Burned draft card in 1989
W
ar protester: prison inevitable
. By Greg Wees
On Thursday, fet. 14, 1963, near the
end of a Hyde Park public forum on
religion, a student stepped to the
pod.um In the Nebraska Union lounge,
unfolded a sheet of paper and started
reading.
"I can no longer cooperate with the
Selective Service," ho began. "The
draft serves to feed the military machine
to fight the Vietnam War, which I
consider unjust and Immoral, as are all
wars."' ' - . . .
With that statement, Larry Zink, then
a junior, committed himself to facing the
consequences of his next act, which
ultimately would send him to prison.
Holding his draft card in the air, Zink
struck a match and lit the card. He
encouraged others In the audience to
follow his lead, but no one accepted.
Zink said he knew a prison term
awaited him. Two days. after his Illegal
protest, FBI agents came to Zink's
home. He signed a statement admitting .
he had burned his draft card.
In February 1970, Zink pleaded guilty
and was sentenced under, the Youth
Corrections Act to serve not more than
four years in federal prison. He was to
be released at the discretion : of his
parole of fleer. v ;
"I prepared myself . for . going In,"
Zink now says. "I had time to get it all
together in my head." ;
Applying for a conscientious objector
deferment was out of the question, Zink
said. That would have meant coopera
ting with the Selective Service System,
which he thought was .corrupt and
unjust.
He could have accepted an occupa
tional deferment because he had
completed three years of electrical
engineering subsidized by a Regent's
scholarship. But he refused It.
From March 1971 until May 1972,
Zink served time at three prisons In the
South. All . were medium security
prisons that "rewarded those who
played along with the system," Zink
recalls.
Prison in Springfield, Mo.
When he was 24, he entered the
federal prison at Springfield, Mo.,
where he worked as a dishwasher.
Several months later; he was trans
ferred to El Reno, Okla. . .-: . ,.,
"El Reno was a bad place: There was
a lot of tension there'iink says, telling
about the hard-line attitude of offen
ders, most of who were 20 to 30 years
old. '
Finally ha arrived at the Seaoaville.
Tex., prison where there were no night
guards at the gates to stop prisoners
who aiiempied io escape. Inmates had
their own rooms and Keys to tnelr own
doors, he said. Thus Zink retained his
privacy, a commodity he admits he
regarded highly.
At Seagaville, Zink worked without,
guard supervision. His typing profi
ciency secured him a fob with civil
service personnel, he said.
Zink said he wondered how other
Crisoners would react to a draft card
urner.
"Some (of the prisoners) blatantly
disagreed with me, but many respected
by stand," he said.
Many drug violators '
Many of the young prisoners at
Seagaville were convicted of drug
violations, Zink said. They formed, a
distinct community which banded to
gether whenever other, older Inmates
tried to steal their commissary money
or threatened them in other ways.
The majority of the younger prisoners
were middle class, educated and had
ties with the outside, Zink recalls. They
were willing to take prison administra
tors to court and, by doing so, were
able to ease hair code and book
.restrictions.
"There wasn't any training or work
release for prisoners such as myself,"
he emphasized. "We weren't there to
be rehabilitated, we were just there to
be punished."
After one year and three months In
prison, the National Parole Board' In
Washington, D.C. accepted his parole
officer's recommendation for suspend
ing the rest of the sentence, Zink was
freed. .'
He now is learning to operate an
offset printing press in the basement of
the Agricultural Communications Bldg.
on East Campus. He also . is taking
upper-level psychology courses, but
said he will not complete remaining
requirements for an electrical engineer
ing degree.
with amnesty plan
Zink said he disagrees with President
Gerald Ford's conditional amnesty
offer, and said he was surprised by it.
"I though he would do more, go
farther. But he moved too .fast," he
said. "Ford should have left the Issues
open to public discussion.
"It would be best for everyone
involved to get complete amnesty, to
recognize that there is no wrong
involved in the decisions they made,
he said.
"The Vietnam War was a rotten,
.stinking war that divided the country
and didn't do a bit of good for anyone...!
still believe that," Zink said.
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