European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 18, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday. December 18. 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 9 photographer Brett Weston kept a 20-year pledge monday when he burned All of his negatives. Well known photographer keeps vow to Burn negatives by Michelle Locke the associated press san Francisco a for years renowned photographer Brett Weston vowed to destroy All his negatives when he turned 80. When the Day came monday he did no to flinch a bit consigning a lifetime of work to the flames. A nobody can print it the Way i do it would t be my work a he explained. Weston is part of a group of Well known West coast photographers that included his father Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. Brett Weston is known for his studies of abstract patterns in Urban and natural settings. The years of work were rapidly consumed As Weston surrounded by dozens of friends and family threw the strips of film into a burning fire in his living room fireplace at his Home in Carmel 130 Miles South of san Francisco. The execution of Weston a 20-year-old Promise brought consternation in photographic circles. A part historians hate this kind of thing a said Andy Grundberg director of programs for the friends of photography in san Francisco a group co founded by Brett Weston. Losing the negative Means losing insight Grundberg said. A the negative always has the function of being sort of the original documentation of a  Weston May be Best known for landscapes in an abstract vein Grundberg said but he took pictures of a variety of subjects including underwater nudes. Burning up All that work is Quot sort of like painters who Burn their Early paintings when they decide they Aren t any Good Grundberg said. "1 Don t think this is a very Good  Weston said he did t know Why lie picked his 80th birthday above any other and said he did t feel any twinges of regret. A make that Clear. It s my personal work. Nobody can print it a he said a i done to want students and teachers to print my  Terence Pitts director of the Center for creative photography in Tucson Ariz said he sent an envoy to Weston a Home to try to talk him out of the burning. The Center holds the worlds largest collection of photographers archives including the works of Edward Weston. A the biggest loss is to history a Pitts said. A for those who like to know How artists work and How they get to the stage of making great works that s gone. Well just never know what the choices were that he  life Magazine charter photographer Peter stack pole who lost his own negatives when the Oakland firestorm destroyed his Home oct. 20, said he was shocked when he heard of the pledge. A it horrifies Many of us but the More i think about it since Brett was so meticulous about the Way he wanted it printed. Knowing Brett he probably has piles of prints already made of each negative he wants to  meanwhile Weston who described himself As a frail but Active a said he will continue taking photographs. From now on though he will be tossing the negatives As they Are printed Quot new work that a the important thing a not the old work Quot he said. A . Plans slash in production of nuclear arms Washington apr the Energy department foreseeing an Ever shrinking nuclear weapons Arsenal unveiled plans monday to scale Back weapons production with thousands of i ewer workers and More emphasis on environmental cleanup. Energy Secretary James d. Watkins said the work Toree at atomic weapons production facilities which ate spread across 12 states is expected to be Cut in half by 2005 and Many non nuclear activities will be consolidated in the next three years. Quot we can and we will reduce and streamline our nuclear weapons Complex and make it More Cost Effie Tive said Watkins. He said that was possible because of the dramatic changes it late soviet Union that have led to planned cuts in . Warhead stockpiles. As part of its review the department also announced it was rethinking its plans for a new weapons reactor saying design work on a $5.0 billion 1.000-Megawatl device was being curtailed immediately he As much As St percent. Watkins said the eventual reactor which had been planned Tor either South Carolina or Idaho might be Only a fourth the size once envisioned. Watkins said events in the soviet Union and president Bush a decision to withdraw thousands of tactical nuclear weapons from the . Arsenal and accelerate cuts in Long Range weapons has allowed a sealing Back of future production a and provide a Cost saving to the american  Quot a we re talking about a shift in National strategy that was t anticipated Quot said Watkins at a news conference. I he department a year ago unveiled a blueprint to modernize the weapons production Complex which has been plagued by years of safety and environmental problems. But Watkins said Many of those plans which already had envisioned considerable consolidation have had to be modified. Among the other Shilts unveiled by the department were plans to a Speed up the consolidation of so called non nuclear activities in the weapons program from six facilities around the country to a single Plant probably neat Kansas City to. A the consolidation will mean a loss of 4,1 09 jobs at weapons plants in Ohio Texas. Florida. Colorado and Tennessee and should be completed within three years officials said. A a press ahead with a consolidation of the nuclear activities reducing the work Force from 30,000 today to about 15,000 by the year 2005. Watkins indicated that As part of the program weapons production work at the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado might be phased out earlier than previously planned. He declined to elaborate but said he would Send Congress a revised timetable in february. Quot czech unemployment rate reaches 6.3%, still climbing Prague Czechoslovakia apr the number of jobless reached 500,200 a or 6.3 percent of Czechoslovakia a work Force in november and is still rising a newspaper reported tuesday. The rude Provo daily said unemployment was growing fast especially in the Eastern Republic of Slovakia where 282,700 people or i 1.1 percent of the slovak work Force were seeking unemployment benefits. The number of jobless in i he czech Republic reached 217,500, or 4.1 percent of its work Force it  to head Britain s Mi-5 spy catchers by William Tuohy the los Angeles times London a Stella Rimington a career civil servant has been appointed the first woman to head Britain a Mi-5 counterintelligence service a top secret Agency that has been the subject of Many thrillers movies and television dramas the government announced monday. Rimington who has been with the Agency for 22 years will assume in february the Post of director general of the Security service also known As Mi-5, when its current director general. Sir Patrick Walker retires. The British government in the past has refused to acknowledge the existence of Mi-5, let alone disclose the name of its director general. The Mere publication of the director general a name was considered a violation of Britain a Tough official secrets act. But new legislation making the Security service dubbed Britain s a spy catchers a More accountable has brought the process into the open. Still the Home office on monday did not provide a picture of Rimington nor was it forthcoming on full details of her career. Mi-5 serves As Britain s counterintelligence service with functions similar to those of branches of the c a and Fri in the United states. Ml-6, also known As the secret intelligence service operates Britain s worldwide espionage operations. Rimington s sketchy biography indicated that in 1963 she had married another civil servant John Rimington 56, director general of the health and safety executive. She is now separated from him. They have two daughters. Rimington was said to have been selected for the $ l40 a Vear Post because of her performance in the past year As a Deputy director and because prime minister John major wants More women in senior government positions. A spokesman for the Home office said that in her two decades in the spying business Rimington had a gained wide experience in service  in a prepared statement Rimington said "1 he Security service has pc Lor Mcd a vital task in the National interest since the Early part of this eel urn. Despite the changes that have taken place in the world in recent years. The service continues to have a Dill cull and essential Job to do. I am very pleased to have been Given the responsibilities of leading the service and facing up to the challenges that the coming years will bring Quot