Gabriolans Want Deserter Back

Gabriolans want deserter back
Activists say Cliff Cornell, who deserted the U.S. military in 2002, can live with them
By Walter Cordery, The Daily News | Nanaimo Daily News

Gabriola Island peace activist Jean McLaren can't wait to get the party started.

McLaren and others on the island started a letter-writing campaign to convince U.S. authorities to release army deserter Cliff Cornell from prison last year after the 28-year-old man, a former grocery clerk at the Village Food Market, was jailed in the U.S.

Cornell was released from an American prison Saturday, one month before the end of his year-long jail sentence.

He said that it was the support and letters from the people of Gabriola that helped persuade American officials to release him early. He said that he wants to return to Gabriola Island.

"We all wrote to him and to the American authorities," said Gabriola's Ann Buttrick, who found out Cornell was going to be released when she received a letter from him recently. "I very much want to try to come back to Canada. The support I got has been really overwhelming," Cornell said. McLaren and others on Gabriola plan to welcome him back with open arms. Read more.