Flats protesters return, reflect
Gathering marks 30th anniversity of start of actions
By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Monday, April 14, 2008
Javier Manzano / The Rocky
The organizing committee for the Rocky Flats Resistance Reunion had its 30th anniversary reunion Sunday at the former Rocky Flats complex. A series of events commemorated the actions at the plant that began in April 1978.
It's just a wide spot on Colorado 93 now, but 30 years ago the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant loomed just over the horizon.
In concrete buildings behind steel fences and barbed wire, workers assembled triggers for nuclear weapons.
"This spot is really a sacred place for us," Pat McCormick, a sister of Loretto, said Sunday of the place in unincorporated Jefferson County where workers entered the plant each day.
McCormick came here every Sunday for 12 years beginning in the late 1970s to pray for an end to war and nuclear weapons.
"We prayed and asked God for the courage to resist," McCormick said.
Rocky Flats was demolished in the late 1990s after federal officials determined it was no longer needed and that it would require extensive safety improvements for further use as a nuclear plant.
On Sunday, McCormick was among 50 people, many of them elderly, who came to the former plant entrance to remember the anti-nuclear movement.
The gathering, as well as events on Friday night and Saturday, commemorated the first major protest at the plant gate in April 1978.
Initially peaceful, it was followed by efforts to disrupt the plant that lasted through the mid-1980s and included many arrests.
"There's nothing nostalgic about it," McCormick, 72, said of the gathering.
She's acutely conscious that the anti-nuclear movement did not succeed in eliminating the weapons.
A handful of the participants marched Sunday from downtown Boulder, but most arrived in cars.
Like McCormick, many of the former protesters revere this spot.
The ashes of two protesters are scattered in the area, said LeRoy Moore, a longtime leader of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, which was formed in Boulder during the protests.
"The (security guards) would allow us to be on the other side of that fence there," said Tom Morris, 58, pointing to what used to be a barrier, but now can be walked around.
"Some people would fast there and spend days there. A Buddhist monk, I think, did a 50-day fast."
Morris, who worked as a tofu maker and later owned a health food store, said he would chant for eight hours at a time.
"On a personal level it was really a deep experience to sit here in all kinds of weather and under all kinds of adverse conditions in terms of workers yelling at us," Morris said. "Drivers whizzed by on the highway yelling at us."
"So, through all that, you would sit and chant and just persevere. It was just such a lesson personally in how to overcome adversity and stay true to what you're doing."
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April 14, 2008
7:20 a.m.
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masondav2004 writes:
Glass houses, pajama... You should be more careful throwing stones.
April 14, 2008
7:44 a.m.
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kathyM writes:
No nukes! No nukes! Oh...no nukes here. Now what? No nukes! No nukes! No nukes!....
April 14, 2008
8:13 a.m.
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badbuff121 writes:
Pajama....when was the last time you were passionate about anything??.....At least we cared about something and tried to change what we thought was wrong....
and yes...we've just started with bush and his "war".....the passion is back...!!!!!!
April 14, 2008
8:14 a.m.
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Radar writes:
these morons are protesting a site that no longer exsists. ok then.i think they would make better use of their cause at someplace where it might actually accomplish something. Ya Right, either that or somebody forgot to take their med's. PJ is right, these guys really have way to much time on their hand, and nothing better to do than relive old memories. I think they had wwaaayyy too much THC back in the day. This is one of those "Make Work Day" stories that RMN does so often.
April 14, 2008
8:36 a.m.
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Scott writes:
A bunch of geriatric hippies longing for the "good-ol days." What a joke. It appears that at least one of them (McCormick) has been off the dope long enough to understand that the chanting of their mantra, die-ins, etc., didn't do a darn thing to eliminate nukes.
What would be interesting is to find out how much extra credit they "earned" thirty years ago from their Coke U. "professors" for attending these "events."
Scott
April 14, 2008
9:36 a.m.
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my3pugs writes:
Oh wait, this is a Boulder story. Shouldn't there be a mention of the Boulder Library having forced children to walk past a bunch of penis sculptures? Whew, there, thank goodness we have that out of the way and we can get back to castigating Boulderites for smoking too much weed.
April 14, 2008
9:52 a.m.
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psu96 writes:
PJ,
your middle school name-calling shows a glimpse of your character as well. and the argument about driving hybrid cars is funny as well. thanks for the laughs. and you were the first to sub-conciously blame bush, nice going.
April 14, 2008
9:57 a.m.
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JohnHKennedy writes:
The Rocky Flats Protesters deserve our thanks and admiration. Shutting down Rocky Flats was a huge contribution to our quality of life and safety. Here is a big thank you from the members of the Impeach Colorado Coalition. Your long term dedication to such a worthy cause is an example to all progressives. Out of your efforts came the Rocky Mountain Peace And Justice Center of Boulder which has been a champion for good causes for the better part of 30 years.
Now we hope we can get you all to show up for Impeachment Protests. We must impeach Cheney before November. As big a battle as the fight to close the Flats was, the fight to bring accountability to Vice President Cheney and President Bush is even more crucial to our entire Nation, not just the Denver/Boulder area.
We have only this one opportunity, from now until the November election to pressure our Democratic Congressmen to support immediate Impeachment Hearings. After November the new, larger Democratic House Majority will ignore, forget about, and sweep under the rug the un-Constitutional actions of Cheney and Bush. Their careers will be more important. We must change their minds now, before the election.
If they won't impeach before the election the Democrats won't impeach after the election. If they won't impeach, they will never prosecute. There will never be an international war crimes trial, our people won't accept it. Our only recourse is immediate Impeachment Hearings.
Polls show that a huge majority of American voters believe that Cheney abused his powers, violated the Constitution, Federal Laws, the Geneva Convention on Torture (also a part of Federal Law), and outed a CIA agent possibly committing treason in the process. He must be impeached, now!
Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic House leadership have stonewalled the Nation's voters and we anti-war and peace and justice activists on stopping the Iraq War and stopping the funding for it, before the election.
We anti-war activists lost that battle when the House Democrats decided to allow the war to be prolonged in the hope they would gain a larger majority after November(without risking their careers).
We must not also lose the battle for Impeachment of Cheney.
The Iraq War will go on for years regardless of who wins the White House in November.
The only event that will stop the war any time soon is our forcing the House Democrats to Hold Impeachment Hearings prior to the election. The proceedings will start with Cheney but will surely lead to Bush.
The Nation needs you stalwart defenders of progressive values to join us in the fight for Impeachment, Now, before it is too late.
Thanks again for all you've done.
John H Kennedy, Denver CO, organizer
Impeach Colorado Coalition http://ImpeachCo.com
http://www.progressnowaction.org/page...
Tell Udall to honor his oath of office and call for Impeachment Hearings.
April 14, 2008
9:58 a.m.
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Firefox writes:
badbuff121
Passion what do you know about really standing up for your passion, try it when terrorists are trying to kill you and then come talk to me about passion? Please come with me on my 2nd tour of Iraq and tell the little kid that told me where I could find an IED, or his sister who we helped get back in a working school, tell them you are sorry but we are leaving them. Badbuff go tell all the vets that their time and lives have been wasted by Bush and they will tell you are nuts that we are and will continue to fight for those who can not fight for themselves, that is passion.
USMC
April 14, 2008
10:03 a.m.
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Firefox writes:
John H Kennedy,
Why does your ignorance and lack of understanding not suprise me.
April 14, 2008
10:07 a.m.
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Scott writes:
Hey JHK, pull your head out of the bong! The geriatric hippies didn't have one thing to do with Rocky Flats being shut down. Even one of their own kind, McCormick, admitted that. READ THE ARTICLE! Also, try staying on track.
Scott
April 14, 2008
10:09 a.m.
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Scott writes:
Firefox,
May God bless and watch over you, your fellow Marines and your families during your deployment. You will be in my prayers.
Scott
formerly PR-2 USNR
April 14, 2008
11:08 a.m.
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snowood writes:
These people have done nothing to help the demise of Rocky Flats. Do your research , think about Jim Stone that started it all and got nothing back from our government..over 18 years of his life and again nothing.
April 14, 2008
12:18 p.m.
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CDee writes:
Al Gore= Dow Chemical=owners of Rocky Flats. Impeach Cheney? What did I miss?
April 14, 2008
1:51 p.m.
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pwern writes:
Aging hippies trying to relive their glory days - that's all this is about. These people changed NOTHING. While these self-absorbed Boomer idiots were out attempting to obstruct the operations at Rocky Flats, Ronald Reagan was busy challenging the Soviet threat by the very means that these radical liberals claimed would 'end the world'. We all know how that turned out, but apparently nobody has bothered to point out to these filthy hippies that every principle they stood for was inherently incorrect.
So here they are again, all wrinkled and gray, still barking up the wrong tree after all these years. Makes clear that age doesn't always equate with wisdom. These people still don't get it.
April 14, 2008
2:47 p.m.
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freethought writes:
And we are so grateful for your killing of innocent children and raping of innocent girls. Semper Fi!
April 14, 2008
2:59 p.m.
Scott writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
April 14, 2008
3:50 p.m.
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freethought writes:
Gosh, Scott, you must agree with rape and torture. Too bad you are not a member of this current administration. Kill the babies in Scott's name!
April 14, 2008
4:04 p.m.
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radio writes:
Disarmament is as important today as it was 30 years ago. Walking all the way from Boulder to the West Gate still felt very relevant. And the issues still live. Although plutonium triggers are not now being produced at Rocky Flats, thanks to the courage of thousands of protesters, production may continue in New Mexico.Citizens holding the government responsible for their lies certainly is also still relevant. When they told us the trains carried no radio-activity, we found out otherwise by taking them to court. When the FBI found out the facility was burning waste against regulation, they found out Rocky Flats was lying...There is so much history that proved democracy in action requires citizens to ask the hard questions, so workers are safe,so we are all safe from corporations and governments that think they can act with impunity. It sounds as though some of the contributors do not know the history of Rocky Flats or the lessons learned that continue to be as important today as ever.
April 14, 2008
6:45 p.m.
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jcn7vc writes:
I think it should be noted that the 72 year-old woman in this story is a sister of Loretto, a Catholic nun. I don't think she is getting high and eating tofu with the rest of these protestors.
And thank you, firefox, for upholding the ideals of this great nation. There are many of us that support you, and I hope that you are proud of what you have done for this world. I know I am proud to say I am American after talking with men and women that served in the Middle East in the past 6 years. Before calling for us to pull out of Iraq, I encourage all of you to talk personally with a soldier or vet that has served there, and find out for yourself what our soldiers do there and the kind of thanks they get from Iraqis.