ustxtxb_obs_1982_01_15_50_00012-00000_000.pdf

PEACE CONFERENCE A conference is being called by a group of Austin religious leaders and community activists to initiate discussion and planning for a number of spring peace actions ranging from prayer vigils and teach-ins to a mass, non-violent peace march. The conference will be held on Jan. 17, 2 p.m., in the Fellowship Hall of the University Methodist Church, Austin. Sponsors include Brother Don Marengo of St. Edwards Univ., Mim Tabbert of the Unitarian Social Action Comm., Rev. Karl Gronberg of Gethsemane Lutheran Church, Frank Berlanger of Univ. Mobilization for Survival, Judy Horton of Peacelight Fellowship, Ronnie Dugger of the Observer, and others. PEOPLE FOR PARKS The Park People, a Houston/Harris County area organization founded in 1979 in response to a study showing Houston to be seriously inadequate in its parks to people ratio, will hold its 1982 planning meeting on Jan. 21 at 3701 W. Alabama, 7 p.m. ABORTION RIGHTS ANNIVERSARY, During the week of Jan. 18-Jan. 22, abortion rights advocates will celebrate the 9th anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S. The right to choose a safe and legal abortion is seriously jeopardized by proposals currently before Congress. In Austin, a candle light vigil will be held at the Town Lake Gazebo, 7:30 p.m., Jan. 22, sponsored by Austin, NOW, UT NOW, and the For information about other events being planned by pro-choice groups across the state, call TARAL at 512-478-0094. TEXAS ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION ASSEMBLY The Texas Environmental Coalition will hold a general assembly on Jan. 23, 9:30-3:00, at Kirby Hall, 306 W. 29th, Austin. Highlights of the assembly will be keynote addresses by E.P.A. Region VI Administrator Dick Whittington and Houston attorney Jim Blackburn, election of TEC officers for 1982/1983, and a roundtable discussion on Texas water resources policy. Call 214-424-4933 or 713846-4273. Notices on upcoming events must reach the Observer at least three weeks in advance. HOUSTON ENVIRONMENTAL MEET The Houston Citizens’ Environmental Coalition will hold its annual delegates’ meeting on Jan. 11, 6:30 p.m., at HL&P’s Energy Information Center, 2121 W. Loop South \(between Westheimer and San Waste Management” will follow the meeting; call 713-228-0037 for more information. CITIZENS FOR UNITED AUSTIN BENEFIT The University of Texas chapter of NOW is sponsoring a Space Fantasy Costume Ball to benefit the Citizens for a United Austin in their efforts to defeat the Jan. 16 city vote on a Housing ordinance that would allow discrimination against homosexuals. The dance will be held on Jan. 14 at the UT Ballrom, Union building, 8 p.m., $6 admission. Progressive Organizations In no hurry, the Observer is building up lists of the political organizations we regard as progressive, their meeting evenings where that is applicable, and a phone number for each, in Texas cities. The editor invites communications recommending organizations for inclusion, by city. AUSTIN ACORN, 8 nghbrhood groups, 442-8321; Amn. CHECKS CREDIT Sco tt Va n Os do l \\ , The Social Cause Calendar atomic weapons, which is why there is generally a “national security” loophole in laws governing the transportation of radioactive material through populated areas. Except for the Command nuclear bombs are on the streets of, say, downtown Amarillo at a given moment. There is no atmosphere of paranoia in West Texas, but there ought to be. There are very likely as many spies and counter-spies in the “Golden Spread” as there are along the Potomac. Clandestine operations, internal security checks, black-and-white-hat war-games are periodically conducted on the High Plains to test the security at Final Asembly, through never with enough zeal for the congressional watchdogs. These worthies were shocked in 1979 to find places in Los Alamos guarded by “unarmed female receptionists”; they were horrified in 1980 to find something else at Los Alamos which they ** DELETED FROM THE PUBLIC RECORD **; they were scandalized in 1981 because the guards at Pantex .. . were on strike. Not for the first time, either. The only visible security at Pantex consists of two barbed-wire fences and an airport-style guard-box. \(There isn’t approach the guard-box, you will be met by two middle-aged supervisors with courtesy and revolvers. These men have worked at Final Assembly for much of their lives seventeen years, one of them told me. They are mustachioed and athletic looking, dressed in sports-shirts and fishing caps. They probably drive pickup trucks and occasionally hunt deer. You can’t get past them. Even if you could, this is one case where appearances definitely are misleading. Final Assembly is designed to resist assault by 4commando teams. Its administrators boast before Congress of their elaborate television surveillance system, the details of which are classified; of the rifle corps and the armored personnel carriers. Rocky Flats, an atomic trigger factor in Colorado, is rumored to be defended by a James-Bondish scheme in which tanks come roaring up from the bowels of the earth; if this is true, Pantex undoubtedly possesses still more formidable defenses. . Final Assembly is on the approach path to the Amarillo airport, and is therefore undubtedly much photo 12 JANUARY 15, 1982