Biography
Hattie Nestel, born Hattie Axelrod in Philadelphia, is a Jewish anti-nuclear and environmental activist. Her first arrest came on September 17, 1983, when she joined the Atlantic Life Community in blocking the launch of a Trident submarine in Connecticut on Yom Kippur. She later served a 45-day probation-violation sentence connected with Trident resistance and refused conditions offered for early release. Nestel continued organizing against nuclear weapons and nuclear power with the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team and the Shut It Down Affinity Group.
Separate December 2003 BAE arrest and March 2004 disposition
The March 2004 Merrimack Valley People for Peace newsletter individually names this participant among the eleven Chain Reaction Affinity Group protesters taken into police custody at BAE Systems in Nashua on December 22, 2003. Police separated their linked chains with bolt cutters and charged criminal trespass, with disorderly conduct applying to some participants. At the March 4, 2004 court proceeding the group entered no-contest pleas and received community service, between twenty and forty hours. The report does not individualize every charge or community-service total, nor give a jail-admission day, release day, or multi-day confinement. The December arrest and March court appearance must not be treated as continuous incarceration; community-service hours are not jail time. The newsletter also publishes Hattie Nestel’s own February 17, 2004 statement criticizing depleted-uranium weapons and government handling of environmental-health information on pages 2–4. These are her attributed views, not independently verified medical findings, and do not supply missing dates in the earlier Trident cases.
Merrimack Valley People for Peace, March 2004, original pages 2–4 and February 24 minutes on page 6.
