Biography
Ed Bloomer was a Des Moines Catholic Worker arrested for re-entry trespass at Offutt Air Force Base / U.S. Strategic Command on Nagasaki Day (August 9, 2001). Sentenced to 30 days plus a fine and one year probation in March 2002.
Frank Cordaro’s contemporary account names Ed Bloomer and the other participant as arrested on August 9, 2019 after blocking the Des Moines Drone Command Center entrance. Police handcuffed them, transported them by van and booked them into Polk County Jail. After a night in a holding cell, both pleaded guilty to trespass the next morning, were fined $200 plus jail and court costs and were released at 2 p.m. on August 10. This overnight detention was separate from their earlier protest cases.
Frank Cordaro’s May 2019 account names Ed Bloomer among five people arrested, handcuffed and taken to Polk County Jail following the May 18 Armed Forces Day protest at the Des Moines Drone Command Center. The group spent the night in holding cells and appeared before a judge the following morning. Four pleaded guilty and received fines; the separately named not-guilty participant was Ruth Hart. All five were physically released by 2 p.m. on May 19. This source does not identify the specific charge, judge, fine amount or a jail sentence; the documented overnight detention is separate from the August 2019 action.
The March 21, 2019 Des Moines Catholic Worker report individually names Ed Bloomer among eight people arrested while blocking the Iowa Air National Guard Drone Command Center entrance on Sunday, March 17. All eight were taken to Polk County Jail. The account distinguishes Al Burney, who bailed out, from the other seven, who remained overnight, pleaded guilty before a jail judge on Monday morning and were fined and released. The reported fines ranged from $100 to $1,000; it does not assign a particular fine amount to Ed Bloomer, name the judge or specify the legal charge.
The July 14, 2013 Jane Stoever report individually names this person among twenty-four protesters arrested after crossing the property line at the new Kansas City nuclear-weapons-parts plant on July 13. All twenty-four were fingerprinted, photographed and detained at the Jackson County Police Department. The report gives mixed group release dates of July 13 and 14, with some releases expected July 15, but does not assign an individual endpoint to this person. No formal charge, exact jail admission, completed custody duration or later court outcome is inferred. Earlier charges against Carl Kabat for separate actions are not assigned to this event. The Nuclear Resister, July 14, 2013.
The January 26, 2018 report individually names Ed Bloomer among four Catholic Workers arrested at the Des Moines Iowa National Guard Drone Command Center on December 28, 2017. All four spent the night in Polk County Jail and were released on December 29, charged with misdemeanor trespass. It states that Hynes, Bloomer and Boertje-Obed pleaded not guilty; Burney’s separate guilty plea and fine are not attributed to them. An anticipated jury trial is not a verdict or imposed sentence. No additional whole-day custody total is inferred.
The July 2017 Des Moines report explicitly identifies Catholic Worker Ed Bloomer as one of seven people arrested at the Iowa National Guard drone-command site on March 17, 2013, during the Midwest Catholic Worker Faith and Resistance Retreat. It supplies no individual charge, jail admission, release or completed custody duration for that earlier arrest. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The same report names Ed Bloomer among two people arrested at the Des Moines drone-command protest on July 1, 2017. It describes a hard night in a Polk County Jail holding cell, followed by guilty pleas, fines and court costs. Both men were reported free, but the precise physical-release day and individual offense charged to Bloomer are not stated. No completed-day total is inferred from the overnight account. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
A separate Kansas City trespass prosecution
The October 8 compilation distinguishes the August 16 plant-site trespass prosecution from the later City Council disruption. It says Judge Franco found Frank Cordaro and Ed Bloomer guilty at the October 7 morning hearing and imposed a fine and costs, which they refused to pay. Their subsequent overnight City Council detention was a separate incident; the threatened warrants for unpaid fines are not treated as completed custody. Contemporary compilation.
