Project ELF (WI)

Twelve peace activists were arrested on Sunday, August 8, for trespassing at the U.S. Navy's "Project ELF" submarine transmitter near Clam Lake, Wisconsin.

About 65 demonstrators gathered at the secluded Navy facility that sends extremely low frequency messages to submerged nuclear-powered Trident and Fast Attack submarines around the world. The cold war ELF system was designed to "survive" the electromagnetic pulses (EMP) of nuclear bomb blasts in order to maintain communications for submarine-based nuclear warfare.

The rally Sunday came at the end of a four-day, 53-mile long peace walk that began at the county courthouse in Ashland, Wisconsin. The courthouse has been the site of dozens of hearings, trials and jail sentences endured by demonstrators who have defied local ordinances for over a decade to conduct sit-ins, Citizen Inspections, blockades and several direct disarmament actions at the transmitter site.

Over 30 walkers from six states participated in this third annual "Tromp Trident Trek." All three "Treks" have taken place over the anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of the two major Japanese cities at the close of World War II.

The dozen arrestees were told to appear September 9, 1999 in Ashland County for arraignment, to pay the $209 fine, or risk suspension of their driving privileges for up to five years. Three pled not guilty. Jim Durdin, Bonnie Urfer, and Michael Rebholz will face a bench trial October 5.

A peace camp at the companion transmitter site in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in July brought no new arrests, not even for eleven people who hopped the fence and vigiled inside the compound for some time.

For more information contact Nukewatch, P.O. Box 649, Luck, WI, 54853-0649; (715)472-4185; email: nukewtch@win.bright.net