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North Anna protestor to serve five days in jail Date published: 1/13/2010
By RUSTY DENNEN The last of six anti-nuclear protestors arrested at North Anna Power Station's visitor center in 2008 will serve five days in jail for trespassing. A Louisa County Circuit Court jury last week found Earl S. Flansburgh guilty of misdemeanor trespassing. Flansburgh, who also goes by the name Paxus Calta, had appealed a two-week jail sentence handed down in Louisa General District Court in September 2008. Flansburgh is a member of Peoples Alliance for Clean Energy, which opposes a plan by Dominion Virginia Power to add a third nuclear reactor at North Anna. The peaceful protest at the plant's information center by the South East Climate Convergence was held to draw attention to that proposal. Dominion is in the final stage of the application process before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with a plan that has drawn fire from some environmental groups and nearby residents. Flansburgh was originally sentenced to two weeks in jail. He begins serving his sentence later this week. "I consider this a victory," he said in a written statement. "It is a reduction in the original sentence and far less than the Draconian punishment proposed by the commonwealth's attorney." Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Garrett said, "We're pleased with the outcome. It's a significant sentence, given the nature of the charge. Mr. Flansburgh has a history of that type of behavior. In a post-9/11 world, we take the safety of a nuclear power plant very seriously." The six arrested Aug. 7, 2008, were among more than 20 demonstrators at the information center located outside the secure area of the plant. They were charged after refusing to leave when asked by police. Three of the protestors were sentenced to fines and jail time, with the jail time suspended. Two others were fined, ordered to complete 40 hours of community service and banned from Dominion property for two years. The power station near Mineral sits on 13,000-acre Lake Anna, which borders Spotsylvania, Louisa and Orange counties. Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
I admire the resolution it takes to go to prison for one's beliefs.
I continue to object to the waste of public monies on the imprisonment of citizens for non-violent misdemeanors. With nearly 10% of the citizens of Louisa county unemployed and nearly 20% of Louisa's residents living below the poverty line, I'm dismayed at this use of our county's resources. It's Mr. Garrett's right to prosecute these offenses, and my right to object to it on election day.
Should protestors be allowed to trespass at nuclear power stations just because they claim to be "peaceful"? How can the law distinguish between peaceful trespassers and non-peaceful trespassers? When someone chooses to break the law, then it's not a waste of resources to prosecute them, regardless of what they claim their intent to be.
Mr. Flansburgh was staging a protest (though most residents around the plant support nuclear power). As long as his protests were peaceful, he and his fellow protestors were allowed to stay. It wasn't until the visitor's center closed and he was repeatedly asked to leave that they were arrested.
Apparently he had every intention of being arrested and going to jail, which is exactly what happened. Had he chose to sit peacefully in a bank or a museum, I suspect the outcome would have been the same.
It seems to me that in a post 9/11 world we should be concentrating on issues that actually make our country safer, not pretending that non-violent protests are the problem. Pretending that civil disobedience is comparable to terrorism only serves to minimize the seriousness of real security issues in our country. I am disappointed in our Commonwealth attorney, and dismayed he chose to waste our county's resources in this manner.
I am not sure, if I am allowed to write here, since I am neither from the US nor am I a US citizen. By accident I stumbled about your article about the jail sentence against Mr. Flansburgh. I have to say that I do not mind that much that or how long Mr. Flansburgh has to go to prison, since I am sure that he knew in beforehand what would awaite him. At the same time I do admire personal strength to stand up for ones ideals - especially being aware of such consequence. Mr. Flansburgh has all my sympathy. bp
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