Timber!

Alison Clarke

The past three months have seen a steady stream of action against the Wisconsin based Project ELF, a US nuclear submarine transmitter station.
On 24 June anti-nuclear activists Bonnie Urfer and Michael Sprong used a simple hand saw to cut down three wooden poles supporting the 28-mile long transmitter line which stretches through the Chequamegon National Forest.
    While Bonnie Urfer was released on bail, their action, known as "Silence Trident" resulted in Michael Sprong being jailed for 60 days for a previous offence. Both have been charged with causing "intentional damage to property", which if convicted has a maximum penalty of $10,000 fine or 10 years in prison.
    Another action at the base during the same month resulted in the arrest and brief imprisonment of Katie Berrigan and Annika Spalde who were later released without bond, whilst a further two activists were arrested and jailed in July for trespassing onto the site. Sarah Arndt and Gail Vaughn were released pending charges.
    Project ELF, known to critics as a "nuclear war starter pistol", sends signals to submerged missile-firing Trident submarines around the world. The submarines, which have the capacity to launch 24 nuclear warhead carrying missiles, can be ordered simultaneously to the surface and are capable of carrying out "sneak" first-strike attacks with a destructive power thousands of times that of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
    "I felt overwhelmed at what this country had done, at our readiness and willingness to do it again - today, tomorrow and every minute of every day," stated Bonnie Urfer, "I do this work because no-one anywhere deserves to be threatened with annihilation."

Trident Resistance Network Midwest, PO Box 373, Luck, WI 54853, USA (tel +1 715 472 4185; fax 472 4184; email: nukewatch@win.bright.net).