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Welcome to Shoreham

It went on for nearly four hours, a continuous stream. Knots of arrested protesters at just inside the fence, singing or chanting anti-nuke slogans, or chatting amiably with police while waiting to be taken to precinct headquarters in Yaphank for booking. "If any of you people would like a piece of gum I have some in my back pocket," offered one teen-ager, her bands bound behind her back. "I can't get it, of course...."

BUT IF YOU watched the news that night--the 20 seconds or so devoted to Shoreham by the networks--those aren't the scenes that hit the screens. The focal point of the occupation attempt was the plant's front gate, right in front of most of the press, LILCO officials and police. That's where the only violence of the day took place, when about 15 youths (apparently unconnected with SHAD) decided they would like to storm the place. So they charged the gate repeatedly, kicking and bloodying the hands of LILCO employees who tried to hold it up, and eventually knocked it over. Curiously, though, a no-man's land opened up as the youths backed off instead of entering, and the fence was repaired.

"They're nice people," muttered a LILCO security man sarcastically as he went for first aid, "they didn't mean no harm." The incident gave LILCO spokesman Jan Hickman a chance to lash out at SHAD: "I don't know if SHAD was directly involved, but this is not 'nonviolence' and it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the kind of emotional garbage SHAD has been putting out."

Informed of the violence, some SHAD protesters worried about the adverse publicity it might generate. Said a man from New York, "we're not here to piss people off or alienate them, we're here to make a point."

By the end of the day, most seemed satisfied that they had. As the cameras continued to roll and dusk approached, the last groups went over the main gate. They had debated for two hours whether doing so might prove an unnecessary provocation because of the earlier incident. Almost all of the final 100 went limp and had to be dragged off are carried away on strechers. The crush of onlookers artificially heightened the tension, as policemen occasionally knocked down ladders or pushed protesters. But by then, people were more tired and wet than angry.

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Security for the protest cost LILCO an estimated $250,000, and the Suffolk Co. police $150,000 more; the expenses, naturally, would be passed on to ratepayers and taxpayers. The occupation attempt brought construct on, normally light on a Sunday, to a one-day halt, a short-lived moral victory. Proceedings for the arrested clogged District Court in Hauppauge for a week, and about half of the protesters have turned down an offer to have the charges dismissed in six months and instead opted to plead not guilty and demand a jury trial. Self-defense, they'll say, and repeat their case to all who will listen when the trials open in September. Maximum penalty for criminal tresspassing is 90 days in jail and a $500 fine, but no one expects any prison sentences.

Asked at her arraignment bearing how far she thought the protests would go, whether she thought they would remain non-violent, a middle-aged woman who had just joined the movement said," I don't know, but I'll do whatever it takes to stop that plant from opening.

"Wow," she added after a moment, somewhat "I never thought I'd be saying stuff like that."

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