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Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #37
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abolition-usa-digest    Saturday, November 7 1998    Volume 01 : Number 037




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 23:29:18 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: aid to Honduras

In a message dated 11/3/98 10:33:45 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[e-mail] writes:

<< Subj:     aid to Honduras
 Date:    11/3/98 10:33:45 AM Eastern Standard Time
 From:    [e-mail] (Mennonite Church Peace and Justice Committee,
Orrville Ohio)
 Sender:    [e-mail]
 Reply-to:    [e-mail] (Mennonite Church Peace and Justice
Committee, Orrville Ohio), [e-mail],
[e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]

 Friends,

 I sent that note about Honduras to you all and less than an hour
 later came questions from several of you about how to help. So, I
 called and talked with Bruce Glick, MCC Great Lakes, who was my SST
 coordinator in Honduras. . .well, way back when!

 He said this is major, major, major, major, much of the country under
 water, and lots of money and a long-term response will be needed. MCC
 is already contacting people to go down and has okayed $300,000 for
 beginning work.

 Someone asked if MDS is going. They mostly work in the United States
 and Canada (?), but are working in Puerto Rico and perhaps the
 Domican Republic as a result of the hurricanes there.

 If you want to send money, it can go through your regional MCC or:

 MCC
 PO Box 500
 Akron PA 17501-0500

 MDS can receive donations at the same address.

 Another report should be coming from Akron later today. I'll also
 forward that to this list.

 Oh, and if you happen to live near Kidron and want to run in and help
 Bruce set up an "e-mail list" on his soft ware this morning quick
 since the MCC secretarial help isn't in the office today, well, that
 would be a fine bit of help! Or you could answer the phone a bit. .
 .he says it's ringing off the hook!

 [e-mail]

 peace,
 Susan
 Susan Mark Landis
 Minister of peace and Justice for the Mennonite Church
 PO Box 173, Orrville OH 44667-0173
 phone/fax [phone]
 [e-mail]
 http://www.MennoLink.org/peace/


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 23:29:22 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: HELP!!! Please.

<< Subj:           HELP!!! Please.
 Date:    11/2/98 10:57:48 AM Eastern Standard Time
 From:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail]

 dear friends--

 i need your help. honduras and tegucigalpa need your help.

 you've already received two updates from me. i'm not completely
 comfortable asking for assistance via email, but believe me, your
 help is urgently needed. please read this email. if you can, please
 send what you can (i'm tempted to say "as much as you can and as
 soon as you can") to:   paul marsh
                         6837 lanewood court
                         san diego, ca 92111
                         [phone]
 checks should be made payable to my father, "Paul Marsh/COHAPAZ."
 trust that every cent will go straight to feeding and relocating
 members of COHAPAZ in the barrios who have lost their homes and
 belongings to hurrican mitch, and to other crisis activities of
 COHAPAZ (like activities for kids in refugee centers, etc.)

 i can hardly describe the things i've seen these last few days:
 calm streams turned to raging torrents tens of times bigger than
 normal, hundreds of homeless people with all their belongings lined
 along the roadsides in the rain, and entire communities lost--
 including one where i regularly work.

 today's news: first and foremost on everyone's mind, an hour ago, the
 mayor of tegucigalpa, Cesar Castellanos, died in a helicopter crash.
 he is (was) an extremely popular man and effective politician. i even
 liked him and i hardly ever say anything positive about politicians.
 he was a person who made noticeable changes in this city during his
 ten months as mayor, a person who cared deeply about the poor and who
 spent many days in the barrios of tegucigalpa. during this crisis he
 has been an effective and inspiring leader. i can't imagine who will
 organize us out of this mess on an institutional level now. his loss
 adds tremendously to this tragedy!

 on the personal side, elsy and i spent the day walking and working in
 campo cielo, flor uno, 14 de febrero and fuerzas unidas, all
 communities where COHAPAZ is very active. the damage in the barrios
 is extensive and literally makes me want to cry. none of my
 friends have died, at least that i'm aware of, but the destruction
 is horrible. in campo cielo an entire section of the community,
 approximately 15 homes, slid on top of one another. another section
 has huge fissures running parallel along the hillside and is no
 longer habitable, although the houses are standing up to now. fuerzas
 unidas is a community on the outskirts of the city built on clay. six
 members of COHAPAZ has partially or totally lost their homes there.
 and worst of all, the community 14 de febrero, is a complete loss.
 walking through the area in ankle deep mud was a sad and surrealistic
 experience. homes of our members, homes that i had visited on
 numerous ocassions, were carried over 200 yards down the hillside.
 some landed intact including the possessions! seeing a home, nearly
 intact, two blocks from where i knew it should be is unlike any
 experience i've ever had. others were a complete loss. and everywhere
 were people working under very precarious conditions to salvage what
 little they could from their homes. one thing is clear: the people
 with the least have the most to lose. i promised to return to help
 with the salvage tomorrow. for now i can't bring myself to total the
 census that i took--i think about fifty of our members in just these
 five communities lost their homes!

 also on the personal side, news which is almost too horrible to
 believe (and let's hope that it is): a ham radio operator in tocoa,
 colon, just reported that over 98% of the home's in the neighboring
 town of saba (elsy's hometown) have sustained damage. the entire
 population was evacuated five days ago, but to where no one seems to
 know. phone service remains down, as do all of the bridges to the
 area.

 also this: the city has no water. not even the hospitals have water.
 the radios have asked people to bring water to the hospitals. we've
 been told that the water won't arrive for at least ten days due to
 powerless pumps, and broken and plugged water mains. we have some
 water here in the house, though bathing with less than a gallon of
 water after working in the mud all day is maddenly and brings the
 crisis home.

 other notes: every police station we passed today was filled with
 looters (male) that had been arrested and dozens of women in front
 with food waiting for a chance to hear about their loved ones and
 leave the food. honduran prison food, and i imagine this is
 especially true during this crisis, is practically inedible so women
 line up each day to bring food to their men. from the direction of
 the market i hear gunshots every hour or so. the barrios were filled
 with people washing looted goods that were still covered with mud.

 the school year here in honduras ends officially in two weeks, but
 all of the schools that i have seen here in tegucigalpa are filled
 with refugees. the word on the radio is that the school year will
 be cut short, students will be spared their final exams and their
 final grades will be their average for the work that they've done so
 far this year. we'll see if this becomes reality. tomorrow may or may
 not be a school day.

 the expected: the supermarket had more people inside than it had food
 on the shelves. i'm so happy that i have my garden to supplement the
 food that elsy was smart enough to buy the day before yesterday!

 for those of you who know tegucigalpa, here's a list of some of the
 specific damages that i have seen: the stadium bridge is completely
 gone, the market bridge remains open to foot traffic only and is the
 only bridge left intact which connects the two sides of the city,
 mallol (by the congress) and soberania (4th avenue) bridges are
 completely underwater still and may be complete losses, the bridge
 from the center to cerro grande is completely underwater and possibly
 destroyed, the bridge (puente la isla) is the only bridge open to
 traffic, the prado bridge (the cute iron and wood bridge) is gone,
 the bridge in front of the estado mayor sustained heavy damage but
 is open to foot traffic, as is the villa adela bridge. as for the
 comayaguela market, it is completely under mud, up to six feet deep
 in places. a large section of the colonia las brisas (where the
 indigenous protesters were encamped last year after the desalojo) was
 completely washed away. the colonia 14 de febrero, one of the
 colonias where COHAPAZ works, no longer exists as a result of a huge
 landslide. areas also hard hit: campo cielo, nueva esperanza, la hoya
 (where the prison is--was--located), villa adela, los altos de san
 francisco and los laureles, nueva suyapa, all the area around parque
 concordia...

 that's it for now. please send a donation as soon as you can, and
 email me to let me know that you are sending it (it would help to
 know the dollar amount, if that doesn't seem too pushy, because that
 would allow me to seek a loan during the interim) to help during this
 crisis. also, clothes and food and medicines are all badly needed if
 you know a way to get them here. our address is: COHAPAZ, apdo postal
 4736, tegucigalpa, honduras, america central. (my home phone number is
 [phone] and i'm home before 7:30 am and after 7 pm, usually.)
 some cities have honduran consulates that may be of help to those who
 wish to send goods.

 thanks for your assistance and moral support (which i personally
 need!) spending a day among destruction and surrounded by bad news is
 not easy.

 much love from the country i love,

 michael (marsh)

  >>

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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 00:41:04 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) peaceful spam


 Friends,

 As we head toward the holiday season, I gently (being a pacifist) call your
attention to the War Resisters League's annual peace calendar, which makes a
splendid gift.
 The theme of this year's Calendar is: "Young People Look at The World",
introduction by Betty Jean Lifton. Illustrations by children. This is a 5 1/2
"by 8 1/2"
 desk calendar, 128 pages, colover covers, spiral bound, with an extensive
list of peace resources and international contacts. $12 each, four for $44,
postage included. Send your check to War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St.,
New York City, 10012. If you want to see a copy of the calendar brochure, send
at email to WRL at: [e-mail] and you will get one in the mail.

 "From tomorrow I shall be sad,
 From tomorrow on.
 Not today. Today I will be glad.
 And every day, no matter how
 bitter it may be,
 I shall say:
 From tomorrow I shall be sad,
 Not today."

 (anonymous poem by child found in WW II concentration camp)

 Peace,
 David McReynolds

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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 00:59:30 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) left a desk job for this!!

 Date:    11/4/98 11:58:31 PM Eastern Standard Time
 From:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail]

 hi everyone--

 it sure is good that i love honduras and my friends here, because
 this sure isn't fun.

 but first all the good news. i want to thank the many people who have
 sent us a kind word or a donation. i've always felt that i have the
 best friends in the world, and no one has let us down. the financial
 and material contributions have been unlike anything i've ever
 encountered--so many people giving so much that if this continues
 i'll have to hire a bookkeeper, an accountant and a lawyer or two.
 (just kidding, obviously, but the generosity of people is
 overwhelming.) but equally important for me personally has been the
 words of support from everyone. this work--seeing the damages and
 hearing the stories--is depressing. knowing that people are listening
 and that others care is a big boost. i've even translated a few of
 the notes so that the women of cohapaz can share the encouragement.
 thanks!! and a special thanks to those of you who have circulated our
 appeal and to those of you, whom i don't even know, who have
 contributed to cohapaz. you're all wonderful!

 with the money we've received so far, tomorrow we are going to buy
 three tons of corn, rice, beans and cooking oil to distribute to 300
 families who were displaced by the flooding and landslides. that will
 still leave us some funds toward a second round of purchases next
 week, and allow us to buy simple supplies for children's activities
 in the shelters. your donations and interest have made this possible.

 other good news: elsy's mother is well and her home was saved!! after
 ten days without any communication, elsy spoke with one of her
 sisters today. the news is wonderful and perplexing. her entire
 immediate family is well. they all gathered in what they assumed
 would be the driest house. as it turned out, they were up to their
 ankles in water, while the two houses closest to the "rio aguan",
 Aguan River, (her mother's very simple home and her brother's home)
 were left untouched. miraculously, the floodwaters stopped two yards
 shy of her brother's riverside home, and while the waters washed out
 the bridge only fifty yards away, elsy's mother's home was untouched.
 i can't describe the jubilation that elsy and i feel tonight. what a
 relief! tomorrow we will wire them money to help them deal with the
 lack of food and the price-gougers. then i'll be able to focus on
 cohapaz and the barrios.

 as for tegucigalpa, the rivers are still swollen despite the fact
 that it hasn't really rained for three days. the problem is
 landslides (near barrio el chile and el parque concordia) have
 partially dammed the river. as a result, only two bridges between the
 two halves of tegucigalpa remain open to foot traffic from time to
 time. parts of the market remain under five or six feet of mud. the
 education ministry remains flooded, with nearly its entire river-side
 wall ripped off, and inumerable important documents lost. traffic,
 both vehicular and pedestrian, is horrendous. for instance, elsy
 walks the three or four miles from our apartment to the medical
 school. of course, some industrious people have found a business in
 this--both nancy and elsy report that strong men, for the equivolent
 of 40 cents, will give piggyback rides to pedestrians not wanting to
 mess their shoes and pants over the muddiest sections. nancy went for
 a ride, while elsy saw a man fall and his passenger dumped headfirst
 in the mud and decided it was better to take off her shoes and walk
 through the knee-deep mud. word is they charge extra for heavy
 people. you got to love capitalism!

 as for the looting, it has slowed considerably. i'm not sure why this
 so. it could be that we now have a 9pm to 5 am curfew. but it could
 also be that there is nothing left to loot or that the most active
 looters are now in jail. our local police station, about eight blocks
 away, now holds 700 people suspected of looting. since 94% (and i'm
 not making that number up) of honduras' prison population has never
 been tried and sentenced, who knows what will become of them. the
 most shocking aspect of the looting, for me however, has been how
 accepted it is. as long as one doesn't actually enter a store with
 a broken door or window, everything else is up for grabs. saddly,
 the curfew was put into place too late and there was no system to
 allow small store owners and market vendors the opportunity to
 recover their goods. the positive side: nancy, dona candida and other
 women of cohapaz worked for an entire day in the market to help clear
 the streets of mud. cohapaz is everywhere, and nancy works like crazy
 everywhere she goes.

 we're still without water. six days have passed and the water
 company says its likely to be five to ten days more. so we flush the
 toilet once a day, (tonight we used the water that we used to cook
 the spaghetti), i continue to bathe with a gallon of water, and
 someday, when the water comes back on i'll wash my clothes.
 fortunately, we are just two people and have no dirty diapers to wash.
 the streets are filled with people carrying water buckets and the
 pick-up trucks are loaded with fifty-gallon drums looking to be
 filled. it's so odd-looking seeing everyone carrying buckets in
 search of water, like when walkman's were first made and everyone
 started to carry them. like it's a new style or something. and
 as for food, the price gougers have not been stopped by government
 decrees. prices have skyrocketted and there is a great scarcity of
 just about everything you can eat, (not to mention fuels). we, like
 everyone, get by the best we can--buying something the minute we see
 it, knowing that it won't last. with any luck, the international
 contributions and the opening of the roads will alleviate this.

 we took a census of our members and their communities today. our
 meeting of coordinators was a mixture of very sad stories and
 somewhat optimistic (at least responsive) planning to address the
 crisis. our numbers: in the communities where cohapaz works there are
 over 200 families (over 1,200 people) in shelters due to homes lost
 and a still uncounted number of people living in homes and areas that
 are no longer safely habitable. the plan we devised calls for us to:
 1) purchase and distribute emergency foods immediately for three
 hundred or more families; 2) distribute donated clothing; 3) work
 with the community health centers rather than try to distribute
 medicines ourselves; 4) plan activities for kids in the centers; and
 5) reevaluate the situation next week. Our long term plans include
 using whatever funds that are left after the immediate emergency is
 over to build retaining walls and gutters in still-habitable areas
 that must be made safer, and to work with the municipality to see
 that everyone gets relocated to safer grounds to rebuild.

 the school year was officially announced closed yesterday. those
 students who passed their midterms passed their school year and those
 that did not, will repeat the year. such is the continuing crisis in
 honduras' public school system. last year less than half (49%) of the
 public elementary and highschool students in this country moved on to
 the next grade. none of this bodes well for the long term development
 of honduras, but that's another story. elsy, meanwhile, is back at
 medical school. she wasn't mobilized for the coast afterall, because
 things got so bad here. she now spends her time in the national
 university shelter, doing a census and promoting preventive medicine.

 you've all probably seen the national estimates already. no one knows
 for certain the level of the damage done or the risks that still
 exist, but here are the numbers reported by various agencies of the
 honduran government: 4,000 to 5,000 dead; 240,000 people left
 homeless in tegucigalpa alone; 8 police dead and 70 missing; 83
 bridges destroyed; in the department (state) that elsy is from,
 colon, 10,000 homes destroyed and 300 people still missing; and on
 and on. obviously, we'll never know the exact numbers. the most
 important message is this: this is a disaster of huge proportions and
 this will setback honduras' development goals a long, long way.

 so while tonight i'm personally feeling a great relief with the good
 news about elsy's mother, tegucigalpa and honduras are still a long
 way from recovering. if you haven't sent a donation yet, believe me,
 we still need it. if you can circulate this or one of my earlier
 reports to your friends or coworkers, please do. we need your help.

 i wish that i could send everyone pictures with my emails, but i
 can't. if i could, however, i'd send two--one of a group of older
 women wielding hammers to save what little they could of their
 toppled homes, and the other of a child learning (via a game) about
 health and higiene. i have faith that honduras can be rebuilt.

 thanks, again, for everything!

 love,

 michael


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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 08 Nov 1998 00:36:48 -0500
From: Peace through Reason <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Plowshares Conviction

http://www.bergen.com/region/peaceag199811062.htm

Bergen peace activist convicted of sabotage=20

             Friday, November 6, 1998

             By ADAM GELLER
             Staff Writer

             Oliver Sachio Coe finally got his chance to put
             nuclear weapons on trial.

             But after three days in a federal courtroom in
             Colorado, it was the Ridgewood peace activist who
             was found guilty.

             A Denver jury convicted Coe late Wednesday of
             sabotage, conspiracy, and destruction of
             government property, charges stemming from the
             vandalism of a nuclear missile silo in August.

             Coe, 25, and a fellow activist each face up to 30
             years in prison and a $750,000 fine. Under federal
             guidelines, they will probably be sentenced to far
             less.

             But Coe, who has been arrested numerous times in
             North Jersey and elsewhere for staging protests
             bordering on theater, is already behind bars. He and
             co-defendant Daniel Sicken refused to promise
             Wednesday to return for sentencing and were
             immediately detained.

             Coe and Sicken were arrested just after dawn Aug.
             6 by military police who found them sitting atop a
             nuclear missile silo out on the Colorado prairie.

             The men had clipped through a fence at the site,
             battered the silo with sledgehammers, and
             decorated it with paint mixed with their own blood,
             authorities said. Coe freely admitted having done
             so, proclaiming it an attempt to beat swords into
             plowshares.

             The men could have accepted a plea bargain with
             federal prosecutors in exchange for a more limited
             sentence. But Coe said they were determined not to
             do so, because they wanted a chance to speak to a
             jury and "put nuclear weapons on trial."

             Coe could not be reached Thursday. But before the
             trial began Monday, he spoke optimistically about
             focusing attention on nuclear weapons and laughed
             off the possibility of prison.

             "I think it's one of the most worthwhile things I've
             ever done in my life," he said in a telephone
             interview. "A lot of peace work can be done from
             there [prison]. I don't see myself leaving the
             movement . . . I see myself as, maybe, being based
             in a different place."

             Coe and Sicken acted as their own attorneys during
             the trial. A small clutch of supporters, including
             some from North Jersey, carried signs of protest
             outside the courthouse before the trial began
             Monday. Some supporters, including Coe's
             mother, Adriana Coe of Park Ridge, testified on
             their behalf.

             The two activists told jurors they had no intent to
             interfere with national defense, arguing that the
             missile they attacked was intended for offensive
             "first-strike" use rather than to defend the nation.

             "The jury obviously rejected that, because they
             found them guilty," said Richard Stuckey, a Denver
             attorney who acted as Coe's advisory counsel.

             Stuckey said Coe took the verdict in stride.

             "He doesn't get angry," Stuckey said. "He was
             disappointed."

                   Copyright =A9 1998 Bergen Record Corp.=20
_______________________________________________________________________

* Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! *
_______________________________________________________________________

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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Sun, 08 Nov 1998 01:02:11 -0500
From: Peace through Reason <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: U.S. 11/7/98

1. http://ens-news.com/ens/nov98/1998-11-05-09.html
ROCKY FLATS AGAIN SHIPPING URANIUM

2.
http://www.mostnewyork.com/1998-11-05/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-10016
.asp?last6days=1
Tiny Device Big On Sniffing Smuggled Nukes

3. http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/natwadig03.htm
Nuclear-plant anti-terrorism program cut

4. http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1998/1102/fcw-polcarl-11-2-98.html
A LEGAL VIEW:  What is the 'government contractor defense?'

5. http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/codes/N/docs/N541.htm
Preliminary study doesn't disqualify Yucca Mountain

- -----------------------------------

1. http://ens-news.com/ens/nov98/1998-11-05-09.html

Environmental News Service
AmeriScan: November 5, 1998

ROCKY FLATS AGAIN SHIPPING URANIUM

Shipments to transfer highly enriched uranium components from Rocky Flats,
a former nuclear facility near Denver, Colorado, to the Y-12 facility at
Oak ridge, Tennessee have resumed, the Department of Energy (DOE) Rocky
Flats Field Office has announced. Jessier Roberson, DOE Rocky Flats manager
said several shipments of "national security uranium" have safely arrive at
Oak Ridge. More shipments will continue until all highly enriched uranium
destined for Y-12 is removed. The target date for completion of the
shipments is September 1999. The uranium has been stored at Rocky Flats
since nuclear operations stopped there in late 1989. Shipments to Oak Ridge
took place in 1996 and up to September 1997 to accomodate improvements at
Y-12. The uranium will be stored at Oak Ridge pending final disposition.
Times and routes of shipment are not announced because of "national
security considerations," the DOE said.

- ------------------------------

2.
http://www.mostnewyork.com/1998-11-05/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-10016
.asp?last6days=1

November 05, 1998

Tiny Device Big On Sniffing Smuggled Nukes

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM  Daily News Staff Writer

Federal law enforcement and intelligence officials call it a worst-case
scenario - nuclear weapons material stolen from the former Soviet Union
gets into terrorist hands.

To combat the threat, the U.S. Customs Service has introduced a new
high-tech weapon - a radiation pager that acts as a tiny Geiger counter.

Slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, it detects radioactive materials
when an inspector walks past someone trying to smuggle them.

U.S. Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly showed off the new device yesterday
as he announced the agency is playing a key role in a U.S.-Russian
anti-proliferation initiative unveiled at the Moscow summit on Sept. 2.
It's an initiative, Kelly said, that hits home for city residents.

"New York is the world's most important center for international trade,
commerce and communications," he said. "It is also an important symbolic
center of American democracy. It should be no surprise, then, that New York
is a prized terrorist target."

Extremists haven't been shy about wanting nuclear material. Osama Bin
Laden, named in indictments as the force behind East Africa embassy
bombings last summer, allegedly sent his emissaries shopping for
weapons-grade material.

Kelly said the collapse of the Soviet Union has weakened security that used
to block thefts of the deadly commodity.

- ------------------------------

3. http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/natwadig03.htm

November 3, 1998, in the San Jose Mercury News

Nuclear-plant anti-terrorism program cut

The federal government has eliminated its only program for testing the
ability of commercial nuclear-power plants to repel armed terrorists --
part of a cost-cutting reorganization of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. Established in 1991, when the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War
heightened fears about terrorist attacks, the program, while small, had
identified serious security lapses at nearly half the nation's 104
nuclear-power reactors.

At one reactor, an agency team simulating an armed attack ``was able to
reach and simulate sabotaging enough equipment to cause a core melt,'' said
David Orrik, the NRC security specialist who directed the counter-terrorism
program known as Operational Safeguards Response Evaluations, or OSRE. The
program had sparked complaints by some in the nuclear-power industry that
it was too costly -- although others had praised the program for improving
their security plans.


- ------------------------------

4. http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1998/1102/fcw-polcarl-11-2-98.html

NOVEMBER 2, 1998

A LEGAL VIEW:  What is the 'government contractor defense?'

By Carl Peckinpaugh

A company official raised the following questions: Can a
government contractor be found liable to third parties who
might be injured as a result of the contractor's work? Does it
make any difference if the government controls the way the
work is done?

In general, a government contractor can be held liable to third
parties for damages caused in contract performance in the
same way as it might under a commercial contract. [See United
States v. Boyd, 378 U.S. 39 (1964), in which it was ruled that
government contractors are not automatically cloaked with
governmental immunity.] However, in some cases, a
contractor in compliance with government specifications may
be able to assert a "government contractor defense" to escape
claims by injured persons.

In the landmark Boyle v. United Technologies Corp. [487 U.S.
500 (1988)], the U.S. Supreme Court discussed the
government contractor defense in a case involving a Marine
pilot who was killed when his helicopter crashed. The pilot's
father sued the manufacturer of the helicopter under Virginia
state law, claiming negligence in the design of the helicopter.
The jury awarded $725,000, but the appeals court reversed the
decision.

In its review, the Supreme Court first determined that issues
relating to civil tort liability arising out of government contracts
were "uniquely federal interests" because they involve U.S.
contracts, and indirectly, the civil liability of federal officials. In
addition, "the federal government's interest in the procurement
of equipment is implicated by suits such as the present one
even though the dispute is one between private parties."

The court also found that a significant conflict exists between
these uniquely federal interests and state law. According to the
court, the Federal Tort Claims Act exempts the government
from suits based on the exercise of discretion by a government
official in selecting designs of military equipment. The court
believed that the same exemption should apply to contractors
under certain conditions. According to the court: "Liability for
design defects in military equipment cannot be imposed,
pursuant to state law, when (1) the United States approved
reasonably precise specifications, (2) the equipment
conformed to those specifications, and (3) the supplier warned
the United States about the dangers in the use of the equipment
that were known to the supplier but not to the United States."

Since the Boyle decision was issued, a split of opinion has
developed among the federal circuit courts regarding the
applicability of the government contractor defense in
nonmilitary procurements. The 3rd, 7th and 11th circuits have
held that the government contractor defense is available to all
government contractors. [See Carley v. Wheeled Coach, 991
F.2d 1117 (3d Cir. 1993); Boruski v. United States, 803
F.2d1421, 1430 (7th Cir. 1986); Burgess v. Colorado Serum
Co., 772 F.2d 844, 846 (11th Cir. 1985).] Trial courts in other
circuits have reached the same conclusion. [See, for example,
Yeroshefsky v. Unisys Corp., 962 F. Supp. 710 (D. Md.
1997); Andrew v. Unisys Corp., 936 F. Supp. 821 (W.D. Ok.
1996).]

In contrast, the 9th Circuit has ruled that the defense is
available to military contractors only. [See in re Hawaii Federal
Asbestos Cases, 960 F.2d 806 (9th Cir. 1992).] Some trial
courts have reached the same conclusion. [See, for example,
in re Chateaugay Corp., 146 B.R. 339 (S.D.N.Y. 1992);
Johnston v. United States, 568 F. Supp. 351 (D. Kan. 1983).]

Several district courts have expanded the scope of the
defense, applying it to performance-based contracts as well as
more traditional contracts for the procurement of goods. For
example, in Richland-Lexington Airport District v. Atlas
Properties Inc. [854 F. Supp. 400, 422 (D.S.C. 1994)], the
defense was applied to a contract for the placement of toxic
waste sites. In Lamb v. Martin Marietta Energy Systems Inc.
[835 F. Supp. 959 (W.D. Ky. 1993)], it was applied to a
contract for the operation of a uranium enrichment facility. In
Askir v. Brown & Root Services Corp. [No. 95 Civ. 11008
(S.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 1997)], the defense was applied to a
contract with the United States and the United Nations to
provide military repair services and logistical support for
humanitarian operations in Somalia.

The exact parameters of the government contractor defense
are somewhat in flux. Indeed, the conflicts among the lower
courts almost guarantee that the Supreme Court will have to
address the issue again. In some cases, at least, the defense
can be used to shield companies from liability for actions in
performing their government contracts.

- -- Peckinpaugh is a member of the government contracts
section of the law firm Winston & Strawn, Washington, D.C.
This column addresses legal topics that arise in government
acquisition and management of ADP resources. Readers are
encouraged to submit topics by e-mail to [e-mail].


- ----------------------------------

5. http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/codes/N/docs/N541.htm

Friday, October 23, 1998

Preliminary study doesn't disqualify Yucca Mountain

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS -- The Energy Department says a preliminary study of Yucca
Mountain contains nothing that would disqualify the site as a nuclear waste
repository.

``I've seen nothing in the viability assessment that would change the
testimony that I gave before to Congress -- that we have found nothing so
far that would disqualify Yucca Mountain,'' said Lake Barrett, acting chief
of civilian nuclear waste storage.

Barrett said he has completed a draft of the assessment, now being reviewed
by senior management.

The report will not be released until late this year. Barrett acknowledged
the department is waiting until after the Nov. 3 elections so the study
will not become a factor in this year's campaigns.

The viability assessment is a key factor in the Yucca Mountain project.
Over the objections of Nevada leaders, it will enable the Energy Department
to proceed to the next phase of developing the site into a repository for
thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent fuel rods from nuclear power
plants.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the key to the report's significance is that
it found nothing to disqualify Yucca Mountain: ``Of course, there's nothing
to qualify it either,'' he said. ``We have had numerous reports that the
minions in the DOE do this all the time. This is a preliminary report, it's
under review, the secretary (of Energy) hasn't approved it. ... It means
nothing, absolutely nothing.''

Reid said Nevada's most serious problem is not the viability of Yucca
Mountain, but the threat of interim storage at the Nevada Test Site while
other scientific studies move forward.

President Clinton has promised to veto an interim storage bill, he said,
but ``we have to maintain our 34 (Senate) votes'' to sustain the veto.

Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he had heard rumors in Washington that the
Clinton administration was trying to speed up the viability process. The
findings of the report concern him, he said, because they could begin to
undermine the president's promise to veto an interim storage bill.

``The president's promise is only if it's not viable or only until it's
determined it's viable,'' said Ensign, who is trying to unseat Reid. ``If
we're now one step closer to viability, that means we're one step closer to
losing that promise. That's exactly why I said I don't want to see this
bill get to the president's desk.''

He said he's not surprised the Energy Department doesn't plan to release
the report until after the November elections: ``Harry Reid's running for
re-election and they don't want anything to hurt him.''

Barrett emphasized the viability assessment will not designate Yucca
Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for nuclear waste storage. That
decision will not be made until July 1, 2001, when the department is
scheduled to release a statement concluding whether Yucca Mountain is
suitable.

But supporters of nuclear waste storage in Nevada are eager to use the
assessment to renew efforts in Congress to build an interim repository at
the test site. The temporary site would be used until Yucca Mountain is
ready to accept waste for burial. That won't occur before 2010.


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