I last left off in Chapter One with being cuffed by a very nice member of the D.C. Park Police SWAT team in front of the White House on Oct. 5 at the national rally to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as put an end of our use of torture.

The nice, air-conditioned D.C. Metro bus with lush, cushioned seats that they brought in to haul us off to jail was filled by the time they got to us “March of the Dead” folks, so we got put into one of the police transports (formerly known as “paddy wagons”). Hard metal seats and definitely no air conditioning – in fact very little air.

We had a quick ride to the Anacosita Police Station, and I discovered that one of the folks with me was Alice, with whom I was arrested at the U.N. back in September 2007 when a group of us tried to deliver an arrest warrant to then President Bush. We're not sure if that case is still open or not and wondered if it might affect how the police would handle us with this arrest.

Since our wagon got to the station first, we got to get out of the wagon and shuffled off into a cell together. There were six or seven of us.

The desk sergeant came in to greet us – which is highly unusual. He had heard at morning report that there were people planning to protest the wars at the White House and they were hoping to get arrested. He told us that when he heard that, he thought to himself, “About friggin' time,” and then told us how much he respected us and that he was glad to see us!

After first telling him that it was not our intent to get arrested but to uphold the law, we talked about being consistent in our values. That it was not the man in the White House that was at issue but what was going on in his administration. I said that if you have a double standard, you don't have a standard.

He then told us that they were not going to confiscate our property and they were going to try to get us out as soon as possible. He then asked if he could get us anything!

“I could use some water," I said. He came back with a “tray” of cups of water for all of us! He could not find a proper tray, so he used the lid of a box.

He even checked on us a couple of times. “You ladies doing OK?” he would ask. “Can I get you anything?”

Before we left, I got the opportunity to thank him for his kind words and told them that in order to be true to the Gospels as a follower of Christ I had to witness against the wars no matter who was in the White House.

The whole encounter was one of those moments of grace that marks the presence of the Holy Spirit.

One of the people arrested with me was Rev. Helbig from Dallas, Texas. She spent her time and money just to come to this action. She has been arrested so many times she has lost count.

She related that at their weekly peace vigil in Dallas, they have police protection because they have been attacked. She had an entire gallon of water dumped on her once. Note that she wears her stole indicating that she is a member of the clergy.

In the cell, Rev. Helbig led us in a prayer of thanksgiving and blessed each one of us. We shared our personal convictions and stories, why we were there and what we hope and dream for our nation. Another of those moments of grace.

Rev. Helbig told a story of being arrested in Oklahoma several years ago; she was one of four people jailed – her and three men. At the time she was on medication that she had to take every morning. Knowing that she might be held overnight in jail she brought her medication just in case. She was held overnight, and in standard operating procedure the police confiscated her medications, which, by the way, had a certain “street value."

When Rev. Helbig went to “check out” the next day, the police could not “find” her medication. She told them she really needed to take it now. They told her they'd look for it and and if they found it they would mail it to her. “You don't understand," she told them, “I need to take my medication now!”

One of the men arrested with her just happened to be the Rev. Jessie Jackson. He told the officer in charge that there were at least five national media representatives waiting outside to talk to him, and unless they wanted the world to know that they had lost a controlled substance that was duly registered using their procedures, they had better look again for said medications and find them.

And found they were! How about that?!

In their zeal to get us out of jail post-haste, the Park Police had us come back the next day to get our arraignment dates. So we had to go back the next morning and spend 3 1/2 hours waiting around for the paperwork to get done to get our dates.

Again the desk sergeant was very cordial (he and I had a lovely exchange about out respective evenings, and our jogging careers) and promised us that he would get us out as soon as he could. We thanked him for his kindness the day before, and said that we'd rather be held longer initially and get our court dates than to have to come back. But we did truly appreciate his good intentions.

One of the folks arrested with me was fellow Saratoga Springs resident Jack Jacknowitz. It was his first time being arrested for civil disobedience (or anything else for that matter) at 80 years old! We told him that his best years were ahead of him.

Jack lost his wife, “Macky,” two years ago. She was very active in the peace community, often witnessing with the Saratoga Peace Alliance at their Saturday vigil in downtown Saratoga Springs. At one of the Flag Day parades in which the SPA was barred from participating, Jack and Macky went to walk at the end of the parade with a peace flag. A police officer told them to get back on the sidewalk or face being arrested. Jack and Macky talked it over and reluctantly decided to go back on the sidewalk. Jack has always regretted not standing up for his First Amendment rights at the time, so he decided to make up for it in D.C. I know Macky is smiling at him from heaven.

When I told folks back here at home what had transpired with the horses and the Secret Service, they could not believe that would happen under a Democratic president.

I'll post Joy First's account of being roughed up and shoved into the street by the Secret Service of this Democratic president who promised peace later this week.