Pete Ashdown

David Culp, Legislative Representative, Quaker Nuclear Disarmament Program, will be speaking in Salt Lake City on “Utah’s Important Role in Permanently Ending Nuclear Weapons Testing”

SLC Events: A renewed national discussion about the role and future of nuclear weapons is underway in the United States. President Barak Obama, and his administration, along with a distinguished group of national security experts, including former Secretaries of State Henry A. Kissinger and George P. Shultz, believe that the United States should significantly reduce the role of nuclear arms in our national security strategy and work towards a world free of nuclear weapons. Congress will be the forum for a number of nuclear weapons policy debates, including whether to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). David will be making three public presentations in Salt Lake City. He will provide some general information about the state of affairs with regard to nuclear weapons – how many exist, who possesses them, and what some of the key policy debates are. These presentations will further explore the role of members of the Utah congressional delegation in these debates, and how and why this is relevant to Utah voters, and how they might get involved.

• Sunday, Jan. 24, 11:30am, Quaker Meeting House,171 E. 4800 S., SLC
• Tuesday, Jan. 26, 10:45am, Hinckley Institute Forum, University of Utah
• Tues., Jan. 26, 6:00pm, United Nations Association of Utah, Apple Spice Junction, 6520 S. 900 E., SLC – ($13 charge for dinner)

Presenter: David has 15 years experience on nuclear arms control and disarmament legislation. He was instrumental in the passage of the nuclear testing moratorium in 1992; the ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997; and the defeat of a new nuclear warhead, or nuclear “bunker buster” in 2004. Previously he was a lobbyist at the Indiana legislature for a statewide citizens group. He is one of six registered lobbyists on nuclear disarmament on Capitol Hill. The Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers) is the oldest religious lobbying group in the country.

Sponsor: The Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (UCAN) was formed in early 2007 to educate and involve Utahns in the effort to help rid the world of nuclear weapons. For more information regarding the mission of the organization, please log onto our web site http://utahcan.org.

Contact: Please telephone Deb Sawyer, UCAN Spokesperson, at (801) 364-2971 or email dsawyer@xmission.com if you have any questions about the events or UCAN.