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Father Bill doesn’t look the type to have been arrested 224 times. Appearances, however, are not on O’Donnell’s list of concerns. Instead, social injustice, poverty and crime are the priest’s top priorities, and struggling to alleviate these social ills through a life of activism has landed the 72-year-old in jail a number of times.
Following one of his most high-profile acts of civil disobedience last year, this month O’Donnell was given one of his strictest sentencing – six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
O’Donnell was one of 36 people convicted for trespassing at Fort Benning, Ga., the site of a U.S. Army school where, protesters say, foreign officers are taught assassination techniques.
“After 9-11, the government said we had to destroy all camps of terror, and so we’re starting with this one,” O’Donnell said calmly.
He is home, waiting to serve time at a prison near Merced.
The start date of his imprisonment remains undetermined.
The soft spoken priest has typically served one- or two-week sentences, but never six months. O’Donnell says that federal Judge Mallon Faircloth made an example of him.
“It’s pretty obvious that they’re trying to deter others from ever attending another demonstration there,” O’Donnell
Despite the specter of upcoming jail time, the O’Donnell has remained upbeat and committed to his work. Recently, the local priest was part of protests for worker’s rights at the Claremont Hotel and a supporter of nuclear disarmament at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“He’s a saint,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington said. “He’s an earnest and passionate advocate for the dispossessed of every variety.”
A native of Altamont, O’Donnell has spent the last 29 years at St. Joseph’s The Worker Church in central Berkeley.
O’Donnell has been recognized for his work with the local Latino community. His efforts include involving Latino parents and children in schools and working to set up meetings between African American and Latino parents to discuss race relations.
“He has really embraced diversity as a way of bringing people together,” said Eugenia Bowman, executive director of the Berkeley Community Fund. “He’s someone who’s committed to social justice. His jail time is a shining example of his commitment.”
O’Donnell is this year’s recipient of the Berkeley Community Award, an honor presented to people committed to community improvement. Because of his jail sentence, however, O’Donnell will likely miss the ceremony on Sept. 26.
Drawing inspiration from his faith and from past social activists such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez – who was a close friend and fellow activist with O’Donnell during the ’60s – O’Donnell says that no form of injustice can be tolerated.
“Their spirit gives you a higher power than violence to bring to the people examples of how we violate each other,” he said.
He talked about U.S. military actions overseas and the carrying out of what he called U.S. terrorism.
“Philosophically, it’s the bully beating up the little kid,” he said. “We’ve been beating them up for centuries. The crusades are alive and well in Washington D.C.”
Activists say that the people trained at the Fort Benning facility, called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, have been involved with a number of atrocities, including the murder of Colombian Archbishop Isaias Duarte earlier this year and the slaying of six Jesuit priests in 1989.
Officials at the school deny training military personnel to commit acts of terror, and say that the school requires human rights training of its students.
Regarding O’Donnell’s upcoming jail time, City Councilmember Linda Maio said the Berkeley priest has made plans for when he is behind bars.
“He said he’ll have to touch and reach out to people while he’s in jail,” Maio said.
An event recognizing O’Donnell’s community efforts is scheduled 7 p.m. Aug. 3 at St. Joseph’s The Worker Church at 1640 Addison St., near Jefferson Avenue.
Columbus, GA -- One of three Bay Area residents found guilty of trespassing at Fort Benning, the site of a U.S. Army school that allegedly trains foreign officers in assassination techniques, was sentenced to six months in jail Friday by a federal judge.
The Rev. Bill O'Donnell of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Berkeley also was fined $1,000 after being convicted earlier this week of trespassing at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in the fall.
Two other protesters from the Bay Area, Berkeley peace activist Leone Reinbold and the Rev. Louis Vitale of St. Boniface Church in San Francisco, also were convicted and were awaiting their sentences late Friday night.
They were among 43 demonstrators arrested last year while protesting the school's alleged involvement in training foreign security and intelligence officers in lethal arts.
Thirty-seven of the demonstrators were tried on trespassing charges before U.S. Magistrate Mallon Faircloth, and all but one were found guilty.
O'Donnell, 72, was among the first to be sentenced Friday morning. He said the court's action showed its "moral bankruptcy" and told Faircloth the courthouse should have a sign above its door saying, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
Reinbold, 24, was awaiting her sentence Friday night and told The Chronicle the experience had been nerve-racking, but instructive.
"The testimony has been amazing," she said. "I have been in wonderful company. . . . It has been a good experience in many ways. I only hope prison is as much of a learning experience."
The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas, is a specialized training center at Fort Benning. It instructs as many as 900 soldiers and police officers from other nations annually in a variety of subjects, including civil disorder management,
collecting and analyzing military intelligence and anti-drug operations.
Critics allege that the institute also trains students in techniques of torture and assassination, pointing to a number of incidents in which graduates of the school have been implicated in atrocities in Latin America. The critics want the school closed permanently and have repeatedly held demonstrations at the site.
The school's officials deny training foreign military and security personnel to commit acts of terror and say they have instituted human rights training as a regular part of their curriculum.
"Those who want the school closed mean well, but their information is simply incorrect," said Gina DiNicolo, a spokeswoman for the institute.
But critics such as U.S. Army Maj. Joe Blair, a former director of instruction at the school who testified in behalf of the defendants during this week's proceedings, say there is little difference between the institute and the School of the Americas.
"There are no substantive changes besides the name," Blair testified during the trial. "They teach the identical courses that I taught, and changed the course names and use the same manuals."
San Francisco -- Only days before their trial for trespassing on a post where the U.S. Army allegedly trains torturers and assassins, two Bay Area clergymen urged Rep. Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday to help shut the school down.
The facility in question is the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), a special training center at the U.S. Army's Fort Benning, Ga., that annually trains up to 900 soldiers and police officers from other nations in a variety of topics, including civil disorder management, collecting and analyzing military intelligence and anti-drug operations.
The Revs. Louis Vitale of St. Boniface Church in San Francisco and Bill O'Donnell of St. Joseph the Workman Church in Berkeley were among 43 protesters who were arrested at Fort Benning during a mass protest last year.
They and 35 other demonstrators are scheduled to begin trial in federal court in Georgia on Monday on trespassing charges that could result in six- month prison sentences and fines of up to $5,000 each.
Tuesday morning, the two clergymen gave Pelosi's aides a petition asking her to support House Resolution 1810, a bill that would close the school by eliminating its statutory authority to operate.
"There have been massive atrocities," O'Donnell told members of Pelosi's staff during the session at the Philip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco. "We (the demonstrators facing trial in Georgia) are being punished for trying to tell the American people that their dollars are being used to support our own terrorist training school right here at Fort Benning."
Pelosi was not at the meeting, but Dan Bernal, her deputy district director,
accepted the petition on her behalf and read a statement from the congresswoman, a San Francisco Democrat, pledging to continue fighting to close the school.
"We must not condone any of the atrocities that have been performed by people who are graduates of the School of the Americas," Pelosi's statement said. "I will continue to work with all of you to close this institution."
The training center has been criticized in recent years and has been identified as the training facility for military and police personnel who were involved in a host of atrocities, including the murder of Colombian Archbishop Isaias Duarte earlier this year and the slaying of six Jesuit priests in 1989.
The school's officials deny that they train foreign military and security personnel to commit acts of terror and say they have instituted human rights training as a regular part of their curriculum.
But critics say the changes in the school's courses have been superficial and are more intended to win over public opinion than to actually change the behavior of graduates.
"We've had people (from Latin America) come here for refuge and live in our churches," Vitale told members of Pelosi's staff during Monday's meeting. "We've seen the results of the kind of torture that is taught at the School of the Americas. . . . The name has changed, but not the game."
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