Ypsilanti Evader Rejects Amnesty Plan

Ypsilanti Evader Rejects Amnesty Plan

SATURDAY OCT 12 1974 

BY MARY JO FRANK News Staff Reporter

A 21-year-old Ypsilanti man has chosen to plead guilty to draft evasion rather than accept President Ford’s conditional amnesty plan

Paul Renz, 417 W. Cross, was arraigned Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Rochester, N.Y. for violating the Selective Service Act. A date for sentencing has not been set.

His reaction to Thursday’s events: “I’m elated, inexpressibly relieved because everything has gone so smoothly.”

Renz, a Norfolk, Va. native, is working with the Rev. Kenneth Colton, a minister with First United Methodist Church who specializes in draft counseling.

Like many men who evaded the draft or deserted during the Vietnam War, Renz was disappointed in Ford’s amnesty plan outlined Sept. 16 which calls for men to give up to two years of public service in exchange for conditional amnesty-

But Renz had slightly different reasons.

He was afraid Ford’s conditional amnesty plan might jeopardize legal proceedings he has been involved in for a year.

Renz, who was denied conscientious objector status by his local Virginia draft board in March, 1972, and later by an appellate board, is taking advantage of two legal options which he considers more palatable than Ford’s plan.

Colton said one option, called Rule 20, allows a criminal case to be transferred from one federal court to another if the defendent agrees to plead guilty or nolo contendere.

Renz’s case has been transferred to Rochester where Colton worked as director of the Draft Information Center until June 1973 when he came to Ann Arbor.

Although the maximum sentence for g the Selective Service Act is five I jail and a $10,000 fine, Judge Harold Burke, the only federal judge in the Rochester area, had been sentencing men to two years of public service long before Ford’s conditional amnesty plan, Colton said.

The second law Renz is taking advantage of is the Youth Corrections Act, which allows felonies to be erased from permanent records for persons under the age of 26 at the discretion of the federal judge.

One reason Renz prefers pleading guilty, and serving his time in public service under the provision of the Youth Corrections Act is because he has received landed immigrant status in Canada.

Although Renz is not sure when or if he will become a Canadian citizen, he wants to keep the option open.

Under Ford’s plan, the draft evader or deserter has to pledge allegiance to the United States. Renz feels this might jeopardize his eligibility to become a Canadian citizen.

“I think it is ludicrous to have to reaffirm patriotism to this country,” said Renz, a tall, lanky blond who plays jazz guitar.

Colton said it is unique to have a person eligible for earned re-entry to agree to prosecution instead.

Renz said his route is unprecedented.

Other men in Ann Arbor who are in similar situations might benefit from Renz’s experience, Colton said.

Renz has been a fugitive from the law since the summer 1972 when a bench warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to appear in court when he was indicted.

Colton said Renz had a well-documented case for requesting conscientious objector status based on his family’s long history of opposing war.

Included in the documentation is a letter from a retired Army brigadier general who was head of a camp where Renz and his girlfriend, Caroline Harris, worked with mentally retarded children.

Renz left the United States in August, 1972, spending one year in Point Gatinea, Quebec.

He went underground when he returned to the United States, living most of the time in Ypsilanti, with the exception of vacations to California and Canada.

Renz used a friend’s name and social security number to obtain a job in Ann Arbor. He later confided in his employer, who he would not identify, about the bench warrant against him. The employer was sympathetic and allowed him to ccntinue working.

Renz used aliases for his correspondence but for day-to-day life they weren’t needed, he said.

Miss Harris, an Eastern Michigan University student, contacted Colton a year ago after receiving his name from Ann Arbor’s Draft and Military Information Center located at Ozone House.

Now that the uncertainty is over for Renz, he plans to visit his family in Virginia and form a group with other musicians.