[CPEO-MEF] Media Advisory for Anniston, AL

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

 ** M E D I A    A D V I S O R Y **

for more information call: Craig Williams: (859) 986-7565 or (859)
302-1103 (cell)

Brenda Lindell: (256) 236-1496 or (256)-225-8312 (cell)

What:   Press conference, parade and rally for safe disposal of chemical
weapons and environmental justice in Anniston, Alabama.

Where:  Anniston, Alabama -- Anniston City Meeting Center, corner of
17th St. and Noble St.

When:        Sunday, September 8, 2002   - - 2 PM  (CDT) Press
Conference 3 PM March -- approximately 1 mile -- followed by a Rally at
Zinn Park.

Who:    Hundreds of people expected from the Anniston community, the
southeast region and communities all over the U.S.   Organizations
joining the CWWG at the rally include the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, Alabama Sierra Club, United Church of Christ, Southern
Organizing Committee, Alabama Environmental Council, Global Alliance for
Incinerator Alternatives,  and many more.

Press conference speakers include:

? Martin Luther King III and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Southern Christian

Leadership Conference
? Brenda Lindell, Families Concerned About Nerve Gas Incineration,
Anniston, AL
? Rev. Pamela Chaney, United Church of Christ Justice Program
? Craig Williams, Chemical Weapons Working Group Director
? Brenda Mugleston, Utah chemical weapons incinerator whistleblower

Why:   This Fall, the U.S. Army plans to begin burning lethal chemical
weapons in the  highly populated, highly contaminated community of
Anniston, Alabama.  Chemical weapons incinerators in Utah and the
Pacific are proven failures.  In the last two months, VX nerve agent was
released at the Pacific incinerator, and workers at the Utah incinerator
were exposed to GB nerve agent - shutting down both incinerators
indefinitely.  The Alabama incinerator failed its trial burns.  Recent
reckless modifications to that will create even greater risks to
workers, the environment and the public.

Opposition to chemical weapons incineration in Anniston has never been
higher.  An incinerator will release additional contaminants into a
community saturated with PCBs, lead and mercury from Monsanto during the
1960s and 70s.  Recently, the Anniston community was promised "gas
masks" as protection from a possible chemical agent accident at the
incinerator.

The goal of Sunday's event is to 1) draw attention to the flaws of the
incineration program, 2) increase pressure to replace the Anniston
incinerator furnaces with safer, non-incineration methods for destroying
chemical weapons, demonstrated through the Pentagon's own alternative
technology program, and 3) focus on the  disproportionate impact the
Army's incineration program has minority and poor communities across the
country.

Directions: From I-20, take Anniston/Oxford exit 185.  Go north on Hwy.
21/431 until you reach 17th St.  Turn left on 17th and go two blocks to
Noble St.

Visuals and themes:  Black and white families with children, civil
rights and religious leaders, environmental activists marching together
with signs and placards, balloons.  Rally will include giant puppet
theater; statements from citizens and justice organizations from the MLK
pavilion in a scenic downtown  park.

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