the scene, said Gildart, who added that BIW will be looking at its security measures in response to the incident.
Barry Roth, a Boston psychiatrist and supporter of the antiwar group Prince of Peace Plowshares that staged the protest, said the activists drew their own blood and carried it on board in containers. Roth said the activists poured it on hatches used to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles and on the bridge of the ship.
Baggarly, 31, is a founder of Norfolk's Catholic Worker house, a shelter for homeless people and a hub of the region's peace movement. He has previously said that he protests government spending on the military because it is wasteful and takes money that should be going to the poor.
In April 1993, Baggarly was one of three people arrested in Norfolk after staging a protest at an international arms expo at the Waterside Marriott.
The protesters had tried to distribute peace leaflets at the ComDef '93 exposition and were arrested when they entered a luncheon, unfurled a banner and prayed.
Baggarly was convicted of trespassing and given one year's probation.
In May 1993, Berrigan and more than a dozen other demonstrators were hauled from a Newport News courtroom after they applauded three anti-war protesters who were on trial for breaking into Newport News Shipbuilding.
The priest-turned-activist has been making headlines for a quarter-century for such protests as pouring his blood on draft cards during the 1960s.
The other suspects arrested in Wednesday's incident were Susan S. Crane, 53, of Ukiah, Calif.; Mark P. Colville, 36, of New Haven, Conn.; Thomas P. Lewis-Borbely, 56, of Worcester, Mass.; and Stephen M. Kelly, 48, of New York.
KEYWORDS: ARREST PROTEST U.S. NAVY DEMONSTRATION
STEVEN J. BAGGARLY