Roger Snodgrass Memorial on Saturday, August 1st in Albuquerque

Roger Kent Snodgrass passed peacefully in his sleep very early on Saturday, July 18th with his partner, Myra, at his side. He was 81 years old.

Roger was a great friend and colleague of CCNS. We met Roger when he was a reporter, then assistant editor and finally as editor of the Los Alamos Monitor. We had mutual respect for the work we each did to inform the public about Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) operations and impacts to communities, land based Peoples and the environment. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87008335/?st=holdings

Roger understood that growing connections between sources and the general public were necessary to provide the People with information and the latest news. We shared information about LANL plans for expanded operations, including fabricating plutonium pits, or the triggers, for nuclear weapons; increasing its water usage, and its snail’s pace to cleanup up the radioactive, toxic and hazardous waste that had been buried in volcanic tuff in unlined pits, trenches and shafts above the sole source drinking water aquifer.

At public meetings, Roger was always a friendly face with excellent questions about LANL plans, current events and the ongoing challenges of keeping track of changes in LANL management and staff.

Roger grew up in New Mexico and graduated from Alamogordo High School.  He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in English from George Washington University and then studied English Literature for a year at Harvard University.  From 2000 to 2010, and again in 2015, Roger worked for the Los Alamos Monitor newspaper.

Katy Korkos, a colleague at the Los Alamos Monitor, described the uniqueness of Roger’s work as, “One of the traits that made him able to be such a good reporter, beyond his really beautiful writing, was that he developed friendships and created networks among a wide range of people, so that he always had someone to turn to for a well-reasoned position on any topic.”

CCNS staff and board members participated in some of Roger’s wide range of networks.

From 2000 to 2010, over 1,000 search results can be found with Roger’s byline. You can access Roger’s Los Alamos Monitor articles in digitized forms at the Mesa or White Rock libraries in Los Alamos. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87008335/

CCNS is grateful to Greg Mello and Trish Williams-Mello for taking Roger into their home when a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer changed his life. Greg and Trish helped Roger plan and make the move to Brookdale Valencia.

A memorial service for Roger will be held on Saturday, August 1st at 1:30 pm in the Brookdale Independent Living Center at 300 Valencia Drive, Southeast, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. https://www.brookdale.com/en.html

1. The new film, An Ordinary Insanity, about the renowned whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and the Nuclear Threat is available for FREE at https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/. To view the 29-minute film, go to the Screenings Page at https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/screenings   The film is a powerful wakeup call about the global threat posed by nuclear weapons and advocates how we can dramatically reduce the real and present danger of nuclear annihilation.

PLEASE SHARE ONLINE and SCREEN AT PUBLIC EVENTS.

2. Michael Moore put his film, “Sicko,” about the unequal health care system in America on YouTube. Watch it here for free.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ4TQ9q8rPc

3. Thursday, July 30^th at 6 pm at Pie Town Community Center – Town Meeting re: proposed Red Basin Uranium Mine Project. Located about 15 miles northwest of Datil, accessed via US 60 and FR 6/Davenport Canyon.  Approximately 850 mining claims covering approximately 33 square miles of Cibola National Forest. To review the entire application of NovaCore Exploration Inc. – Ane Minimal Exploration Project, go to https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/mmd/ca030em-novacore-ane-minimal-impact-exploration-project/

4. Friday, July 31^st from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

5. Tuesday, August 4^th at 6 pm MT – Join the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom US and Korea Peace Now for Remember Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Nuclear Bombs Never Again webinar with a cross-generational panel where speakers will share lived experiences. https://wilpfus.org/event/remember-hiroshima-nagasaki-nuclear-bombs-never-again-webinar/

6. Sunday, August 9^th at 10 am on the Santa Fe Plaza. Join us to commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings 81 years ago. The program will include short speeches by members of Veterans for Peace interspersed with Raging Granny anti-nuke and pro-peace songs, along with possible surprise guests.

Tags: Bachelor of Arts in English, Brookdale Valencia Independent Living Center, Greg Mello, Harvard University, Katy Korkos, LANL, Los Alamos Monitor, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Phi Beta Kappa, Roger Kent Snodgrass, Trish Williams-Mello