Eugeneans protest U.S.
military involvements
About 50 people protesting U.S. military
intervention abroad squeezed uninvited,
but unrestrained, into the Eugene Marine
recruiting office and shared unheated but
generally warm words with Marine
recruiters Wednesday afternoon.
The 50 people were part of a group of 100
protestors who assembled at the Federal
building on Pearl Street for a noon rally pro
mpted by Tuesday's invasion of Grenada.
The rally was impromptu, unannounced by
media, the protestors heard by word of
mouth and hand-scrawled posters. There,
with banners and signs in hand, they form
ed a continuously moving circle and
chanted slogans protesting U.S. military in
tervention in Grenada, Lebanon and
Nicaragua.
After about an hour of protesting, one
woman walked into the middle of the
crowd and urged protestors to move on to
the small Marine recruiting office at 111
Willamette Street.
Eugeneans carried pickets opposing
the U.S. government's "foreign wars"
in Grenada, Lebanon and Nicaragua on
Wednesday outside the Federal
building in downtown Eugene.
"It was rather moving," University stu
dent Bill Snyder said of the meeting bet
ween the protesters and the Marines.
"It was a matter of talking to 18- and
19-year-olds and saying, 'Well look, we
don't hate you, we love you and we want
you alive,' " said Snyder, who is the ASUO
coordinator of student events.
Snyder says he makes his statements "as
an individual, not as a representative of
ASUO.”
"They just came in, were very peaceful
and then left," said Staff Sgt. John O'Don
nell of the visitors, adding, "they were
orderly, quiet and well-behaved. We thank
ed them and they thanked us."
Once inside, the marchers questioned
the Marines, "about foreign policy,"
O'Donnell said. The Marines replied that
they had no control over foreign policy —
and Snyder concurred.
"We're conscious of the fact that the peo
ple who don't go to war," make the deci
sions, he said.
"That's why we're in the streets yelling.
We think we're being misrepresented.”
Snyder said that despite the fact soldiers
don't make the decisions, "there's nothing
to say they can't have a consciousness of
their own." ,
Snyder said he asked the young Marines
why the United States is in Grenada. "They
said, 'I don't know. I needed a job.' "
Army and Marine recruiters in Oregon on
Wednesday said the military situations in
Beirut, Lebanon, and Grenada have had no
immediate impact on recruitment in the
state.
"Operations are pretty routine," said Lt.
Col. Robert Brown in the Army's main
Portland recruiting office.
A Marine officer in Portland who asked
not to be identified agreed with Brown.
"Basically, there hasn't been a change
one way or another," the officer said. He
added that some potential recruits become
interested and mull over the decision for
weeks while others come join on the spur
of the moment.
The officer said because recruitment fluc
tuates from week to week, there is no way
to tie "outside stimulus" to recruitment in
Oregon.
Sgt. Edward Ballo, an Army recruiting of
ficer for the Ashland-Medford area, said, "It
hasn't increased in this place at all" as the
result of U.S. involvement in Grenada and
Lebanon.
One woman, who entered the Eugene
recruiting office, unsuccessfully urged the
crowd to make a citizen's arrest of the
Marines, said ASUO receptionist Oz
Adams, who entered the office along with
Snyder. But overall, the demonstration was
"really peaceful."
Yet Tuesday night, a brick was thrown
through a large window of the Eugene
recruiting office, and workers were replac
ing the broken pane while the two groups
More than 100 demonstrators formed a continuously moving circle outside the
Federal building in downtown Eugene on Wednesday to protest U.S. military in
tervention in Grenada, Lebanon and Nicaragua.
University student Dave Snyder, who joined other Eugeneans in marching
against U.S. involvement overseas, expresses his opinion to a CpI. G. L. Mills at
the U.S Marine recruiting office in downtown Eugene on Wednesday.
talked on Wednesday.
Adams said marchers standing outside
appreciated the open window because it
allowed them to participate in the
discussions.
O'Donnell said there were no suspects in
the broken-window incident, and he ascrib
ed the action to "Halloween pranksters."
Story by Brooks Dareff
Photos by Dave Kao
Student traces brother
to troops in Grenada
By Brooks Dareff
CM the Imfnld
A University student came to the Emerald office
Wednesday morning in search of information that
might help him track down his brother.
His brother, he said, might be among the U.S.
military forces in Grenada.
Ramon Bual, 20, is a Ranger, the U.S. Army's
answer to the Green Berets. The Rangers are
specialists in numerous techniques of warfare. That's
why the Ranger paratroopers were dropped into
Grenada with the Marines in preparation for Tues
day's 1,900 force invasion of the small Caribbean
island.
The possibility that Bual was among them made
hrs brother Kenmar Bual "proud... but... also a little
scared."
"Now that a family member (might be) involved,"
Bual was "ambivalent" about the U.S. invasion of
Grenada.
"I feel we should have invaded, but I'm concern
ed for my brother," he said.
"I talked to him Saturday and he didn't give any
indication" that the U.S. might invade or that he
might be part of invasion forces, Bual said. He added
that not knowing whether his brother is there or not
is the hardest part for him and his family, who live in
Beaverton.
Since early Tuesday night Bual had been calling
Fort Stewart, Georgia, the base where his brother is
stationed. The phone had always been busy. This is
the first time the phone has been busy. The other
times he called Fort Stewart, the phone has "never
been busy."
Bual thinks maybe the phone at Fort Stewart was
been taken off the hook as concerned family and
friends of other Rangers attempted to contact their
loved ones.
Bual called a TV station for assistance, and as far
as the man there knew, the Pentagon was the only
source that could release information on his
brother's whereabouts.
The family was hesitant to make waves. They had
moved from the Philippines to the United States 13
years ago "to get away from the turmoil."
At 5:30 p.m. Wedenesday, Bual got a call from his
sister. His father, Marino, the accounting manager
for the city of Portland, had called the Pentagon.
His brother, his father was told, has been in
Grenada since Sunday night.
As of 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night, Bual said,
reports are that six Americans are dead, two of whom
are Rangers, fight Americans are missing in action,
and 33 are wounded. The Pentagon had not yet
released any names.
Bual says that at least some of the uncertainty is
gone.
"I can direct my prayers a little better."
Photo by (run trb
University student Ramon Bual learned Wednesday evening that
his brother, a Ranger in the U.S. Army, was in Grenada, the site
of the recent American invasion by the Marines.
(Vtnhw 77 1401