December 20, 2019
Minutes WNCPSR 12 20 19
Attendees: Lew, Scott, Bert, Dot, Bob, Phil, Sallee, Mary,Terry
Unable to attend: Leslie, Brita, Irma, Johnny
I.) Approval of November 15th, 2019 minutes with one correction
II.) Treasurer’s Report, Lew
Current Balance: $3,545.68
Reimmbursements: Mary re attendance at Visionary Leaders Event
Invoice pending: Asheville GreenWorks
III.) Business
-Chapter Affiliation /agreement
Terry presented a review of the proposed agreement. Plan, Terry will follow-up and sign agreement and review with national representatives questions brought up by the group
-Followup from Cherry Tree Planting Project. Group concurred that it was inspiring, that we thank the members, most notably Leslie for her work, that worked to accomplish the planting. Noted that the location of the tree is terrific, positioned where many pedestrians will see the tree and read the yet to be installed plaque.
Plan:
1.) confer with Leslie re her ideas for the plaque, decide upon and install plaque.
2. Write up what we learned in doing the Cherry Tree Planting project and how we can apply such to future projects.
3. Lew as treasurer will pay the Asheville GreenWorks invoice and thank GreenWorks for their valuable assistance.
-Committee on Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, Report by Bert Crain, The House/Senate conferees have been meeting for months trying to iron out how to dole out the money and for what in the National Defense Authorization Act. They will likely remove the lower yield nuclear warhead prohibition in the house bill but not provide funds for intermediate range missiles that were prohibited by the INF treaty. They are allowing less than what was requested for the Space Force and moved some funds to Border Wall funding.
Congress.gov is a good web-site for tracking bills in congress.
The Hold the Lyne Act S.401/ H.R.1086
H.R. 1086 sent to House Committee on Armed Services which in turn sent to Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.
S.401 sent to Senate Committee on Armed Services.
The No First Use Act H.R. 921/ S.272
H.R. 921 referred to House Committee on Foreign Affairs which referred on to the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation.
S.272 referred to Committee on Foreign Relations.
As far as I know these bills still sit in committee and subcommittee. I will continue to track them and draft some appropriate letters. Thom Tillis is on the Senate Committee on Armed Forces and we all need to get him out of congress. Bert
-ONE PSR committee report, recent meeting noted the timelines for submission of chapter capacity building and chapter grants: Feb 12th and March 6th respectively.
Plan/action: Group concurred that we will request a grant for a planned project that we will decide upon in the January meeting. Terry
-Draft # 3 of handout on The Treaty on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons briefly reviewed. Group noted there is a lot of good information yet encouraged to shorten it so people will read it (and readers can go to the listed websites for more information. Bob will work on this. Terry noted he available to help with further editing
_ Bob shared an article from The National Catholic Reporter (12/17/19) noting that Pope Francis recently stated that the use and possession of nuclear weapons should be declared “immoral” under official Catholic teaching. The pope noted that “An accident (through the) possession or the folly of some leaders could destroy humanity.”
- Mary reported on the Visionary Leaders Awards Event. She noted that the symposium was excellent and the awards event was inspiring. She noted the wonderful ceremony in which Ira Helfand noted Helen Caldicott’s work that led to the granting of the Nobel Peace Prize to IPPNW and PSR as the American affilate.
- Announcement: OREPA hosting International Conference on Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, May 23-25, 2020 in Maryville TN, Registration starts in early January; seating may be limited, register early
Next meeting: January 17, 2020
