The Nation - News from Dec. 6, 1988

Soviet inspectors monitoring U.S. compliance with the treaty on intermediate nuclear forces looked on as the first two of 400 Pershing 2 missile motors at an Army facility east of Pueblo, Colo., were destroyed. Calm wind caused a 25-minute delay before the solid-fuel missile motor was ignited, Army spokeswoman Susan Voss said at the Pueblo Army Depot. The Colorado Department of Health permit that allows the rocket motors to be destroyed at the site requires winds of at least 4 m.p.h. out of the west to dissipate the rocket’s exhaust plume and drive it away from the city of Pueblo. Ten Soviet inspectors witnessed the event along with 40 news reporters and 60 VIPs, Voss said.