<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><blockquote type="cite"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><div id="yiv2065181931"><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><div id="AOLMsgPart_2_4f56fd72-dd29-4be9-89bc-86f748ba18ec"><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px;">please read</span></font> </div> <div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">(Patrick O'Neill is cofounder of the Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House in Garner, NC, an intentional, pacifist Christian community that provides hospitality to women and children in crisis. He and Frank Donnelly have been friends for 28 years.)<br><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial"><br></font></font><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><div id="AOLMsgPart_2_c70fd5bc-2494-454e-85d0-c20f80bdcf41"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote"><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><div><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><div><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><div><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><div><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> <div><font color="#202020" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: large;"><br><br><br></span></font></div> <div><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font></span><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-size: large;">By P</span><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">ATRICK O'NEILL</font></span></font></div> <div><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><font color="#202020" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: large;"> </span></font></font></div> <div><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><font color="#202020" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: large;">BANGOR -- <span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: large;">On July 26, my friend, </span><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Francis "Frank" Donnelly <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">must report </font></span></font><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">to a federal prison in Estill<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">,</font> S.C.</span></font><span style="font-size: large;"> to begin</span><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"> serv</span></font><span style="font-size: large;">ing </span><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">a year<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">-</font>and<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">-</font>a<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">-</font>day sentence</span></font><span style="font-size: large;"> for war-tax resistance</span><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">. </span><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">On June 14, </span></font><span style="font-size: large;">Donnelly was sentenced </span></font><span style="font-size: large;">in U.S. District Court </span><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">for failing to pay his taxes. Donnelly's case, however, was atypical. The <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Bangor Daily </font>News story about Donnelly's sentencing <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">repor</font>ted that about three dozen peace activists stood outside the federal courthouse to show support for Donnelly's stand as a war<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">-</font>tax resister.</span></font></span></span></font> <div><span style="font-family: arial,arial; font-size: small;"> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;">Because he is opposed to war, Donnelly, who also faced a court martial during the Viet Nam War years, refused to pay his federal taxes because a large portion of those taxes are used to bankroll what Pres<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">. </font>Dwight D. Eisenhower called the "military industrial complex." It was during the Viet Nam War that a younger Donnelly, then in the Army reserves, landed in the brig for refusing to wear his uniform as a protest of the war. <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">He also went on record then as a war-tax resister. A<span style="line-height: normal; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; white-space: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: medium;">t his court martial Donnelly said he wouldn't take his military pay or pay for war through taxes. <span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-size: large;">For those of us who stand with Donnelly in opposition to wars and killing, his stand as a war resister is laudable. At present, the United States is at war overtly in two nations, and we maintain a military presence in more than 100 nations.</span></span></font></span></span></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;">At <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">t</font>h<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">e</font> sentencing<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">, </font>U.S. Attorney <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">James McCarthy </font>called Donnelly a "run of the mill tax cheat." He berated Donnelly because he made a good living for a few years as a lobster broker<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">,</font> enough to buy a small house in Costa Rica<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">, and a lot in Florida, which is not worth very much</font>. He also chastised Donnelly for loaning some <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">money</font> to his friends. He <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">s</font>aid Donnelly was wrong to apply for food stamps and heating assistance for his home in L<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">a</font>moine, <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">ME, </font>a <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">modest </font>home that he bought for $20,000 in the 1980s.</span></span></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;">U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock, who sentenced Donnelly, also came down hard on the defendant for not going public about his tax resistance. Woodcock, who seemed to be conflicted about how to punish Donnelly, believes civil disobedience is best expressed in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, who believed in open and public discourse in his peace campaigns. While Gandhi, and later in the 20th century, Martin Luther King, Jr., expressed their direct action <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">openly </font>in the public square so to speak, Donnelly's decision to quietly refuse to pay his taxes is also a valid option of war<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">-</font>tax resistance. <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">D</font>uring his sentencing<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> hearing, Donnelly said</font>: "I am not a <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">wealthy</font> man<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">.</font>"<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> He drives an old Buick, and lives modestly in a small home.</font></span></span></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yet, </font>Donnelly was <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">unfair</font>ly portrayed by the government as being greedy and hypocritical<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">,</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> in effect saying that his failure to pay taxes was morally invalid</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> because he made a decent living for a few years selling lobsters, and he didn't go public with his anti-war-tax views.</font></span></span></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> </font></span></span></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">During the sentencing hearing McCarthy said Donnelly's gross receipts for some years were more than $1 million. These figures were not accompanied by the fact that Donnelly often made just a few cents on the dollar profit as he drove a small truck 200 miles a day in his lobster business. McCarthy also read aloud a classified ad Donnelly had taken out to rent his home in Costa Rica. What did not come out was the fact that Donnelly rented the home just once for $150 and often let people use it for free.</font></span></span></div> <div><font color="#202020" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: large;">Donnelly only applied for food stamps and heating assistance following his guilty plea last November. He is now unemployed.</span></font></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">When all was said and done, Woodcock sentenced Donnelly to prison, added more than $92,000 in fines and restitution and a year probation. The Internal Revenue Service has also presented Donnelly with a bill for almost $1 million for back taxes and fines, a figure that grossly distorts Donnelly's income, and imposes a life-long debtors' prison sentence on him. </font></span></span></div> <div><font color="#202020" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: large;"></span></font></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">After his sentencing, Donnelly said he wished he had been more transparent in his war-tax resistance, but his witness remains powerful. Another component of nonviolent resistance, one I consider more important than transparency, is the willingness of someone to accept the consequences of his or her actions, something Frank Donnelly will do July 26 when he reports to federal prison for a year. Donnelly is paying a heavy price for his convictions, a price that few of us would be willing to make as a witness against the madness of war.</font></span></span></div> <div><font color="#202020" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: large;"><br><br><br></span></font></div> <div><span style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"><span style="font-size: large;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font></span></span></div> <div><font color="#202020" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: large;"><br><br><br></span></font></div> </span></div> </font></div> </div> </font></div> </div> </font></div> </div> </font></div> </div> </font></div> </div> </font></blockquote></div> <br> </div> </div> </div> </font> </div> </div> </font> </div></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table><br> </blockquote><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><div id="yiv2065181931"><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><div id="AOLMsgPart_2_4f56fd72-dd29-4be9-89bc-86f748ba18ec"><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div></font></div></div></font></div></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><div id="yiv2065181931"><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div style="font-family: helvetica,arial; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><div id="AOLMsgPart_2_4f56fd72-dd29-4be9-89bc-86f748ba18ec"><font size="2" color="black" face="arial"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div></font></div></div></font></div></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br></body></html>