Western Front - 1978 May 19

              WESTERN FRONT Vol.70,No,
Friday, May 19,1978
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OVER TOE MANY MASTS — A view of Squalicum harbor, taken by Front
photographer, Charles Nacke. The harbor offers the pleasure of sailing, one
of the many outdoor activities available in the area as summer grows nearer.
In the name of safety, please observe careful boating rules.
Trident opponents to converge on base, risk arrest
by LAURIE DUNHAM
On the morning of May 22,
several hundred people are
expected to enter the Trident
nuclear submarine base. They
will probably be arrested and
jailed.
The Trident base in Bangor,
Wash., will house part of the
Navy's Trident-missile system,
the most expensive weapons
program in history, according
to Pentagon estimates. At least
10 submarines/will be based at
Bangor.
To express opposition to the
nuclear submarines' construc­tion
and costs (about $2 billion
each) a group known as the
"May 22 Coalition" has plan­ned
a demonstration May 21
and 22 at Bangor.
Sunday will be a day of
peaceful demonstration, the co­alition
says. Several thousand
persons are expected to con­verge
outside the base. Civil
disobedience will occur Mon­day,
when groups of demon­strators
enter the base.
"Civil disobedience" is de­fined
as non-violent opposition
to a law by refusing to comply
with it on the grounds of
conscience.
The demonstrators will re­main
on the base, they say,
until Trident construction is
permanently halted or until
they are arrested, "whichever
comes first."
Monday will not be Trident's
first encounter with such ac­tion.
Student breaks back in three-story fall at Beta
by JANET SIMMELINK
A Western student lay on the
ground with a broken back for
nearly 50 minutes early Satur­day
morning before an ambu­lance
arrived on the scene.
During that time, security was
called three times.
Victoria Peabody, 18, ap­parently
fell from the third floor
of Ridgeway Beta at approx­imately
4:10 a.m.
Cindy Landrud, another stu­dent
who was in a dorm room
directly across from the acci­dent,
heard a scream and
looked out the window. She saw
the girl lying half on the
ground, half on the cement
bicycle rack. The third floor
window was wide open and the
door to the room was banging
open and shut.
Landrud called security at
4:13, she said, and told the
dispatcher that she thought a
Car fines can go to court
by STEVE V ALANDRA
Security could take legal
action to require a person to
pay for unpaid parking viola­tions,
R.G. Peterson, safety and
security director, said.
Security could take a person
to Whatcom County district
court and have a warrant
issued for his arrest if he did
not pay for the unpaid fines,
Peterson said.
Peterson said security is
hesitant to take that kind of
action.
"You have to realize that we
(security) issue 25,000 tickets a
year. If 75 percent of them
were dumped on the court that
would be a great amount of
work for them to do," Peterson
said.
No more than 27 percent of
the parking fines were ever
paid in the past years, Peterson
said.
Through Feb. 28 of this year,
security has issued 12,458 cita­tions.
Only 687 have been paid,
Peterson said.
girl had fallen out of a window
between stack 6 and stack 8 of
Ridgeway Beta.
Less than five minutes later,
two security officers arrived.
Landrud said she looked out the
window and saw them taling to
a young man. The three were
standing about 10 feet from the
girl.
Landrud said she started
down the stairs to offer assis­tance,
but by the time she was
halfway down the stairs the
security officers had left.
Witnesses said the young >
man attempted to get Peabody
to her feet, apparently un­aware
that her back was
broken.
Approximately 4:30 a.m.,
Landrud called security again.
She told the dispatcher that the
girl still was lying on the ground
and asked what was happen­ing.
The dispatcher told Landrud
that the officers had returned
to the security office. They said
that the girl was just "heavily
intoxicated," and the young
man with her said he would
take care of her.
The young man with the girl
said he called security at
approximately 4:50 a.m. He
refused to comment further.
Dan Barkley, another West­ern
student, said two security
officers arrived just before the
ambulance came at approxi­mately
4:57 a.m.
Peabody was taken to St.
Luke's Hospital where she is
listed in satisfactory condition.
She has no recollection of the
accident.
It has not been established
officially who the officers at the
accident scene were, but a pro­fessional
officer and a student
officer were on duty that shift.
R.G. Peterson, safety and
security director, has refused
to release any information.
Bob Anderson, head resident
of Ridgeway Beta, also refused
to comment, saying he received
a directive from the student
affairs office not to disclose
information until the official
university investigation has
been finished by the depart­ment
of security.
The Trident gates have been
the scene of demonstrations
since 1975. Last Aug. 14, 2,000
demonstrators gathered there.
Sentences for those who have
entered the base ranged from
10 to 60 days in jail.
Those choosing to practice
civil disobedience are encour­aged
by the coalition to attend a
non-violence training session
before entering the base.
The potential legal conse­quences
of such an action are
many, the group's legal ad­visers
say.
To help individuals decide
whether to participate in the
civil disobedience, several law­yers
and organizers discussed
the possible legal charges in
Continued on page 2
Inside
Discomania
A look at the current "Satur­day
Night Fever" rage. Put
your dancing shoes on and
hustle over to pages 10 and
11.
Ski-to-Sea
Entrants have been prepar­ing
for the sixth annual
Ski-to-sea race scheduled
for May 28. Michael Naval-inski
tells all on page 19.