10/15/06 Delmar Schwaller honored for activism

Appleton alderman imprisoned for Army school protest
Post-Crescent staff writer elowe@postcrescent.com 

A one-time Appleton alderman imprisoned for two months after protesting at an Army military school linked to human rights abuses has been honored for his lifelong commitment to peace.

Delmar Schwaller, 82, Appleton, was one of three state residents named Peacemaker of the Year by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice at its annual assembly Saturday in La Crosse.

Barbara Hoffman, Appleton, a member of the Fox Valley Chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, said she nominated Schwaller for the award because knowingly sacrificed his freedom to protest government policies he views as corrupt.

"His willingness to go to prison was what I found so admirable," Hoffman said Saturday.

"He didn't know what the consequences of that act would be, but he did know that people where receiving sentences of up to six months in prison."

Schwaller said his annual missionary efforts in impoverished areas of Latin America led him to witness the aftermath of human rights abuses attributed to Latin American soldiers trained at the U.S.-Army-run training center established in 1946 as the School of the Americas.

He became a federal prisoner after trespassing at Fort Benning, Ga.-based facility now named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a military training school for U.S. and allied Latin American troops during a peace vigil there on Nov. 20.

Schwaller, who was unavailable at his home Friday and Saturday, said his act of civil disobedience was designed to help drew public awareness to a social cause.

However, Hoffman said his arrest came amid a lifetime dedicated to social justice-related sacrifices.

"I believe that his motivation was strictly spiritual," Hoffman said. "He was led to take this act after a lot of prayer."

Connie Kanitz, a Menasha representative of the Fox Valley Peace Coalition, said Schwaller accepted his legal penalty without complaint, and used it as a means to witness the barriers faces by inmates and their families.

"It feels good just to be around him," Kanitz said.

"His time in prison became just another part of the remarkable work he has done his whole life."

Schwaller said he intends to continue his annual visits to the annual vigil at Fort Benning, which last year drew attendance estimated at 19,000. It is scheduled to take place over three days starting Nov. 17 this year.

"I'm surely not intending to get arrested again," he told The Post-Crescent after his release from prison in August.

"It took me eight years to make up my mind to do it the last time, but I'll still be there. The mission is not done."

By Ed Lowe