Ground Zero WA

FRIDAY EVENING:

5:00—6:30       Potluck Supper—
6:30—8:00       Open, settle in, SIGN UP TO HELP WITH MEALS!!!
8:00—9:30      This is basically a 'brainstorming session' where people say what they want
               G-Z to do over the next several months to say, 3 years. What is on your mind?
               What concern/issue do you want to bring to all of us?         Some suggestions:

       How do we keep our momentum going? Where do we go from here? Why do we exist?
       What keeps you coming/going?

       How can we connect more effectively with other nonnuclear organizations in Washington
       (and the rest of the country and world)?

       How do we grow/involve others/especially younger people?     House use and finances
       for GZ.   GZ basically operates in a 'Quaker fashion' - what does that mean?

SATURDAY MORNING:

7:30-8:30         Breakfast—Bagels & cream cheese, fruit, cereal and milk—
                         (People who can only arrive on Saturday morning, will have a limited time to add something to the brainstorming of the previous night).

9:00-9:30         Select groups—probably three—one in the Great Room, one upstairs in the Chambers, and one in the kitchen (? We all participate in these choices.
          There will be a total of six or possibly eight break-out groups—one morning session with three (or four) groups and one afternoon session with three (or four) groups. This gives everyone six or eight to choose from even if they can only participate in two.

9:30-11:15       Break-out Groups.

11:15-12:00     Gather for feedback—some of this time might be used to just finish up, (15 minutes?) but we want there to be time to pick up on work done in the morning in case we need to change topics for the afternoon sessions.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

12:30-1:30       Lunch & clean-up
1:30-2:00         Review topics & locations for break-out groups
2:00-3:30         Break-out Groups
3:30-4:00         Gather for feedback
4:00-5:30         Free time

SATURDAY EVENING

5:30-6:30         Dinner     (We may order pizzas, so bring some cash).
6:30-7:00         Entertainment and awards
7:00-8:00         Singing with Mike Stern (and maybe Tom Rawson)

SUNDAY MORNING

8:00-9:00         Breakfast and cleanup
9:30-10:30       Report to whole group
10:30-12:00     Where do we go from here? (After having spent about 30 hours together - we decide what and how we do what has been created/generated. We would like all attenders to be part of this process too. Jay, Joy, Cathy your Retreat Committee).

12:00-1:00       Lunch & home.
                         1:00ish - clean up the house, put dishes in the dish washer - everything spic and span, except the apartment.

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
16159 Clear Creek Road NW Poulsbo, WA   98370
Website: www.gzcenter.org,   E-mail: info@gzcenter.org

Contacts:    Leonard Eiger, 425-445-2190, subversivepeacemaking@comcast.net
                  Tom Shea, 425-831-0033, tomshea@centurytel.net

January 18, 2010--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vigil and Nonviolent Direct Action at Trident nuclear submarine base Bangor, honoring the memory of Martin Luther King Jr.

65 people participated in a vigil and nonviolent direct action against the Trident nuclear weapons system at the main (Trident Avenue) gate to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (Washington) nuclear submarine base on Saturday, January 16, 2010

Ann Kittredge, 52, of Quilcene, WA and Denny Moore, 65, of Bainbridge Island, WA, attempted to enter the base using a ladder to climb over the perimeter fence near the base entrance. Moore made it over the fence, while Kittredge, a member of CODEPINK Women for Peace, was pulled off the ladder just before topping the fence. Security personnel climbed over the fence and tackled Moore moments later.   Both were questioned by base security, cited for trespassing, and released.

Members and supporters of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action held a peaceful vigil along the roadway by the base entrance within the designated free speech zone established by the Washington State Patrol. Participants held signs and banners calling for peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. A large banner honored the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. with one of his quotes: ?When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.? A full-scale inflatable Trident missile read, ?NUCLEAR DETERRENCE = TERRORISM?.

Participants included the members of the Buddhist-led week-long Interfaith Peace Walk, various chapters of Veterans for Peace, including the Squadron 13 Peace Bus from Eugene, Oregon, and representatives from Seattle First Baptist Church and Cedars Unitarian Universalist, Bainbridge Island.

The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined. For over thirty-two years Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action has engaged in education, training in nonviolence, community building, resistance against Trident and action toward a world without nuclear weapons.