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August 7, 2000 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE EIGHT PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR SYMBOLICALLY CLOSING TRIDENT SUBMARINE BASE ON HIROSHIMA DAY, AUGUST 6, 2000. Stretching a huge, colorful banner across three incoming traffic lanes, eight people symbolically closed the Bangor Trident Submarine Base in Kitsap County, WA on Sunday August 6, 2000. Reading "Because we celebrate life, we resist Trident! Hiroshima never again! No D-5 upgrade!" the banner expressed the intentions and feelings of the 50-plus people gathered at the gates of the Pacific base for the Trident nuclear weapons system. The eight people completely sealed off the main gate to the Trident facility for several minutes, until waiting Kitsap County Sheriff's officers respectfully arrested each of the eight. The eight people are: Dick Arnold, 63, of Federal Way, WA; Marie Bernard, 63, of Seattle, WA; Mary Gleysteen, 52, of Kingston, WA; Joy Goldstein, 65, of Vashon Island, WA; Mary Hanson, 54, of Seattle, WA; Lisa Johnson, 42, of Silverdale, WA; Karol Milner, 47, of Lake Forest Park, WA; and Brian Watson, 30, of Bremerton, WA. They were booked on charges of Disorderly Conduct and Failure to Disperse by sheriff's officers and released, to be notified of court appearance by mail. The nonviolent civil resistance action resulting in these arrests culminated a four-day conference on--and training in--nonviolence as a tool for social change, hosted by the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. The theme of the gathering and the nonviolent action at Bangor was that love for all beings compels us to take nonviolent action to confront threats to life; the Trident nuclear weapons system represents one of the greatest threats to life, and must be resisted through active nonviolence. The Bangor Trident Submarine Base is home to eight nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines. With 1,600 nuclear warheads stored and deployed from Bangor, which is 20 miles west of Seattle, Bangor has one of the largest concentrations of nuclear weapons in the world. Bangor has more nuclear weapons than Britain, France, China, Israel, India, and Pakistan…combined. If Kitsap County were its own country, it would be the third largest nuclear weapons power in the world, trailing only Russia and the rest of the US. Each Trident submarine is armed with 192 W76 100-kiloton warheads on 24 accurate, long-range C-4 missiles. The Navy is currently beginning a $9 billion refit of four of the Bangor-based Trident subs to carry even more accurate, larger, and longer-range Trident II D-5 missiles. In addition, the Navy and Dept. of Energy are working on a redesign of the W76 warhead to make it capable of exploding at ground level. Both these developments further enhance the US's ability to launch a nuclear first-strike. They also are in direct violation of international laws and treaty obligations the US has to achieve nuclear disarmament. Kitsap County prosecutors have failed to convict activists for acts of nonviolent civil resistance at Bangor since 1985, when a jury acquitted 19 people of charges when they sat in front of a train bringing nuclear warheads to Bangor. In June 1999, another Kitsap Co. jury found eight people innocent of charges because they felt International Law legally justified acts of nonviolent civil resistance. In Dec. 1999, a Kitsap Co. judge found four people innocent of charges. In Feb. 2000, Kitsap Co. prosecutors decided to not charge five people who had blocked the road to Bangor on Jan. 17, 2000, Martin Luther King Day. The action at Bangor occurred against a backdrop of increased critical attention focused on Trident. The Navy in May 2000 announced its intention to bring a Trident submarine (the USS Alabama, of the movie "Crimson Tide") to Seattle this year, along with a fleet of other warships, as part of the annual SeaFair festival. The Navy's plans sparked intense organizing to try to stop nuclear weapons and/or their delivery devices from becoming objects of celebration at family-fun events such as SeaFair. This organizing resulted in the Seattle City Council convening a
Community Forum on the matter, which drew a standing-room-only crowd,
several guest editorials in the two Seattle newspapers, dozens of radio
and television interviews, great controversy over the issue as expressed
in letters to the editor, a nonviolent direct action which stopped the
sub's progress to Seattle at the floating Hood Canal Bridge, and a multi-day
vigil of conscience nearby where the Trident sub was docked in Seattle
August 2-6. Seattle City Council member Richard Conlin will introduce
a resolution for a vote by the entire City Council which declares that
nuclear weapons and/or their delivery devices are inappropriate to celebrate
at family events such as SeaFair. To pass, it needs only one more vote.
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