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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1970)
Editorial Dorothy Leeper: best choice to take on Dellenback Who gets to take on Dellenback? That’s what the fourth district congressional race boils down to. Four candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination and the seeming ly impossible job of unseating Rep. John Dellen back. Forget about Dellenback’s Republican compe tition. Neither of his two primary opponents, Ray Hannibal and Earl Neet, pose a serious threat. Hannibal is running essentially on one issue, his opposition to gun control legislation. Neet’s main concern is conservation (not ecology). Besides, Dellenback’s strength in Oregon’s GOP is second only to Gov. McCall. But Dellenback is also a handmaiden to Presi dent Nixon, and his record follows Republican 'party line almost perfectly. In an era where the powers of Congress have been uncritically abdi cated to the executive, a rubber stamp represen tative is unlikely to reverse this process. Unfortunately the task of beating Dellenback is so great that many political experts believe that even former Sen. Wayne Morse couldn’t do it, let alone a candidate without any record of public office. None of the candidates running in the Democratic primary have held an office be fore But one does stand out as an individual with a long record of political activity—Dorothy Leep er. She has been co-chairman of the Howard Mor gan and Wayne Morse senatorial campaigns, and was a McCarthy delegate to the Democratic Na tional Convention in 1968. Currently, she is edi tor of the Oregon Democrat, a liberal Democratic newspaper with a statewide following. More importantly, she has been concerned with peace, pollution and population control long be fore these issues became popular. Mrs. Leeper sees the war in Vietnam as “outrageous military spending that is wrecking our domestic econ omy.” In short, she is an Oregon Democrat in the Wayne Morse tradition, and in that we could have no one better representing us in the House of Representatives. The other three candidates on the Democratic ballot, William Grannell, Frank Hatch, and James Weaver, are also peace candidates. They differ from Mrs. Leeper essentially in their past record and involvement in politics. Though their hearts seem to be in the right place, we feel their lack of extensive experience in politics will hinder their effectiveness in Congress. Of the three, Frank Hatch, a young Vietnam veteran, shows the most promise. His personal experiences in the war, which have left him dis gusted with it, may be valuable in influencing the largely conservative House to alter its passive approval of the war. He also has some good pro posals on freeing U.S. prisoners of war Although Dorothy Leeper is the best qualified candidate for the position, whichever candidate receives the nomination deserves strong support from the University community. We must go beyond mere endorsements, and urge students and faculty to work hard on this extremely im portant campaign. Ecology Nobody needs nerve gas This Sunday, there will be a rally in Portland to protest the shipment of nerve gas. Here's why you and every other citizen of Oregon should be there. Kditor's note: The following column, submitted by the Nerve Gas Research Collective, lists the potential dangers of the nerve gas shipment, and what action is being taken to stop it. The voluntary muscles go into a state of vibration and then become paralyzed. With the voluntary muscles, which power the blood vessels and other internal or gans, the delicate balance of actuating and deaetuating nervous stimulations is up set. The pupils, bladder and alimentary canal constrict, the penis erects and the tear and saliva glands secrete and the heart grow's. The cause of death is gen erally asphixia following paralysis of the respiratory muscles. This is death by nerve gas. Late this month 8.000 to 10,000 tons of nerve gas in 12 trainloads of 24 cars will be shipped from Bangor, Wash., to Her miston, Ore., over a period of about 100 days. The quantity of nerve gas is enough to kill every person in the world 300 times. 1 50th of a drop of VX (nerve gas) on the skin proves fatal. The dangers in moving the gas are innu merable. Testifying before the City-County Health Committee in Portland, Jack Doughty, former safety director of Okin awa when some of the gas was delivered, said, “There is absolutely no way to move the munitions safely.” Marion Felter, Rail way Union executive, stated that the Army would be moving a dangerous commodity over "poorly maintained tracks” that are in the worst condition” that he has seen in 26 years which he has worked for the railroad. UNPARALLED DANGER The rail shipment planned for the state of Washington and Oregon passes through relatively lightly populated areas. Never theless a released gas cloud can be car ried long distances on unpredictable winds. Gas clouds of smoke from forest fires south of Lake Quinnault in the state of Washington obscured visibility 500 miles away in Medford, Ore., near the Califor nia border. The bases are usually enclos ed in containers which are packed with explosives. These explosives are specially designed to spread the toxic agents over a wide area on detonation. Some forms of these munitions are highly susceptible to shock, fire and detonation started by another explosive. If a chain of explosions of this type started, it would be impossible to con trol and the gases of both types would be spread over a wide area; the range of the spread would depend to a great extent on weather conditions. The National Academy of Sciences reported, “We cannot exclude the remote possibility of a catastrophic explosion in connection with transporta tion of large numbers of M34 clusters. “Conceivably a sniper’s high-velocity bul let could initiate a burster charge, and tests have shown that this induces sym pathetic detonation of several adjacent bomblets; or, the collision of a gasoline truck with the train on a grade crossing could start a fire that could detonate the contents of many clusters.” If the ships sank or if a train car fell into the river, large quantities of VX could be spread on the surface of the water and carried for miles. Forty three scientists in Oregon have signed a statement saving the shipment poses a hazard "unparalleled in history." The removal of the gas from Okinawa is due to the widespread reaction after 24 Americans were hospitalized due to leak age of the nerve gas stored there. In July of 1968 200 children suffered skin burns while playing in the surf near an Army Ordinance Company on Okinawa. Over a 1,000 cases of nerve gas poi soning that occurred among workers at Rocky Mountain Argenal have been treat ed in the Denver area alone. In Utah some 6,400 sheep were killed by exposure to VX gas released some 30 miles away. Within an eight-year period at Fort De rtick 3,300 accidents occurred and involv ed the infection of more than 500 men and three deaths—two from anthrax. Two drugs are required for treatment of nerve gas poisoning, one against the mus cle paralytic effects and one against the secretory effects. To be maximally effec tive the drugs should be injected soon after an exposure, preferably within sec onds. One of the drugs, atrophine, can only be given safely after you are certain that you have been exposed to nerve gas. This is because the amounts of atropine that are required will kill you themselves is you haven’t already been poisoned. Hos pital personnel have testified that proper treatment of as few as half a dozen par tially poisoned victims would completely tie up their facilities. COST NOT FACTOR The cost of shipping the gas from Oki nawa to Oregon is over $3 million; esti mates for detoxifying the gas runs from $250,000 to $400,000. Clearly, cost is not a factor in the resolution of this issue. Despite widespread dissent calling for the immediate detoxification of the gas as well as all other forms of CBW, the gas is scheduled to arrive in Washington near the end of the month. The intrasigence and unresponsiveness of the government is characteristic of the kind of society we live in where decisions are made by the corporate and military elite. Over 300,000 residents of Oregon and Washington have signed petitions asking that the gas be detoxified; the governors and senators of both states have request ed the shipment be stopped: legal suits filed by citizens and the states have been dismissed and thousands of phone calls and letter to legislators seemingly have had no effect. Why is the nerve gas coming? The Department of Defense claims that the shipment is “in the national interest.” However the only conceivable usage of the gas is against revolutionary movements in the Third World and the internal Black colony. Several types of gases due to be shipped to Hermiston are used in Indo china. CS gas or “super tear gas” is the most notable. It attacks the eyes, throat and nose even in low concentrations. DM or “nausea gas” has been used by police in ghetto insurrections and cam pus revolts. Will VX (nerve) gas be the next weapon the rulers will use? GENOCIDAL WEAPON Nerve gas is another genocidal weapon the U.S. possesses in its military arsenal essential to the maintenance of a global empire. In 1925 the U.S. signed the Ge neva Photocol, but it was referred back to the committee after opposition by vet eran’s organizations and chemical manu facturers. This treaty prohibits “the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, ma terials and devices.” The Soviet Union, Communist China, and 60 other nations have agreed to the protocol. Why has the U.S. not consented? Perhaps the power brokers and military minds foresee the day when they will unleash America’s CBW capacity. What can be done now? As much public pressure as possible must be brought to bear prior to the shipment of the gas. Letters, phone calls, and telegrams should be directed to legislators demanding the immediate detoxification of the gas and an end to all forms of CBW. This Sunday at 2:30 p.m. there will be a rally at Holiday Park in Portland. Speak ers will include former Sen. Wayne Morse, journalist Seymour Hersh who first ex posed CBW, and ecology expert Barry Weisberg. Transportation arrangements will be announced later in the week. A large turn out at this rally may have an impact on the decision to ship the gas. Lastly we must be prepared for the likely possi bility that all institutional means will fail. If the gas is still shipped next week there will be a demonstration at Bangor, Wash, the day it arrives. Details on the demonstration and the exact date will be announced next week. Letter Self-defeating \\T> attended last Wednesday's Collective Coordinating Commit • tee meeting, where several things happened. The meeting was call ed so that the various collectives could share ideas and information regarding their activities, and most representatives it seemed attended for this reason. However, discussion was limited to a min imal dialog among collective rep resentatives. Our collective is in the process of becoming the headquarters for PANG (People Against Nerve Gas) and we appreciated the chance to tind out what the other collectives were doing with this issue Instead the Moderator put •_ us anil others off by saying we could talk about it together after all collectives hail spoken. This would have been tine, but it never occurred. Instead, after most of the col lectives had spoken, another per son gave a report on the Na tional Student Congress. Then several others began a discussion of the necessity of the strike. A discussion began, but was put down by the moderator when Joe Schoenfield arrived, not as far as we could see as a collec tive representative, but to pre sent an unrelated resolution to vote upon. The resolution is as follows: 1. Kap type disruption of all classes (Students presently at tending classes were called “scabs" and the supporters of the resolution called for violence if then necessary to enforce the striking of classes). 2. Militant disruption of ''Pig" classes (this is any class in ses sion now, especially those in Bus iness, International Studies and "1954 Home-Ec type" classes.) 3. Violent disruption of the University if necessary to en force and reach the goals of the present strike. A resolution of this type is self-defeating in these circum stances. A large portion of the students would simply go home if the school were shut down. Others who sympathize and are working for the various peace and social reform issues would not be able to in their homes, primarily due to the lack of central organ ization and resources available on an operating campus. If the University were closed, so would the dorms, leaving many who would stay otherwise unable to do so. Another factor to con sider is the possible closure indefi nitely of the University. How and where could this many students be organized to work on any effort if they were spread out among all the United States and the world? The resolution was barely dis cussed and many had not had a chance to say what they thought of it before the question was call ed. The whole procedure was a good example of democratic cen tralism. The motion passed 26-16. Imme diately it was assumed that all collectives were now subject to the interpretation of a few collec tives of this resolution and that they would all act upon it as or dered. A rally against ROTC was plan ned for Thursday and we were told to bring all members of our collectives to participate. Some of us felt slighted be - cause our collectives had only just formed and we in no way expected for the entire world to change immediately just because several of us agreed to work on a certain goal. We believe that our non-violent approach has not been given a fair chance. We stand behind the represen tative of the CSPA collective who stated his collective would sup port and help to raise bond for any member of any collective ar rested in a non-violent act. We do not support violence or the prevention of students who wish to do so from attending class. Kathy Dodson and Mike Machala Thornton-Willcox Collective * ' '
