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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1989)
Wc* don t take busts just to take busts," Jackson says. The group does not cross the cattle guard in order to be arrested as do many other protesters. But their creative actions sometimes mean added risks. "We do get scared," the redhead says. "We take as many precautions as we can." For instance, the group uses police scanners and walkie-talkies to communicate among themselves. But for all the challenges being a Wild Turtle offers her, Jackson says she would rather not be there. "I'm not a martyr for peace," she says. Because she has studied environmental science on a full-ride scholarship at Columbia University in New York, Jackson says she has an obligation to inform people. I have this knowledge and this information about the environment because of what I do," she savs. "I have a responsibility to share that. 1 can't pretend it doesn't exist." Jackson also is finishing her doctoral dissertation in atmospheric dynamics while studying for a undergradu ate degree in documentary film at Stanford University in California. Each member of the Wild Turtles, like each person at Peace City, has their own story, Jackson savs. Becky Simpson, who taught primary school in Michi gan for six years, also is a Wild Turtle. Simpson left her teaching life more than a year and a half ago to go on the road in her Toyota truck and multi colored camper. Simpson now travels with Seeds of Peace, an organization that provides food, water and sanitation for several peace movements during the year But she manages to substitute teach occasionally to bolster her income. "I never imagined I'd be doing this. I thought I'd be a doctor," she says. "What I do is totally by choice." Simpson is "obnoxiously busy" following the peace movement, but it allows her to be near her friends. "We love our lives," says Simpson of herself and travelling companion Vermin Supreme, whom she met at the Michigan Peace March more than a year and a half ago. "We're busy all the time," she says, and there's nothing more she could ask for "It's a totally different lifestyle I know," she says. "But it's what I do." And working for peace and the disarmament of nuclear weapons is just a part of Simpson's life. "1 have to do it," she says. "It's what 1 believe in." It is that same belief in the peace movement that also helped to bring Sheila Stratton of Lincoln to the desert. Stratton, a recent University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduateand alumna of the Great American Peace March in 1986, decided the financial burden of a $230 plane ticket was worth tightening her belt to be at the protest Although a was ‘he coercion ol a fellow peace marcher that finally convinced her to go to the site, it was also a personal longing to return to thedesert she crossed on foot » three years ago Seated beneath a blue tarp in front of a wooden band- 1 stand, Stratton recalls that only three years ago about 300 people gathered at the test site "It's exciting to see it grow to this," she says. Hut I m not surprised It was just a matter of time." The attraction to the event was not just an excuse for a party either. "It's not |ust for the fun of it." she says, shaking her head. "I think there's a deep commitment here These * people are doing what they think they needed to do.' While she agrees it is equally important to pressure L Congress to take action toward global nuclear disarma- : ment through letters and phone calls, Stratton says public demonstration is just as effective. "You )ust have to decide what is the best wav for vou • she says. T Although before she loft Lincoln -.lie* had firmk de cided against being arrested, Stratton ■hUs, -die enter tamed different thoughts when some friends were dis- • cussing their plans to be arrested "l used to think it wasn’t the thing to ever do," she -o\ ^ * with a slight grin on her face, "but now I think maybe I some day." Stratton sayssne respects net menusanu tunusm mv ^ protest and thinks crossing the iine is actually a bigger political statement than lust writing letters to Congress men. But she realizes it may seem odd to some. 'it's their personal demonstration against what the government is doing," she says. "It's their constitutional right and it's a form of protest. For individuals, it's their choice of statement." Stratton, who says she has a sort of spiritual experience in the desert, says coming to the protest renews her energy. "It's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day things," she says, referring to her work at the Freeway Station for runaways in Lincoln and at Hudson Bay Co. "It's easy to forget there's a whole world out there. Stratton says it's important tor people in Lincoln and everywhere else to become aware of what's happening politically and environmentally in the world "We have to acknowledge we don't know everything," she says. Stratton says the public also must be aware of its own government's actions J "If this government was serious about slowing or stopping the arms race, they would simply stop testing," she says. I "The opportunity for an arms agreement with the J Soviet Union is the best it will ever be," she says, although she questions whether any treaty will ever be reached. / "Either we blow up or stop weapons testing on this J level," she says. "So far, I'd say the government's not ^ serious. > "It's just rhetoric . . . it's just words unless we take f action." j — Diana Johnson j Curt Wagner * n » Connie Sheehan/Daily Nebraska AbO 'e: A man and his child crouch near the test site entrance during Thursday’s confrontation between guards and activists. Left: A “peace post’’ becomes a collecting point for masks and personal momentos left by activists. (T^Tme Sheehan/Dally Nebraskan