Vol. 80, No. 14
r
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, August 8, 1978
Trojan protestors crowd jails
Arrests continue
Monday afternoon
By CATHERINE SIEGNER
Of the Emerald
Seven Oregon jails are full of demon
strators today after 135 persons were
arrested Sunday at the Trojan Nuclear
Plant near Rainier, Oregon, during the
third occupation organized by the Trojan
Decommissioning Alliance (TDA).
The occupation began at 11:30 Sun
day morning when the demonstrators
marched up to the four-foot fence Po.t
land General Electric Co. (PGE) recently
built near the highway and used
homemade stairs to enter the property.
As the 135 went over the fence, sev
eral Columbia County sheriff s deputies
were waiting about 50 feet inside the
gate on the main access road leading up
to the reactor building.
By noon, the demonstrators had been
arrested without violence and bussed to
seven different jails around the state.
“There’s a national guard armory right
down the road," said Normon Solomon,
TDA spokesperson. “But they’ve been
taken to jails in The Dalles, Tillamook,
Hood River, St. Helens, Newport,
Oregon City and Hillsboro.”
“It’s a tactic. They (the police) want to
fragment people if they can.”
At last report, 45 more demonstrators
were entering the site at two different
places, and police had confiscated the
homemade stairs near the main entrance.
A group of demonstrators, preparing to
jump onto the property, were told by
police not to jump. The group then
paused at the top of the fence to discuss
nuclear power with the deputies and ex
plain why they were occupying before
leaping onto the site.
This second group of demonstrators
is expected to be arrested also.
“The police know we have a lot more
people ready to continue with the occu
pation,” Solomon said. ‘‘So now they’re
more uptight.”
“There’s only room for about 20 more
people in the Columbia County jail,”
Solomon added “The other jails are
crowded now, and apparently some of
those arrested had no mattresses Sun
day night.
Members of the press were staying
outside the four-foot fence after a free
lance reporter from Seattle was arrested
Sunday when he entered the property.
At meetings between PGE officials and
TDA representatives prior to the dem
onstration, the utility indicated that
press people would be treated the same
as other demonstrators and arrested
along with them.
TDA had sought formal permission
from PGE to proceed with the occupa
tion, planned for Sunday through Wed
nesday, but did not succeed. Permission
for the Alliance to demonstrate at Trojan
was granted, however, by the Tchinouk
i
Tribe, which has held title to lands along
the lower Columbia River (including the
Trojan site) for more than 180 years.
Tribal Chairperson Karleen McKenzie
sent a message to TDA Friday that
stated: “The Tchinouk give full permis
sion to the Trojan Decommissioning Al
liance to be upon tribal lands from Aug
ust 6-9 including the area upon which
the Trojan Nuclear Plant and its owners
are now trespassing.”
The Tribe's claim to the lands dates
back to the treaties of Tansy Point which
were signed in 1851. An accompanying
statement from the Tribe stated that ..
Tchinouk aboriginal title precedes that of
PGE.”
The Tribe went on to say: “Trojan sits
on the graveyards of our ancestors. All
activities should include respect and rev
erence for these ancestors. Mother
Earth and the Tchinouk Tribe bear the
weight of the Trojan unwillingly.”
PGE had requested a preliminary in
Photo by Greg GawtowsKi
junction to prevent the demonstration,
but the request was denied last week in
Washington County Circuit Court. Judge
Albert Musick claimed he could not en
join unincorporated voluntary organiza
tions from demonstrating because
membership was unclear and he could
not be sure who, in fact, he would be
enjoining.
Twenty-seven individuals were
named, however, in an injunction, and
will be subject to contempt of court cita
tions should any of them be arrested at
the Trojan site.
“No injunctees have been arrested as
yet,” according to Rhys Schols, a
member of TDA. “But maybe later there
might be some of them at the plant.”
The occupation will continue as plan
ned Tuesday and Wednesday, with
more demonstrators going to the Trojan
site each day. On the last day, occupiers
may approach the plant in more than
one group and at different times of the
day, according to TDA.
■|
Rainier group not alone
While protestors were being ar
rested at Trojan Nuclear Power
Plant in Rainier, Oregon,
thousands more enjoined in other
U.S. cities to oppose nuclear de
velopment.
About 1,000 people gathered
Sunday at Diablo Canyon nuclear
plant near San Luis Obispo.
California, planning to enter the
facility in groups of 50.
A group of about 2.000 peaceful
demonstrators, part of a coalition
of more than 50 anti-war, ecology
and religious groups, marched be
fore Seal Beach Naval Weapons
Station outside Los Angeles
Saturday, chanting "No More
Nukes.”
The Southern California Al
liance for Survival, which or
ganized the demonstration,
claims the station is a depot for
arms for the Navy’s Pacific Fleet.
Naval officials never have com
mented about whether nuclear
weapons are stored there.
About 100 persons in white out
fits with black armbands gathered
in downtown Atlanta Saturday
night and then held a candlelight
march to the state Capitol several
blocks away. They said their dress
represented the ghosts of nearly
94,000 people who died because
the United States dropped an
atom bomb on Hiroshima — the
first use of nuclear weapons in war
— exactly 33 years before the
demonstration.
Another demonstration against
a nuclear power plant occurred
Sunday in North Perry, Ohio,
where about 300 .persons
marched a mile to protest the con
struction of the $2 billion facility.
The plant, being built for Cleve
land Electric Illuminating Co., is
about one-fourth complete and is
expected to begin operation in
1981.
About 60 persons marched
three miles through rain Sunday
from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
in Kittery, Maine, to Pease Air
Force Base in Newington, N.H.. to
highlight anti-nuclear activities in
New England. The 509th Bomb
Wing, the unit from which planes
left in 1945 to drop atomic bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is
stationed at Pease.
Other anti-nuclear activities in
the Northeast and Canada in
cluded a rally in Brattleboro, Vt.,
near the Vermont Yankee nuclear
power plant, and a demonstration
at the nearly completed Point Lep
reau. New Brunswick, Canada
power plant.