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Santa Cruz Civilian Weapons Inspection Team Refused Entry to Lockheed Martin

by Joe Rigney
On Friday, April 11, about sixty members of the Santa Cruz Citizen Weapons Inspections Team visited the Lockheed Martin facility at the top of Empire Grade in Bonny Doon. The goal of the team was to ascertain to what extent that facility is developing weapons of mass destruction.
On Friday, April 11, about sixty members of the Santa Cruz Citizen Weapons Inspections Team visited the Lockheed Martin facility at the top of Empire Grade in Bonny Doon. The goal of the team was to ascertain to what extent that facility is developing weapons of mass destruction.

The day started with a press conference at the in downtown Santa Cruz. According to the Arms Trade Resource Center, Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest weapons maker, and the corporation received over $30 billion in federal contracts in fiscal year 2000 – 2001 alone.

“We intend to hold the United States Government responsible to the same standards for the development, proliferation, and use of weapons of mass destruction to which it holds other sovereign nations,” said Sue Colley. “It is irresponsible for us not to request full disclosure of weapons development and testing taking place at the Bonny Doon facility.”

According to “unofficial sources,” the Bonny Doon facility tests and produces non-nuclear components of the Trident II D-5 missile, a first strike nuclear missile with several times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. “We want to find out if our local facility participates in the production of this weapon of mass destruction,” said Ms. Colley.

“We want to make the connection between war and the corporate domination of politics,” added Sharon Delgado. The Bush administration has eight policy makers with direct or indirect ties to Lockheed Martin. Lynn Cheney, the wife of the vice president, was a corporate board member from 1994 to 2001, where she received $500,000 a year in fees.

The team drove up Empire Grade to the Lockheed Martin facility, but was forced to park about a half-mile from the entrance gate by county sheriff deputies. The more than sixty inspectors, many of them wearing white hazardous waste suits and masks, marched the rest of the way, holding peace flags and signs that said “WMD? NIMBY” and “Your weapons don’t keep us safe.”

Upon reaching the gate, the team announced that they would begin the inspection, and they requested admittance to the site. Facility Operations Manager Pete Olinger responded, “Sorry, we cannot let you in. We recognize your right to protest, but we also hope you respect our employees' rights and our property. If you have any additional comments, please contact Jeff Richmond at the Public Relations Department.”

The team asked a series of questions, but Mr. Olinger, like a corporate robot, refused to answer and only repeated his statement. Even when spokeswoman Lynda Marin said, “We contacted Jeff Richmond, and he told us to direct our questions to the Bonny Doon facility. Who at Bonny Doon can answer these questions?” Mr Olinger still referred the inspectors back to Richmond.

The inspection team then requested that a letter be delivered to Byron Ravenscraft, a Senior Manager at the Bonny Doon facility. In this letter, the team asked for answers to the following:

What subsystems and components are being developed and/or tested there? What are they being used for?

Is it true that Lockheed Martin Bonny Doon produces and tests the ordnance for the Trident D-5 Nuclear Missiles?

Is there a Navy Building inside the property at Lockheed Martin Bonny Doon? If so, what is it being used for and what county ordinances is it exempt from?

What other buildings and facilities are on the Bonny Doon site? What are they used for? What is their status in relation to county use permits and ordinances?

If citizens of Santa Cruz were to extend the nuclear free zone to the county, would Lockheed Martin be able to continue current operations in light of regular inspections?

Since they failed to gain entrance to the facility, the weapons inspectors made findings that the facility provided insufficient information, failed to comply, and that the inspections were incomplete. They left a sign stating “Weapons Inspection, Non-compliance” on the gate. However, they vowed that this was not the end of their activities.

“At this point we have decided not to go in without permission,” said Eva Brumner. “But we do intend to inspect this site and may go in (illegally) at some later time.”

As Sharon Delgado put it, “It is a form of penance to resist war and a form of sacrament to perform civil disobedience.”

Members of the public who would like further information concerning Lockheed Martins’ development of weapons of mass destruction can contact Jeff Richmond with the Public Relations Department at (408) 742-6688. The Santa Cruz Weapons Inspection Team can be reached at sccwit [at] riseup.net or at (831) 423-1626 ext. 302.


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