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Copied without permission from the Las Vegas Review-Journal,
Monday, April 20, 1992.
[My apologies for any misspelled names or other mistakes, I'm
transcribing from a very bad FAX. -Michele]
[Photo at top of column has caption reading, "Police carry off a
protester Sunday waving a permit from Indians, who claim they have
rights to the Nevada Test Site. The man was one of 493 arrested
during the Easter demonstration."]
Anti-nuclear protest nets 493 arrests
The continued testing of nuclear weapons in the U.S. is the subject
of a protest by 1,000 activists.
By Keith Rogers
Review-Journal - With drums pounding and a breeze blowing, 1000
peace activists converged on the Nevada Test Site for an Easter
Sunday demonstration that led to the arrest of about half of them
for trespassing on the world's only nuclear weapons proving ground.
The 493 who were arrested Sunday brought the total to 761
arrested since Friday for civil disobedience actions at the test
site.
All those cited Sunday, primarily for misdemeanor trespassing
charges were expected to be released Sunday night from the Nye
County jail at Beatty, Dept. of Energy spokesman Derek Scammett
said.
The Energy Department runs the test site, 80 miles northwest of
Las Vegas, where more than 700 nuclear weapons tests have been
conducted since 1951. With a moratorium on nuclear tests in effect
in France and Russia, the Nevada Test Site is the only known active
nuclear proving ground.
A U.S. nuclear device was detonated there March 28 under the
watchful eye of Russian scientists who were on hand to verify that
the teat did not exceed the 150-kiloton explosive yield limit set
by treaties in the 1970s.
The British also test their nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test
Site. China has not made any announcements this year on nuclear
test limits.
Rick Paul Springer, 41, of North Las Vegas, - the heckler who
startled former President Reagan a week ago by smashing a 30-pound
crystal eagle while Reagan spoke at a Las Vegas convention -
attended Sunday's demonstration but was not arrested.
Springer was charged with threatening an ex-president, but
released on his own recognizance by U.S. Magistrate Lawrence
Leavitt, who ordered him not to break any laws during the weekend
protests. He is scheduled for arraignment May 4.
Springer, wearing a brown leather cap and sunglasses, watched
while protesters he had organized for Sunday's 100th Monkey Project
demonstration were carried off by police as they sat or lay down
near the cattle guard that marks the entrance to the test site.
"They have plenty of police officers here. They should carry
them without using their batons," Springer said.
Arrests aside, Springer said the "real issue" is continued
nuclear weapons testing.
"Saying that nuclear weapons are a deterrent to war is like
saying guns are a deterrent to murder. They aren't," he said. "If
there is one thing we've learned from history it is that violence
doesn't work."
Dressed in yellow coveralls with a plastic nose that served as a
makeshift rabbit suit, Hugh Romney, the 1960's anti-war activist
better known as Wavy Gravy, stood before the line of police at the
cattle guard.
"There's nobody left to blow up but ourselves," he said about
nuclear testing moments before his arrest. "It's an insult to our
planet."
Then in 1960's fashion, the throng chanted, "the whole world's
watching," while some threw flowers in the air and put some flowers
on a barbed wire fence.
Sunday's demonstration began at 11:00 a.m. when the first wave
of peace activists approached the cattle guard and surrendered to
the police following a prayer service by Rev. Alain Richard and
another Franciscan, Sister Rosemary Lynch.
Vladimir Iakimeta [sp?], a senior researcher for the Russian
Academy of Sciences, discussed the world nuclear testing situation
while the first arrests were being made.
He said he fears the Russians will resume testing in the fall
when the moratorium is set to expire. "This will be extremely
dangerous if this country (the United States) will not impose a
one-year moratorium," he said.
Despite claims by U.S. scientists that the United States needs
to continue testing to ensure existing warheads are safe and
reliable. Iakimeta said that reason "is myth," and the real reason
is to develop more warheads.
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The Hundredth Monkey Project to Stop Nuclear Testing
Contact: Sue Navy (702) 399-4399 April 30, 1992
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nuclear Bomb Exploded Despite Public Outcry
After being held off for two weeks by Veterans, Internationals,
Native Americans, and environmentalists involved in The Hundredth
Monkey Project to Stop Nuclear Testing, the DOE has detonated yet
another nuclear bomb in Nevada today at approximately 9:45 AM PDT.
Despite the Radiation Victims Compensation At announcing awards
of $50,000- $100,000 to victims of past nuclear tests for deaths
and illnesses, the U.S. government continues to violate
international law and Treaties with the Western Shoshone in the
face of global support for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTB).
Over 700 nuclear bombs have been detonated in the Nevada desert,
each costing between $6 and $90 million, according to the
Department of Energy.
Anti-nuclear activist Rick Springer stated, "The Cold War has
been the most devastating war in world history. Today's test,
"Diamond Fortune", is proof that this war on our own people is not
over. A more appropriate name for this bomb test would be
"Grandchildren's Inheritance".
Says Springer, "My action at the National Association of
Broadcasters convention had no focus on Mr. Reagan but totally on
the nuclear testing issue. It is today's nuclear bomb test that is
responsible for the destruction of that crystal symbol of freedom,
the eagle. It is our right to live in a world free from the threat
of nuclear radiation."
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Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
milo@scicom.alphacdc.com * our Mother Earth.
milo%scicom.alphacdc.com@csn *
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