Twenty five peace activists outside Raytheon, two arrested
By Andy Smith

ANDOVER — Two peace advocates were arrested this morning at the Raytheon plant during a vigil commemorating the 60th anniversary of the atomic attack against Nagasaki, Japan, and protesting the United States' current nuclear arsenal.

Police charged Mary Kate Small, 42, of 169 High Plain Road in Andover and Thomas J. Feagley, 59, of Malden with misdemeanors of obstructing traffic. Police said that at about 8:15 a.m., the pair held a banner across the entrance to Raytheon and refused to leave.

Small and Feagley were among a group of about 25 people who attended the vigil.

Every Tuesday, Small participates in vigils outside the defense contractor's plant on Route 133. Prior to her arrest, she said it is important to remember the victims of Nagasaki and Hiroshima while pushing for the United States to discontinue its production of weapons of mass destruction.

"We were looking for weapons of mass destruction all over Iraq, and we have weapons of mass destruction right here," she said.

About 74,000 people were killed in Nagasaki, which ended World War II.

Arthur Brien, 75, of Lawrence also takes part in the vigils each week as a member of the Raytheon Peacemakers, which includes several members of the Merrimack Valley People For Peace.

Brien said the United States has been "two-faced" — calling for countries such Iran and North Korea to disarm while amassing the world's largest nuclear arsenal.

"We're the ones that developed the atomic bomb and we're the ones that used it," he said. "We've signed international treaties and made symbolic gestures guaranteeing we will stop developing nuclear weapons. But we don't seem to be going in that direction at all. We're still very much in the nuclear business."

The article above was published in the Eagle-Tribune on Tues. Aug. 9, 2005

(Mary Kate Small and Tom Feagley were arraigned in Lawrence District Court today and received a $20 fine which they refused and the judge substituted four hours of community service which they accepted.)