Carol's Op-Ed article on weapons testing in the Wenatchee Daily World

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear Carol,
reading your note about the "World" and "journalism actually serves the 
community" reminded me of the work our colleague Ingrid Olausson did in 
Sweden years ago. She was engaged by regional editions of a large 
Swedish daily to facilitate open space events (with hundreds of 
participants)on local issues with proceedings posted in the newspaper 
and followed up by readers writing in.
Greetings from Berlin
mmp

Carol Hiltner wrote:
> Hi all!
> Major victory! *The Wenatchee World *will publish my Op Ed article about
> weapons testing, attached and below.
> 
> The *World *was started by my grandfather Rufus Woods back in early 1900s to
> provide local and national news to North Central Washington, and is now
> published by his namesake, who is my cousin. It is now one of the last
> family-owned daily newspapers in America -- one of the last places where
> journalism actually serves the community.
> 
> In response to my submission and letter, he wrote, "These are indeed
> fascinating times - lots of challenges yet amazing opportunities here at the
> newspaper. We're in total reinvention mode, getting back to the basics
> of *serving
> community* and in particularly more completely embracing the notion of
> *celebrating
> community successes* as a way to lift the conversation out of the morass of
> reactivity that is all too often the baseline of discourse."
> 
> If you'd like a whiff of nostalgia while supporting a rare and valuable
> American treasure, bookmark the link http://wenatcheeworld.com/  I'd like to
> see them with a national following.
> Best!
> Carol
> 
> Navy weapons and weather control testing in Washington State
> 
> by Carol Hiltner
> 
> 
> 
> I received an e-mail last week that caught my attention. It proclaimed that
> the U.S. Navy was planning to use the whole northwestern U.S. for military
> target practice. *Wait a second,* I thought. *Could this be true? Isn’t the
> Navy supposed to be defending us? *
> 
> Apparently the Navy has prepared the required environmental impact statement
> (EIS) that is subject to public comment until March 11th, and this e-mail
> outlined the author’s questions and concerns.
> 
> So I read the e-mail. It was long, and contained a lot of technical
> information that I couldn’t assess. The author wasn’t so concerned that we
> would shot at, as she was about the airborne residues of chemicals the Navy
> admits are toxic, such as depleted uranium and white phosphorus, that
> American citizens would be breathing, eating, and drinking in perpetuity.
> 
> Most of the requested target practice area is just off the Washington coast,
> from which prevailing winds would carry persistent toxins progressively
> further inland. I wondered about the pollution of the orchards and wheat
> fields of eastern Washington, the forests and cities of western Washington,
> and the immediate impact on our beleaguered fisheries. Could we indeed be
> victims of our own defense efforts?
> 
> *Democracy in action,* I thought. I have watched the surge of citizen
> activism spawned by our presidential elections with hope and some amazement.
> I participated when our President-elect asked Americans to choose the
> priorities for his administration by voting on the internet.
> 
> I was still caught up with the wave of people’s empowerment when I got this
> e-mail, and I was alarmed about the prospect of the Navy turning its weapons
> of war on us, even indirectly. So I glanced at the summary of the 1000-page
> EIS, commented via the Navy website, sent messages to my Senators and
> Congressman asking them to look into this, and forwarded the original e-mail
> to my networks requesting their involvement in protecting the western United
> States.
> 
> Back through my network came news that Senator Conrad of North Dakota had
> responded. His staff determined that, based on what they found in the EIS,
> the area under discussion was much smaller than stated, but still worth
> watching.
> 
> Concerned that I might have responded to a false alarm, but also recognizing
> that Senator Conrad’s staff might not have found the proverbial needles in
> the 1000-page “haystack,” I wrote the author, Rosalind Peterson, asking for
> citations to back up her assertions. She responded with a flurry of
> forwarded government reports and studies.
> 
> What I discovered shocked me. From the mouth of Mrs. Sheila Murray, Navy
> Region Northwest Environmental Public Affairs Officer, this EIS addresses
> only a minor adjustment to an on-going weapons testing and chemical weather
> control program not only on the West Coast, but also in Hawaii, Alaska, and
> parts of the East Coast. Weather control?! Who does this serve and what is
> the toxic cost? The actual operations areas may be mostly off-shore, but it
> is *our* weather that is being experimented with for the purposes of war. It
> is our survival that is being tinkered with through persistent toxic
> chemical releases.
> 
> I personally live by the adage, “We get what we focus on.” So, I focus on a
> humanity engaged in the wholeness of life. I see this situation as a wake-up
> call for us to individually and collectively participate in decision-making
> with a whole-systems, long-term perspective. This official request for
> comments on the Navy EIS is an opening for citizens to impact the direction
> of the military that we pay for.
> 
> The U.S. Navy Environmental Impact Statement is posted at
> http://www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com/. The original article that brought my
> attention to this is posted at
> http://www.newswithviews.com/Peterson/rosalind114.htm.
> 
> We can comment on-line until March 11th at
> http://www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com/NtrcCommentForm.aspx, as well as contact
> our elected representatives.
> 
> 
> 
> Guest columnist Carol Hiltner is cousin of *World *publisher Rufus Woods,
> who once worked at the *World*. She is an author, artist, and activist who
> works collaboratively to access peace through multi-cultural awareness and
> friendship. She is currently focused on bringing forth the perspectives of
> the ancient indigenous culture of peace found in the Altai Mountains of
> Siberia. E-mail: carol.hiltner at gmail.com. Websites:
> www.AltaiMir.org<http://www.altaimir.org/>and
> www.Altaibooks.com <http://www.altaibooks.com/>.
> 
> *
> *
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
mmpanne at boscop.org
www.boscop.org


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