Foes satirize Trident sub in song

As members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars fumed, the Seattle City Council chambers last night erupted in a song lampooning the nuclear submarine scheduled to arrive at Seafair tomorrow.

"It's a total setup," said P.C. Peterson as he walked out of last night's forum on the upcoming visit of the USS Alabama, a 560-foot Trident nuclear submarine. "It's a joke. I just decided I've had it."

Inside the chambers, several members of the Raging Grannies - a local activist group of elderly women - led the crowd in a parody of The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" and dropped their pants to reveal colorful boxer shorts.

"We don't want the Trident submarine, the Trident submarine, the Trident submarine," the group sang, with others in the audience joining in.

"Despite our caricature appearance, we are quite serious," said group member Caroline Canafax, 79. "Seafair is for fun. The Trident is for death."

Nearly 150 people packed council chambers in a festive protest of the Alabama, one of the Navy's 18 Trident submarines. Trident submarines can carry 192 nuclear warheads with more than 1,000 times the firepower of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Eight of the submarines are based at Bangor, Kitsap County.

But the Navy and Seafair organizers declined to show up for the forum.

"I'd sure like to know why the Navy isn't here," said Martin Fleck, executive director of the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. "I would think that this would be important to them."

Lt. Cmdr. William Fenick, spokesman for the Navy Region Northwest, said earlier the Navy declined to attend because the issue - whether to allow nuclear submarines at Seafair - was a local question.

"If people want to discuss weapons of mass destruction they should probably address those issues at the seat of government in Washington, D.C.," Fenick said.

The singing and cheering clearly irritated the scattered Trident supporters who showed up - and stayed - to speak.

"I'm glad the Navy isn't here. I would be embarrassed for them to witness what's going on tonight," said Cecil Allison, president of the Seattle Council Navy League.

During the meeting, an electronic poll showed that more than 80 percent of the audience opposed the Alabama's presence at Seafair.

The issue was brought to the council by the Northwest Disarmament Coalition, made up of a dozen anti-nuclear groups. The coalition has asked the council to ban nuclear-weapon visits to the city.

Despite the protests, City Councilman Richard Conlin said the Alabama would attend Seafair.

"You really don't take back invitations this close to an event," said Conlin, who chaired the forum.

Three years ago, another Trident submarine, the USS Ohio, was greeted by hundreds of protesters when it arrived for Seafair.

Despite the Navy's decision to not attend last night's forum, the submarine had its supporters.

"Thank God for the Navy, thank God for the Trident sub, thank God for those guys," said David Robertson, past commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2713. "When it comes right down to the slugging, who's going to protect us? These protesters? Give me a break."

Fleck, who helped organize the meeting, said protesters would greet the Alabama when it arrives tomorrow but was guarded about what was planned.

"Let me just say, we'll be there," Fleck said.