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 * ' '