August 20, 2021
Minutes WNCPSR Meeting
Aug 20, 2021
At Terry and Brita’s house. Thanks for the lunch, Brita.
Present: Bob, Scott, Bert, Lew, Lynn, Terry, Brita, Dot, Mary
Minutes from 7/16/23 were approved after Terry gave a summary.
Terry wondered about Phil’s health and said he would look into it.
Scott gave the treasurer’s report: unchanged, balance $2446.92
Bert gave a report on the Committee on Abolition of Nuclear Weapons which he faithfully attends on Zoom or by telephone. There were about 20 people participating. They brought up Mary’s name and spoke positively about her work focusing on gender issues connected with radiation. Bert happily informed them that Mary belongs to PSR/WNC! The issue Bert talked about most was the upcoming Nuclear Posture Review and the current one which includes the position of US retaliation with nuclear weapons for non-nuclear threats like cyber attacks.
Terry reported on the Chapter Leaders meeting by zoom. He noted that National does not share the names of local donors who we might be able to contact and have them attend our meetings. Terry was told to speak to Jeff Carter about this. Our chapter, especially Scott and Terry, finds this situation unacceptable.
There is an upcoming virtual Gala Event for which National wants a power-point or video from us. Mary offered to make a power-point if Terry and Bob would sent her photos.
Bob expressed approval of the Rainforest Action Network and wondered if our chapter should work cooperatively with them in some fashion. Mary gave some history of this organization and her approval also.
Bob and others reported on the vigil we sponsored, for remembrance of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th. There were approximately 30 participants in the vigil. The event was co-sponsored by Saint Eugene’s Catholic Church, Care of Creation, Veterans for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Bob discussed the process of getting Care of Creation support for the Hiroshima day vigil. We also had Women in Black and WILPF and Veterans for Peace supporters present. Terry and Brita’s grandson, Alaric was mightily active giving out literature and engaging walkers-by. Scott wants more preparation for next years vigil, with a committee thinking of ways to make us more effective. Mary offered to be on the committee, and we thought Leslie should also be on the committee.
What are our priorities? Scott, Bert, and Dot spoke out that our top priority is nuclear weapons since many other large NGOs address climate change. We discussed writing more letters to editors, as Lew has done so faithfully over many decades. We need to write letters to other papers: Mountain Express, Black Mountain, Sylva, etc. Maybe each of us could adopt a paper. We need to go back to bringing letters to our Senators and Congresspeople to our meetings for everyone to sign.
We need to sign the NIRS letter as a group and Mary offered to write a short summary to attach to the NIRS letter if we want to send those to public officials.
We discussed meeting at Dot’s and Bob’s outside for safety from the Delta variant.
Next meeting on September 17th , 12:00 – 2:00 PM
Location to be determined.
Dot Sulock
Terry Clark
