“YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 Mats 07 1GN7 Chassthied U86-G222 0 Distribution GSG-1337 8K pases Me NEWS phote fMlke Wakefield 1 protest f GREENPEACE activists Bill Gardiner’and Simon Waters unfurled Wednesday a 30 S by 60-foot banner. of: protest against'the arrival of American warships in Vancouver harbor. The two stayed on the bridge Wednesday night, but abandoned their vigil ; Thursday. . a rhoto exhisit opens Page 19 LIKE SPIDERS woven into 2 web, two Greenpeace pro- testers strapped themselves into climbing slings and mounted a banner message proclaiming ‘Nuclear Free Seas’ high above the traffic on Lions Gate Bridge Wednesday morning. Bil Gardiner, 32, and Simon Waters, 29, fiteradiy hune around Waiting for the fist Gt more than 3.000 Canadian and US. sailors who will pass under the dridge tor a weekend in Vancouver. In an interview from his sling via acellular telephone, Gardiner described the climb, which closed the bridge’s centre lane for 90 minutes, as hard work. “It owas fairly technical, but it was something that we had rehearsed before,"’ said Gardiner. Both men are experienced climbers. ‘‘There were three distinct segments to the climb and we practised each one separately,” he said. ‘This is the first time we've been actually able to put it together, of course, due to the fact that it’s on the bridge.** The two practised on various Jocal rock faces to prepare for the assault on Lions Gate, They began the climb shortly before 11:30 a.m. The two men had the 30 by 60-foot banner with six-foot high letters in place and themselves dangling in their slings within an hour. BECKER ender By MICH Now He was oui to meet the war- ships attending last vear’s Sea Fes- tival with the Greenpeace flotilla. “PI miss the boats this year though, but they will have to see this banner.” Dangling high above the waters of Burrard Inlet and 300 feet above two police officers waiting below, Gardiner explained his per- sonal motivation for the protest: “If more people did it, we'd get somewhere, Too many of us, and I did myself for a while, think that somebody else will do it and we'll leave it to them, Every little bit makes a difference.”’ Gardiner said he didn’t expect trouble with the police once the protest had run its course, ‘‘It’s a public bridge,’’ he said. But Vancouver city police expect to charge the two with public mischief and under a section of the B.C. Highways Act which defines as illegal the climbing of a bridge or highway superstructure. DOUG COLLINS ON GREENPEACE: SEE PAGE 9 ns Police arrived on the scene within minutes. “A Department of Transport vehicle arrived first, but he really didn't try to do anything, he just kind of yelled a few times, And then the police showed up, but by that time we were too high,"’ said Gardiner. Provisions for the high-wire stake-out included water, sand- wiches, a container to urinate in, sleeping bags, a small portable radio and the cellular telephone. Gardiner said he has been with Greenpeace for several years in various capacities as a volunteer and fundraiser. The two climbers left their pro- test perches at approximately noon Thursday. Police have handed court ap- pearance notices to four bridge deck demonstrators arrested earlier Wednesday. Janis Sinclair, 27, Robert Staf- ford, 40, Timothy Ridge, 26, and Kenneth Fabok, 33, were charged with climbing a bridge or struc- ture. The first group of ships, five U.S. guided-missile frigates, arriv- ed Thursday afternoon. Four Ca- nadian destroyers and seven U.S. minesweepers are scheduled to ar- rive in port today.