Drones and Nuclear Waste in Upstate New York: a Hazardous Combination – Charley Bowman, email: RenewableEnergy@WNYPeace.org

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has chosen Griffiss International Airport, in Rome, N.Y., as one of six domestic sites for drone research and testing, for its access to the Northeast's congested airspace. Research there will focus on sensing and avoiding other aircraft. Rome is less than 100 miles from four nuclear power reactors.

While the crash of a drone into a hardened containment structure covering a nuclear reactor is unlikely to cause a problem, a similar crash into the highly vulnerable buildings that house spent fuel rods in their pools of cooling water could cause environmental disasters. In a 2011 study, Robert Alvarez claimed that a spent-fuel fire could cause an area of up to 340,000 square miles to become uninhabitable. An equivalent area is a circle with a radius of 330 miles, the distance between Scriba, NY and Washington DC.

Drone crashes in New York State, unfortunately, are not completely new. On November 12, 2013, an MQ-9 Reaper drone controlled by a student pilot from the 174th Attack Wing, at Hancock Field, near Syracuse, crashed near the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, not far from the three nuclear power plants in Scriba. That drone took off from the air base at Camp Drum and has yet to be found.

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, the 174th Attack Wing "flies them across a wide swath of Upstate New York, from west of Rochester eastward to near Blue Mountain Lake, and from Syracuse north to the Massena area." That area includes three nuclear power plants at Scriba and one at Ontario.

When the Rome drone base becomes active, we will have two upstate drone bases, both launching drones – with remote student drivers – above four nuclear plants.

[Complete article and list of sources available on WNY Peace Center website, WNYPeace.org , Recent Activities button or http://wnypeacecenter.blogspot.com/]

Update on Hancock trials – Russell Brown The defendants rested their case a little after midnight

Saturday morning, January 25, and made their closing statements on January 31.

Paul Frazier's charges were dismissed. It should be noted that his arresting officer couldn't pick Paul out among the defendants. He pointed out Brian instead. (Buzzer!) Earlier, when the prosecution put Col. Earle Evans and the head of base security on the stand, neither one could pick out Paul in any of the pictures they presented of demonstrators at all three gates. It became one of the lighter “Where's Waldo” moments.

The remaining defendants made their closing statements on January 31. Judge Gideon announced his verdict on February 7. The Hancock 17 were arrested while doing civil resistance at the Hancock base last October. These drone war crimes activists were each given the max: 15 days in jail and fined $250 plus $125 surcharge. The judge also extended the order of protection for 2 years. This kind of protective order is usually used to protect genuine victims of domestic violence, not “to keep the gates open” for the government or its agents. But this is what is being used by our government to keep protesters away from the Hancock

drone base and deny them their first amendment rights to redress the US government regarding the use of drones to kill people in foreign countries.

The WNY Peace Center Weekly Update bulletins on email are a good source of the latest information. View video of sentencing and subsequent jailing of Hancock 17: https://vimeo.com/86277951

Resist Militarism Task Force Report – Russell Brown

The Task Force has decided to endorse and participate in the Spring Days of Action, 2014. This will be a coordinated campaign in April and May to End Drone Killing, Drone Surveillance and Global Militarization. We will post the information to the WNY Peace Center website. If you are interested in being involved, come to the next task force meeting on February 20, at 7 PM. The third Thursday of each month, 7 PM, is the new time that we chose.

Humanity on a “Cross of Iron”: Eisenhower and War – Jean Dickson

According to a tattered newspaper clipping that my mother gave me, “President Dwight D. Eisenhower, while in office, said: 'War in our time has become an anachronism. Whatever the case in the past, war in the future can serve no useful purpose... Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in a final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, from those who are cold and are not clothed.'” Strange words from a professional soldier!!

In fact, the two statements separated by ellipses were not even from the same year and are out of sequence. Throughout the 1950s the US government was building up a huge supply of nuclear bombs and weapons, while attempting to intimidate the Soviet Union and encourage Americans to fear the Soviets. During his Presidency (1953-60), Eisenhower authorized CIA “interventions” in several countries and established the Middle East as a Cold War battlefield. Yet Eisenhower also named and warned us about the military-industrial complex, which still profits so handsomely from our wars.

In a 1953 speech, written after learning of Stalin's death, Eisenhower echoed William Jenning Bryan’s populist “Cross of Gold” speech of 1896: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. […. ] This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?”

Then, in1956, Eisenhower said: “We hold our military strength only to guard against aggression, and to ensure that the world remains at peace. War in our time has become an anachronism. Whatever the case in the past, war in the future can serve no useful purpose. A war which became general, as any limited action might, could result in the virtual destruction of mankind.” 1

NEWSLETTER January/February 2014

Editor: Jean Dickson, dickson.jean@gmail.com

Good News at the Local Jail – Chuck Culhane

That title seems almost an oxymoron, as we rarely hear of positive occurrences relating to the Holding Center downtown or the county facility out in Alden. Someone once wrote concerning jails and prisons that the best to be hoped for is to find partial solutions to insoluble problems.

In 2009, after an unusual increase in suicides and reports of brutal conditions, an LGBT activist named Reed initiated an action in front of the jail and contacted some local groups and citizens. Weekly pickets began, spearheaded by Karima Amin (director of PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO) and Reverend Eugene Pierce (a former Deputy Superintendent at the Alden county jail). This was followed by investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the New York Attorney General’s office. The sheriff and county executive Chris Collins were very defensive and denied that there were any problems, going as far as to block federal investigators from entering the jail to tour and interview prisoners. The legislature reestablished the Erie County Community Corrections Advisory Board several years ago, and the 15 or so members meet at County Hall on the first Tuesday of every month. Among the board’s recommendations has been a call for an Ombudsman’s Office, which has not happened yet. A reallocation of funds for prisoner education and rehabilitation programs, and that is still pretty much in limbo. A call for more programs at the jail has been met with tentative and partial success, due in part to a new superintendent, Tom Diina, who says he has the sheriff’s support in making changes and creating more transparency.

On the plus side, some volunteer programs have been instituted, including Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. The mental health staff has been quadrupled, and screening for prisoners and their physical and mental health has been improved. Around Thanksgiving, at the request of the legislative advisory board creative writing workshops got underway at the Alden facility. A SUNY doctoral candidate in the English Department, Nick Lindsey organized and facilitated separate workshops for men and women, each workshop going about two hours.

On January 30th, I made a visit to the final men’s workshop. Present was Nick, 12 men who’d been through the 10 sessions, the superintendent, and a captain Bianco. The latter said he favored constructive programs that could be helpful to prisoners and contribute to a better atmosphere at the jail. We went around the table with introductions, and each prisoner commented on the workshops and some read short pieces or excerpts of their writings. The maturity of the men, their sincerity, coupled with the excellent quality of their writings, was nothing less than amazing! There was also a cohesiveness and camaraderie among the men you don’t often find in a jail or prison. To a man, they said the program was great and they wanted to continue writing. 18 men have already signed up for the next cycle of workshops, and one or two women writers have volunteered to come in and work with the women. Kudos galore to Nick Lindsey! And a thank you to the people working at the jail who made this success possible. (To gladly be continued!)

“We can do that!” – Memories of Jim Tomkins (1935- 2013) – Wayne Alt

Jim and I were teenagers together at Riverside Salem Church, in the Riverside section of Buffalo; our confirmation class went way beyond the classroom into social action. Under the leadership of Rev. John Sommerlatte, as well as committed

Sunday school teachers Alan Peabody and Bob Adams, we learned the message of social action, compassion for the poor, hatred for war, and concern for our environment.

One of the first actions that Jim and I participated in during those teen years was a protest in Maryland against the manufacture of weapons of germ warfare. This brought home the reality and danger of such weapons of death.

In the early 1980’s Jim and other Peace Center members organized a group to oppose the development and manufacture of nuclear weapons, who went house to house in Western New York neighborhoods gathering signatures. They also won support from the Buffalo Common Council and various suburban towns to pass a resolution in support of a nuclear freeze. During the height of the

Cold War Jim traveled to the Soviet Union and to Cuba, trying to build cultural relationships and break down stereotypes.

Jim donated his carpentry skills to a construction brigade with others from all over the USA to build of a medical-dental clinic in Esteli, Nicaragua. At the same time the Peace Center organized a local chapter of the Pledge of Resistance, whose objective was to do direct civil disobedience if U.S. troops were sent to Nicaragua. Jim was part of that effort. Eventually, as civil wars subsided in some Central American countries many Peace Center members, including Jim, thought that a more direct knowledge and relationship with Latin Americans was important; that was the beginning of the Latin American Solidarity Committee, a task force of the Peace Center.

While many Peace Center members and others protested the manufacturing of missiles in Seneca Falls, Jim expressed his commitment to peace by building a ladder to enable protesters to cross a fence into the site where Cruise missiles were being made.

Jim advocated a permanent home for progressive organizations in Buffalo. When Dr. Tom Potts donated his dental office to the Peace Center, Jim volunteered as building chairperson –for which he was perfectly suited – and the Peace Center board. I fondly remember his favorite saying: “We can do that.”

Recently Jim and Betsy prepared almost 100 personal health and hygiene packages for migrant farm workers living in Niagara and Orleans Counties and presented them to Rural and Migrant Ministries.

In closing I know many reading this article today feel as I do about Jim and are eternally grateful that we could call him friend. JIM, WE WILL MISS YOU!  

Remembering Sam Loliger (1937-2014) – June Licence

Sam Loliger was devoted to inclusiveness, fairness, and truth. Best known for his work on behalf of rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people in society and churches, Sam also worked for human and civil rights in arenas such as affirmative action, criminal justice, and housing. I first worked with Sam in STOP (Stop The Olympic Prison) decades ago. He was a member of the Mattachine Society in Buffalo—risking physical danger as well as social and psychological assault—and became the first advocate of rights both for gays and prisoners that I had known. Sam was also on the Advisory Board of the WNY Region of the NYS Division of Human Rights; served in H.O.M.E. (Housing Opportunities Made Equal) for 12 years; 2

and pulled together CHHTR (Coalition to Halt Hate Talk Radio). Sam’s opposition to oppression crossed race and gender lines, immeasurably strengthening struggles for justice.

Named a “master teacher” because of his creativity in the classroom, Sam combined sweetness and a devilish sense of humor that enabled him to challenge dogma without being arrogant. His five years teaching at public schools, thirty-six years at Niagara County Community College, and guest-lecturing at UB, Daemen College, and Buffalo State College honed his skills to a fine point. He was committed to continuous learning, especially in classes about homelessness, addictive behavior and nonviolence training.

Sam didn't avoid administrative and bureaucratic engagement: in the UCC and in SUNY he actively pursued justice. He served as national coordinator for the United Church Coalition for Lesbian/Gay Concerns for 14 years and was largely responsible for the Open and Affirming [ONA] program of the UCC. Sam was the NCCC representative to the WNY Higher Education Consortium Project on Developing the East Side of Buffalo and part of the WNY Church-Campus Coalition.

Sam was proleptic*, living as though the ideals he sought were real. He was a weaver who could bring together people and places isolated by oppression, by entitlement, or both. By speaking truth to power and putting sexual orientation at the core of broader human rights challenges, this educated white male found ways in which we may all work to emerge, in complex ways and often together, from systems of personal and institutionalized disrespect. Often standing alone for political and personal truths, Sam at once stopped both genocidal policies and quotidian assaults on the self. He showed us that success is in the world we create while struggling.

* this is one of Sam's favorite rare words, meaning out of one's time, or ahead of one's time. --editor.

Remembering Pete Seeger – Chuck Culhane

Off-stage at the Convention Center on this last November 9th, friends brought their daughter Eliza to meet Pete. The four-year-old and Pete locked eyeballs and off they went on a journey of conversation, song and storytelling lasting almost half an hour. Pete gave Eliza as much attention as he would to an audience at Carnegie Hall. That was Pete Seeger!

In 1971 I was under sentence of death and imprisoned not far from Beacon, New York, where Pete and Toshi and their family lived, overlooking the Hudson River. My brother Billy had brought me a guitar, and a reporter friend sent me a songbook edited by Pete; his address was on the back of the book. I wrote to him, introduced myself and told him a little about my and my co-defendant’s legal situation. He wrote back and said it was an honor to hear from me. I thought that was pretty amazing. He didn’t know me from a hole in the wall yet took the time to respond in a warm and friendly way.

When the death penalty was overturned nationally, and the conviction separately reversed, Pete agreed to be one of several sponsors on our defense committee, along with Allen Ginsberg and William F. Buckley, Jr., whom I had also met through writing. Along with our families and friends, they supported our release and the political work we undertook after our convictions were overturned.

Awaiting the third trial in July of 1974, Pete visited the Ulster County jail in Kingston to perform for the prisoners. He wore

beat-up jeans and red sneakers, and brought along his 88-year-old mother! Pete said it was her first visit to a jail. In the jail’s gymnasium; he played both banjo and 12-string guitar in two one-hour concerts. One beautiful song, beautifully sung, was “Jacob’s Ladder.”

A couple of years before my release I married a nice woman, Anne; Pete was my best man, and June Licence was bride’s maid. He brought his banjo, which the jail people initially permitted, but then refused at the gate. He walked his banjo back to the car and returned, and we sang anyway! We stayed in touch and I went to visit him a couple of times. When I invited him up to Buffalo last April he said, “Chuck, y’know I’m gonna be 94 next month!” But he wrote “Buffalo?” on his calendar for November 9, and he came with a young friend who drove. I asked if he had any special needs, and he said to tell the hotel people he wanted 10 pillows to keep his feet elevated. When I got to his hotel room there were thirty pillows! I said, “Pete, you the Pasha!” and he laughed.

Delightful is a word that comes close to describing him. He wore his love of people and the Earth on his sleeve, and he sang out that love in his songs, songs of hope and struggle. He was a supreme peacenik, but a great fighter all his life, against war, the death penalty, inequality, oppression. Truly, the Earth is a better and healthier place for Pete’s having walked among us, sharing his hopes, sowing his seeds, singing his wonder. He’s gone but his songs and great spirit will go on.

Peace Jam – Vicki Ross

1) Please join PeaceJam for our "Old Country Buff-Jam" fundraising dinner on March 8 at 5pm - 8pm at the Church of the Nativity, 1530 Colvin Blvd, Buffalo. Tickets are $15. Food, fun, entertainment and PeaceJamming. Call Vicki 884-0582 for more info.

2) Please consider helping to sponsor our PeaceJam group's getting to the PeaceJam NE Conference at Storrs CT where they will meet Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias! (You can go to riversidesalem.org/donate and put PeaceJam in the blank labeled purpose. Costs estimated at $170 per youth.) Peace Jam is an international organization made up of youth groups starting a movement! It includes a curriculum written with Nobel Peace Prize Winners to inspire and educate youth in social justice and community change.

Service-Learning Project included; community service hours available. We seek youth & adult volunteers. For more info, go to peacejam.org ; or find us and like us on Facebook. Call Vicki at 884-0582 for details.

Got Tickets? The drawing for the

beautiful Peace Quilt will be the 1st week of April, 2014. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased on the website (WNYPeace.org using PayPal), from PC board members or at the PC office, 716 332-3904.

This is a great fundraiser for the WNY Peace Center and your support in buying a ticket is very important and most appreciated!

Handmade by professional quilter, Pat Vitalo of Hatchet Mountain Quilts in Maine, the Peace Quilt measures 10 feet by 10 feet and is perfect for a king or large queen bed or as a design element in any setting. View it in color at the WNYPC website and, while you are there, you can buy your ticket(s)!

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Upcoming Events: Latin American Solidarity Committee (LASC) LASC Coffeehouse. Dr. Gwynn Thomas, UB Professor of Global Gender Studies in the Transnational Studies Department, will talk about the way that Latin American women have led the way in the election of women to executive political office. Monday, Feb. 24, at Daemen College, Wick Center.

"Challenges and Strategies to Combat Human Trafficking", FORUM: featuring Elizabeth Fidles, program director of Human Trafficking in Erie County Sheriffs Office; Sponsored by League of Women Voters BN, Feb. 27, 2014, 6 -8:30 PM, Harlem Road Community Center, 4255 Harlem Road, Amherst. Community Meeting to BAN Fracking, Thursday, Feb 27, 7 PM, 1272 Delaware Ave. Buffalo NY. Help protect our natural resources and health - be part of the movement to ban fracking in New York! Join in on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/247866678707941/

The State of Social Work in Vietnam and Some Thoughts on the Legacy of the Vietnam War - Ken Hermann, to speak about the Danang/Quang Nam Fund (The VietNam Project), which provides aid to the poorest of the poor in Vietnam. 2 talks on Monday, March 3, both with free admission:

UB’s School of Social Work "Global to Local" Speaker Series. 12 to 1:45 PM, 684 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus.

And WNY Peace Center (at Network of Religious Communities), 7 to 9 PM, 1272 Delaware Ave. Includes DVD presentation. For info, call 716-332-3904.

To subscribe to WNYPC “Weekly Update,” an email compendium of WNYPC and associated actions and news, email: wnypcvolunteers@wnypeace.org and put “Subscribe to Weekly Update” in the subject line.