Still hoping for peace on Earth

By Mike Trask

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 | 2 a.m.

On a side street in one of the bleakest neighborhoods in the Las Vegas Valley, a small residential lot is distinguished by three old barracks from Nellis Air Force Base.

There’s no sign explaining who lives here, but the vehicles out front offer some clue. The side of an aging Winnebago is painted with the message, “Abolish Nuclear Weapons.” And the bumper stickers on an old Dodge minivan call for peace on Earth. Signs of an earlier era, it seems.

A knock on the door brings out a 71-year-old man in a white polo shirt, khakis and a pair of running shoes.

Meet Father Jerry Zawada, a Franciscan friar who has been living on the property for two years.

The Catholic order has owned the property for about 30 years. Today it doubles as headquarters for the Nevada Desert Experience, an interfaith effort aimed at stopping the production of nuclear weapons.

Zawada’s history with Las Vegas goes back to 1987, when as a protester he was arrested for trespassing at the Nevada Test Site. It was one of more than 100 pinches for his roles in nonviolent protests.

The most recent arrest came last year at Fort Huachuca, an Army base in Arizona that protesters link to the teaching of abuse or torture techniques. Part of Zawada’s sentence was 500 hours of community service.

“I thought that was fun,” he says of the punishment. “That’s the work I’d be doing anyway.”

Zawada shares the residence with a Franciscan sister, Megan Rice, who has lived there since 2005.

The location, just off Martin Luther King Boulevard in North Las Vegas, “is where we want to be,” Rice says. It meshes with their spiritual mission of aiding those in need.

A half-mile away is the former Buena Vista Springs apartment complex, so dilapidated that federal officials shut it down this year. Gas stations in the neighborhood have bulletproof glass.

In a town like Las Vegas it might seem difficult to get people to pay attention to anti-war protests or to drum up support for the next peace walk to the Test Site.

It’s a city whose values, it seems, are the antithesis of Franciscan ideals. Tourists on the hunt for exotic shows and hot blackjack tables don’t want to be bothered with anti-torture campaigns.

More than once the friar has seen a one-fingered salute, something he calls “half of a peace sign.”

The anti-bomb movement may seem dated to some, but Zawada says the issue is timeless and so he remains committed to protecting lives that could be taken by nuclear weapons. This is his calling.

There are more immediate needs in the community, too, and so this pair of Franciscans, along with a few lay people, address those as well. They serve a meal at 6:30 a.m. most days on an abandoned lot near the corner of G Street and Washington Avenue, followed by prayers. The goal is simple: Nourish the body, nourish the soul.

That may be a more attainable goal than eliminating nuclear weapons and torture from the world. But Zawada isn’t giving up on that goal.

He’ll be protesting at Fort Huachuca again in November.