In either 1983 or 1984, a group of peace activists schedule a march and rally at the entrance to Fort Benning to coincide with the anniversary of Romero's death and to protest the training of Salvadoran troops at the base by US military. This was before the School of the Americas was actually moved to Georgia from Panama. The nature of this protest left many of us from Koinonia and Habitat who attended disturbed. There was a lot of chanting, name-calling, etc. making an "us vs. them" atmosphere that we felt did not reflect what we wished to communicate. So after processing that event, we decided to return to the base with a style of protest that was a better fit. We chose to gather in a circle, holding candles, with mostly silent praying interspersed with a few readings to focus our thoughts and concerns. We did this on a weekly basis on Thursday evenings for 2-3 years and then it became a monthly presence rather than weekly. We typically had 10-25 people attend with the numbers being larger for special events like the Romero anniversary. The vigil was usually attended by several Koinonia Resident Partners, a few staff or volunteers from Habitat, a couple from the Vine & Fig Tree Community in Alabama, and Joe Cohen (a former volunteer at Koinonia and later at Jubilee Partners) and his brother.

In 1984 or 85, Fr. Roy Bourgeois visited Koinonia and told us about the School of the Americas and his plans to engage in some creative non-violent direct action at the base. He was accompanied by Fr. Larry Rosebaugh and Linda Ventimiliga, a young Catholic woman from Alabama. They initiated a series of non-violent actions culminating in a group of 7 of us entering the base after a weekly Thursday prayer vigil which had us matching together to the Base Commander'' house and planting crosses in his yard. The 7 of us were arrested and released about 6 hours later. We were issued "Ban and Bar" letters which stated that we could never again legally be on the Fort Benning base. To the best of my recollection, there was no expiration date listed for this ban. After Edwin Steiner and I left Columbus to return to Koinonia, the FBI came to the apartment where Larry, Roy, and Linda were staying and hauled them off to jail. After a trial in Columbus, they were sentenced to the maximum allowed by the criminal trespass charges.

The weekly or monthly vigils continued and on at least 1 or more other occasions, vigilers entered the base and were arrested. After being released from prison and serving an 18 month sentence, Fr. Roy moved to Columbus to continue organizing in opposition to the school.

Much of the recent history of witness there can be found at the School of Americas Watch web site www.soaw.org or in the book, School of the Assassins by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

-Steve Clemens (former Resident Partner at Koinonia from '75-'90. 10/23/01
In either 1983 or 1984, a group of peace activists schedule a march and rally at the entrance to Fort Benning to coincide with the anniversary of Romero's death and to protest the training of Salvadoran troops at the base by US military. This was before the School of the Americas was actually moved to Georgia from Panama. The nature of this protest left many of us from Koinonia and Habitat who attended disturbed. There was a lot of chanting, name-calling, etc. making an "us vs. them" atmosphere that we felt did not reflect what we wished to communicate. So after processing that event, we decided to return to the base with a style of protest that was a better fit. We chose to gather in a circle, holding candles, with mostly silent praying interspersed with a few readings to focus our thoughts and concerns. We did this on a weekly basis on Thursday evenings for 2-3 years and then it became a monthly presence rather than weekly. We typically had 10-25 people attend with the numbers being larger for special events like the Romero anniversary. The vigil was usually attended by several Koinonia Resident Partners, a few staff or volunteers from Habitat, a couple from the Vine & Fig Tree Community in Alabama, and Joe Cohen (a former volunteer at Koinonia and later at Jubilee Partners) and his brother.

In 1984 or 85, Fr. Roy Bourgeois visited Koinonia and told us about the School of the Americas and his plans to engage in some creative non-violent direct action at the base. He was accompanied by Fr. Larry Rosebaugh and Linda Ventimiliga, a young Catholic woman from Alabama. They initiated a series of non-violent actions culminating in a group of 7 of us entering the base after a weekly Thursday prayer vigil which had us matching together to the Base Commander'' house and planting crosses in his yard. The 7 of us were arrested and released about 6 hours later. We were issued "Ban and Bar" letters which stated that we could never again legally be on the Fort Benning base. To the best of my recollection, there was no expiration date listed for this ban. After Edwin Steiner and I left Columbus to return to Koinonia, the FBI came to the apartment where Larry, Roy, and Linda were staying and hauled them off to jail. After a trial in Columbus, they were sentenced to the maximum allowed by the criminal trespass charges.

The weekly or monthly vigils continued and on at least 1 or more other occasions, vigilers entered the base and were arrested. After being released from prison and serving an 18 month sentence, Fr. Roy moved to Columbus to continue organizing in opposition to the school.

Much of the recent history of witness there can be found at the School of Americas Watch web site www.soaw.org or in the book, School of the Assassins by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

-Steve Clemens (former Resident Partner at Koinonia from '75-'90. 10/23/01