PRESS RELEASE : FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         April 15, 2005                                                                              

Contact: Natalia Wasley (513) 403 6698

Taking Small Steps To “Stop The Bombs”

Heidlersburg. PA- On Saturday, April 16, 2005, an international group of about 30 people will walk from Heidlersburg to Beavertown as part of their 7-week pilgrimage from the gates of the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to the UN Headquarters in New York City. The “Stop the Bombs International Peace Walk”  will depart from The Heidlersburg Church of the United Brethren in Christ around 7:30am and travel 15 miles on foot to Dillsburg Presbyterian Church. 

The group began walking on Monday, March 14, from the gates of Y-12, which helped to produce the “Little Boy” bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, sixty years ago this August . The walkers will arrive in New York City on May 1 , accompanied by the Mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba. Their arrival coincides with the UN Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the central international agreement on nuclear disarmament. Despite America signing the NPT and thus pledging to disarm, Y-12 continues to produce weapons components and upgrade the nation’s nuclear arsenal. 

“Many believe the treaty will collapse at this conference, which would be a global disaster” says Kip Williams, a walker from Knoxville, Tenn. and member of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA).  “The U.S. and many other nations continue to violate this treaty. We have to hold them accountable to their commitment to disarm .”

Walkers have gathered from all over the globe, representing Australia, Japan, Cape Verde (West Africa) , Austria, and the United States.  They intend to voice their opposition to the United States' ongoing violation of the NPT to the Review Conference and to assert their conviction that the maintenance and production of nuclear weapons undermines attempts to create international community and world peace.
"The U.S. has created an atmosphere that could spark a new Nuclear Arms Race,"
says walk organizer Marcus Atkinson from Australia.  "We are coming together for this
walk because we have lost faith in the disarmament process.  It is time for us
to demand that our governments create a safe and peaceful world.  Ending the
nuclear industry is the first step in this process."

Along the journey, walkers speak to politicians and church and community groups about the NPT and the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant.  They carry letters from the Mayor of Hiroshima, advocating the Peace Walk and inviting city Mayors to join the international "Mayors for Peace" campaign, which works toward total nuclear abolition by the year 2020 (www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english)

The walk is being sponsored by Mayors for Peace, Footprints for Peace, the International Peace Pilgrimage, Nipponzan Myohoji, and the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance.  The walk will culminate in a massive demonstration in Central Park in New York City on May 1. 

Throughout the pilgrimage, periodic updates and photos will be posted on                                             
http://stopthebombswalk.peacehq.com.    

For more information contact Jim Toren or Natalia Wasley at (513) 403-6698