| « Kosovo in (1981−1989): A Silent Secession from Serbia and Yugoslavia | Famine by Design: Israel’s Hunger Siege on Gaza » |
Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner — War Tax Resisters!
By Sally Dugman
Betsy and Randy
The eldest son, a married school teacher with children, of Catholic Worker friends of mine, I was told, is contemplating becoming a War Tax Resister, which makes sense on a number of points — especially in that his parents and he are pacifists as were my Quaker parents, too, while being close friends with Dorothy Day, founder, along with Peter Maurin, of the Catholic Worker Movement.
My Catholic Worker friends don’t pay taxes either. It is because they do not make enough income to have to do so. However and despite their voluntary vows of poverty, they managed for over thirty years to run a shelter in their home for over 5,000 homeless people over the years who they have fed and helped with finding more permanent housing, medical care, jobs and more.
On account, they have over the years raised their four children in their home, as well as housed lots of homeless people from seemingly every continent on the earth. In addition, they have been jailed for war resistance acts, themselves, as well as have gone overseas to war zones to help with critical international peace works.
So I’m personally honored, awed and pleased to give my friends Claire and Scott food and tea every month for their always full household. And I’m likewise happy to hear that their son, Justin, written about here: Raising Progressive Offspring By Emily Spence, wants to become a war tax resister. It all makes deep sense in its own elegantly fitting way.
So my childhood and adult friend who went to Sunday school with me at Scarsdale, NY Quaker (Friends) Meeting starting when I was a toddler became a war tax resister. This was after he and others, including his pregnant wife, bought up a large group property for Quakers to share and collectively manage on which they intended to build their homes.
So Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner, his wife, built theirs, too, on the site that they wanted. However, they had a little problem. It was that they were happy to pay their state and local income taxes, but not their federal tax that was going to war efforts due to the Vietnam War. It wasn’t, though, due to weaseling out since the same amount owed the feds was given by them to peace oriented charities.
All the same, the IRS came after them. Then, the IRS grabbed their home, which was illegal since it was on a cooperative land site rather than a private property, and sold it to the highest bidder.
There was only one bidder — a very young, rookie policeman with a pregnant girlfriend. He paid a mere $5,000, I was told, for the rights to own the house and the closest surrounding land on the house site. (This is not the way that this Quaker group land is legally organized.)
At the same time, pregnant Betsy was forced to quickly move out with whomever she would chose with whom to live and Randy was carted off to prison. There, he, it was decided, would be maybe helpful to help a drug addict who was also imprisoned due to the latter’s excessive and open drug use. So Randy was put in his cell.
Further, Randy would not declare himself a conscientious objector — a legal pacifist — as he saw that as complying with our warring federal government. Meanwhile, a whole bunch of social justice advocates decided that we’d drive the police fellow and his gal out of the Kehler-Corner home. So 24 hours on 7 days a week, we took turns and sang, danced, beat drums, yelled and generally made a ruckus at the home that had been wrongfully seized so as to eventually drive out the wrongful occupants.
Then, some of my friends and I did more. I talked with Randy, who I’d known for so very long, and decided with him that his cell mate, when he got out of jail, should go to the shelter where my Catholic Worker friends lived and helped the homeless find jobs and permanent homes after transitioning to having a home via living first in their home.
So I talked to Claire and Scott, who had been part of the protest at the Quaker household, about this fellow living there with them. So it worked out … for about a week. Then, he started using drugs again and he got kicked out since a rule is no illegal drugs or alcohol use is allowed at the Catholic Worker House.
So since I was trying to help him and was keeping track of him, I picked him up after he slept in a city doorway and back yards for a few nights, and convinced two Quaker farmers to try to help him at their farm site. However, that didn’t work out either for the same reason. It was, sadly, his unending drug use.
So he went back to living on the streets and I got him next in touch with a public social worker who got him a single room occupancy (SRO) in Worcester city, as well as a drug resistance program to attend, and since he had no job for money, he’d have to give up drugs eventually with no way to buy them. So I left him in the care of the capable social worker.
Further, he had plenty of food options since we have a number of no charge soup kitchens and food banks for the poor to get free meals in my region of which I, myself, sometimes helped fund one, which was a deep and true pleasure!
In the end, Randy and Betsy have done a lot to help others and help with changing society of which some truly incredible aspects are wonderfully discussed here: Randy Kehler.
So, I feel honored, privileged and glad to be a part of such excellent happenings and people striving to improve the world rather than instead blow it up to smithereens in wars! It helps make our collective lives more worthwhile and meaningful!
-###-
Sally Dugman writes from and lives in MA, USA.
No feedback yet
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted articles and information about environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. This news and information is displayed without profit for educational purposes, in accordance with, Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Thepeoplesvoice.org is a non-advocacy internet web site, edited by non-affiliated U.S. citizens. editor