GfP Newsletter - April 2003

Dear GFP member and friend,

My TV tells me it is the 38th day since our dreadful invasion of Iraq. Still no weapons of mass destruction found. Still no trials for detainees at Guantanamo. Still so many things and yet -- a very chilly wind a'blowin". A few members of our St. Augustine "People for Peace and Justice" want us to initiate an IMPEACH BUSH campaign. A majority of us are opposed. Since we operate by consensus, we are at a crossroads, or a standstill, whichever. Personally I don't think it is such a bad idea. I just think the timing is wrong. Maybe, if and when we invade Syria..... What do you think? How are you feeling about our regimes?

Have you been active in your community? Would you like to send me a short paragraph, so I can send out your news to fellow Grandparents for Peace members in the next letter?

Our group began regular weekly protesting on Friday afternoon, October 25th at the Bridge of Lions. And we had three very successful rallies in the downtown plaza. But we stopped the weekly demonstrations two weeks ago, largely because counter protestors poured out of the nearby American Legion building with loud voices and bigger signs, and made us very uncomfortable. It was impossible to dialogue with them.. Almost every conversation ended in shouting, Even our sitting-down circle vigils with white doves and candles were rudely interrupted. But we are not disbanding. We plan to stay in touch with each other with potlucks and meetings, and later on, we may organize an inter-faith gathering,

At our meeting last week, the PPJ voted $150.OO (obtained from sale of buttons and donations) toward scholarships for two high school graduates to attend the Peace Camp sponsored by the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, June 22-29th. The girls and I are very grateful for this. The theme which will run thru every workshop, (arts and crafts, drama, dance and even menus,) is "Building a Peaceful World Together". The Coalition has a new State Coordinator, Bob Tancig, and a new Camp Director, Geraldine Vauregard. I promise a full report
in August. Meantime, June 22-28 is for youth ages 15 to 20, and July l3-19 is for youngsters 10 to 15. Rates are a sliding scale from $175-$300. If you can recruit a camper, please do so. If you can make a contribution toward a scholarship for a camper, please do that. And if you can take a day or two to visit, and be a role model, please do that. It's a great experience.

This year's EARTH DAY, which Grandparents for Peace hosted together with S.A.V.E. (St. Augustine Volunteers for Earth) was celebrated April l9, under a blazing sun and magnificent blue sky, with a record number of exhibitors, vendors and non=profit organizations, at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. And for the first time, we held a combination Peace rally and Earth concert, with excellent speakers and musicians. We haven't had a formal meeting yet to evaluate the event but I think we will end up doing this again next year, if we can afford a tent big enough to shade both the audience and the stage. Many GFPers tabled on EARTH DAY, with T shirts, literature and petitions. Among these were tables for Amnesty International, League of Women Voters, Democratic Party, Green Party, CodePink, Homeless Coalition, Sierra Club, Audubon Club, and UU Fellowship. (Did I leave out anybody?) The Grandparents for Peace table also had coupons and items for sale (handled for eight long hours by Anne Jaffe) and netted more than $400.

Many GFPers will be going to Cape Canaveral this next weekend to be at the demonstration sponsored by Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. Shortly after that, Bruce Gagnon will be headed for Australia for the Annual Meeting of that organization. Thence to join Mary Beth, who has already moved to Brunswick, Maine. Thanks to email, we can keep in touch but they will be sorely missed here in Florida. Some of you may not know that Bruce was the founder and director of the Fl. Coalition for Peace & Justice from l982 until l999, when Carol Mosely came on board for the FCPJ, and Bruce initiated his space work. Mary Beth was very active, also, with Pax Christi, Florida.

In October we will co-host the Fl. Coalition's second Folk Music concert. You will be hearing more about that in the August letter.

I expected my mail box to be less full because almost everyone I know has email (I want YOURS, please) but appeals for financial support seem to have doubled in number and in intensity. They are so poignant, so hard to refuse. So please, if you have not already sent in your 2003 dues, please do so. All checks (for dues, camp registration, camp scholarships, or an undesignated contribution) will be most gratefully received.

Have a wonderful summer!

In peace,
Peg