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Stop that Trident Sub!

What you can do if you don't want a Trident Sub in Seattle (a nuclear powered, nuclear weapons carrying submarine) on Aug 6, the 52nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, and a day that the Seattle City Council has declared a Day of Peace:

Call Mayor Rice at 206-684-4000 or email mayors.office@ci.seattle.wa.us. They will tell you they have no control over what ships the Navy brings to Seafair, but I don't believe this.

Call Seafair Fleet Week Event Manager, Ms. Thedra Amaranti, at 206-728-0123.

Call the Navy. Admiral Center is one of the people in charge and his number is 360-315-5000. His office transferred me to the Public Affairs Office and Captain Wyatt, who can be reached at 206-526-3131. Captain Wyatt got defensive very quickly, and when I asked him who had the power to change the decision, he said to call the "Commander-In-Chief."

Call President Clinton, the Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces at 202-456-1111, 9 AM - 5 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Note: everyone will refer you to someone else, but I think we have the power to keep the Trident out of Seattle - if enough of us make enough calls!

--Jean Buskin

Editor's note: here are two more numbers you can add to the list--Seafair Public Relations at 728-0123, extension 110, and the Port of Seattle at 728-3034.

Free the Utility Poles!

Knowing how you feel about the local press, I thought I'd pass on some interesting bits from the Seattle Municipal Code regarding newsstands. Of particular interest is that these guys are taking up space on public sidewalks selling their newspapers without any registration or fee. It might be fun to get some initiative going to establish a $50 annual registration fee, half going to the establishment of kiosks or other locations to make up for loss of utility pole posters, and the other half going to the city general fund. Of course, this also begs the question of how papers like the Stranger, Weekly, etc. can give away their papers while the others have to charge--it's hard to imagine that they could contain more advertising than the average P-I.

While on the utility pole topic, check out SMC regulation number 15.14.030, "Requirements, item C," which says: "No newsstand shall be fastened to any Metro facility or any utility pole or tree." Take a quick look around and see how many of these boxes are chained to utility poles. It might be fun to have ETS fans submit pictures of utility poles shackled to news stands, or vice-versa.

--Dave Albergine