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Scott Rutherford

Scott Rutherford is a military veteran and a retired employee of the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He also served in Pakistan in the 1960s with the Agency for International Development. Committed to nonviolent social and political change, he was active in the Central American solidarity movement in the 1980s.

Rutherford came to the Copper Country in 1996 to support Fight For Justice, the group of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) dissidents who took over the KBIC Tribal Center in 1995. He resides in Hancock with his wife, Joyce Koskenmaki, an artist who teaches painting and drawing at Finlandia University. He is a member of the Board and coordinates team formation for the Veterans Viet Nam Restoration Project that sends teams of veterans to Viet Nam for reconciliation and healing.

An advocate of peace and justice, Rutherford is also a member of the Copper Country Peace Alliance and the local chapter of the Colombia Support Network.

Viewpoints

Letter: Washington, D.C., anti-war demonstration and mass civil disobedience in front of the White House

By Scott Rutherford  Posted 10/30/2005

HANCOCK -- Guest columnist Scott Rutherford offers an account and photos of his participation in the Sept. 24, 2005, anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C., and in the civil disobedience action in front of the White House that followed on Sept. 26. "After traveling to Camp Casey to meet Cindy Sheehan in August, it seemed only fitting to join her in Washington, D.C.," Rutherford writes. His letter is a follow-up to his Sept. 4, 2005, letter to Keweenaw Now on the Camp Casey visit. In Washington, Rutherford, with fellow members of  Veterans for Peace, joined a group of 370 demonstrators arrested for civil disobedience in front of the White House. (Photo: From left, in background, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan and Rev. Al Sharpton hold banner with other anti-war demonstrators in Washington, D.C. Sept. 24, 2005. Photo © 2005 Scott Rutherford. Reprinted with permission.) more

Letter: Trip to Camp Casey, August 2005

By Scott Rutherford  Posted 09/05/2005

HANCOCK -- Scott Rutherford of Hancock reports on the trip he and Vern Simula made in August to meet Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas. "We wanted to learn more about how she was reviving the anti-war movement and find out how we could help her," Rutherford writes. Describing the enthusiastic spirit at Camp Casey, named for Cindy's son, a soldier killed in Iraq, Rutherford notes Cindy has emerged as the anti-war movement's leading spokesperson and has inspired other "Camp Caseys" all over the country, where people are holding vigils and mobilizing bus trips to Washington for the Sept. 24 March on Washington. more

Letter: Afghanistan threatened with mass starvation

Posted 11/7/2001

HANCOCK -- Scott Rutherford of Hancock says United States military actions in retaliation for the September 11 tragedy could result in the starvation of two million people in Afghanistan. While six million Afghans will be dependent on aid this winter, Rutherford says a United Nations refugee agency has refused to increase food deliveries because the Taliban have interfered with them. Rutherford asks why the U.S. media have said little about this crisis. more