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Committee Postpones Decision On Anti-Nukes Initiatives

A city council committee heard pros and cons of two ballot initiatives from a no-nukes organization Wednesday but postponed a decision on whether they will go to the voters.

One of the two Peace Planters initiatives focuses on plans for the nearly completed Botts Road plant when its days of making parts for nuclear weapons are over. The other would end any city financial involvement in the plant and prohibit any future nuclear weapons factories.

Most of the testimony for the ordinances was on the evils of nuclear war. Then developers argued for an hour that construction bonding isn't really city ownership. Peace Planters attorney Henry Stoever said the opposition seemed to miss the point that his group's main focus is on preventing future weapons plants, not preventing the current one from being completed.

The committee made peace with Peace Planters for now by promising to take the matter up again in two weeks after consulting the legal department... and to possibly recommend that the council itself pass the ordinance on contingency repurposing plans for the plant.

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