Subcritical Nuke Tests Protested
- Shundahai network activist faces trial May 4

The pace of "subcritical" nuclear weapons testing has quickened in the 21st Century. "Oboe 3" was detonated underground at the Nevada Test Site at 2:16 p.m.on February 3. In opposition to the planned test, nine people linked arms and entered the test site at the main gate earlier that morning.

When sheriff's deputies moved to take the group into custody, all went limp. As each was carried or dragged to the holding pen, Shundahai Network volunteer Susi Snyder was roughly treated, and then singled out to remain in custody while the others were cited and released. Snyder was accused of trying to bite the arresting officer and charged with resisting arrest. This and a two-year old charge as a public nuisance kept Snyder in jail on bail until the following Monday, when the judge accepted copies of apparently missing records confirming that Snyder, like her co-defendants, had long since completed community service for the earlier charge. She goes to trial May 4 in Nye County Court for resisting arrest.

The next subcritical test, code-named "Thoroughbred," was set off on the morning of March 22, but not before the arrest of six people who entered to reclaim test site. Their protest followed a sunrise ceremony presided over by Corbin Harney, Western Shoshone spiritual leader. All were cited for trespass and released.

The annual Nuclear Fools march down the Las Vegas Strip on April 1 drew 130 participants. A third sub-critical test, "Oboe 4," is planned for this month. Each subcritical test is met with morning protests at the Test Site gate, afternoon leafletting and protest in Las Vegas at the Department of Energy offices, and a demonstration in San Francisco at noon, in front of the headquarters of Bechtel Corporation (50 Beale St.-Embarcadero BART station), contract operator of the Nevada nuclear weapons Test Site.

For more information, contact the Shundahai Network, 5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304, (702)647-3095, shundahai@shundahai.org