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News Briefs

By VVAW

COVERED WAGON COFFEEHOUSE BURNS DOWN

(Mountain Home, Idaho) The building used for the Covered Wagon Coffeehouse, a GI organizing and counseling center near Mountain Home AFB, burned to the ground on Tuesday, November 13th. Organizers there stated that it was a total loss, including all files, counseling materials, library, printing press, 5 typewriters, darkroom and kitchen equipment; but they did not suspect arson, as was the case when it burned in November, 1971. Organizers ask that office supplies, back issues of newspapers and magazines, counseling materials and money be sent to: Covered Wagon, P.O. Box 729, Mountain Home, Idaho 83647 (208) 587-7474.

KARL ARMSTRONG SENTENCED

(Madison, Wisconsin) Karl Armstrong was sentenced to twenty three years imprisonment in Waupun State Prison in Wisconsin on November 1st. Judge Sacjhten ordered concurrent terms of fifteen years on each of four counts of arson, ten years on possession of explosives and twenty three years on the second degree murder charge for the death of Prof. Robert Fassnacht. The sentencing marks an end to the trial in which Karl pleaded guilty to the bombing of the Army Math Research Center at the Univ. of Wisconsin -- Madison in August, 1970. Karl had been in exile in Canada before being extradicted by Canadian authorities.

AIM LEADER MURDERED

(Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D.) Pedro Bissonette, a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and a key figure in the Wounded Knee occupation earlier this year, was killed here on Oct. 17th, while on his way to see his attorney Mark Lane. Bisonette, who was a major defense witness for the upcoming Wounded Knee Trial, was shot in the chest seven times with a .38 caliber pistol by BIA police.

WOUNDED KNEE TRIALS FINALLY IN VIEW

(Rapid City, S.D.) The trials for those people indicted as a result of the reclaiming of Wounded Knee as an independent nation have finally received court dates. The trial of Russell Means and Dennis Banks has been set to begin on Jan. 8th in St. Paul, Minnesota. Means and Banks have been charged with 11 counts of aiders and abettors in assault, arson, burglary and larceny and as conspirators among the six leading figures in the Wounded Knee siege. The trials for the other four leaders -- Carter Camp, Leonard Crowdog, Clyde Bellecourt and Stan Holder -- are scheduled to follow close at hand, which March 1st tentatively set for the trial?s beginning. At the same time, a possible 107 federal cases are scheduled for trial in Sioux Falls and the firs 19 cases are scheduled to begin January 2nd.

VVAW/WSO BUSTED IN YOKOSUKA, JAPAN

(Yokosuka, Japan) On October 15th, two sailors off the attack carrier, USS MIDWAY, were arrested for distributing Freedom of the Press, a publication of the Yokosuka chapter of VVAW/WSO. They were sentenced to correctional duty (the brig) for violation of Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Disobedience of a Direct Order. The order prohibits all military personnel from involvement in assemblies, demonstrations, originating and distribution of any printed matter without prior command approval.