Minutes for 09/09/03

Present: Lee, Lisa, Ron, Pam, Caroline, Ros, Ellyn, Peter, Lois. Paul arrived from another meeting towards the close of this one.

The meeting started 7:10 and officially ended at 8:30pm.

Items discussed included the following:

  1. Lois had arranged for an open mike segment at the Fiddler's Hearth. For Sept. l0, the day before the anniversary of Sept 11, 2001. She linked this with the "circle of hope" national events sponsored by "Families for Peaceful tomorrows" (www.familiesforpeacefultomorrows.org). Members were urged to support this event. Lois also reported that the Fiddler's Hearth will soon begin Tuesday evening "town/pub hall type meetings" there to discuss important issue of the day in the tradition of the old Irish/British pubs. The St. Mary's prayer/reflection vigils on the anniversary were noted.

  2. Lois reported that groups like ours can have booths at the Martin Luther King celebration, Jan l9, 2004 for the fee of $35, due by early Oct. The hat was passed and money for this and a subsequent item was collected.

  3. The group discussed the ANSWER sponsored march on Washington Oct. 25. It was felt that the focus as noted on the ANSWER web site (Link to it from www.unitedforpeace.org) seemed vague. The local YWCA will be sponsoring its annual "Week Without Violence" from Oct l9-25 and Ellyn will get info about that week to see if there are events we should support within it. (Note: the calendar is available with daily events that week.) Later, Paul noted that the IUSB Peace and Justice Group planned to sponsor a local event in conjunction with the national event on October 25th.

  4. The tentative forum with members of the "support the troops" demonstrators has stalled due to lack of response from them after several e-mail and telephone messages to the contact person that we had. The group decided not to pursue this further at this time unless fresh contacts arise. Instead, we would get involved with the public town hall meetings sponsored by Fiddler's Hearth on Tuesday evenings.

  5. Lee discussed the Jobs with Justice group and upcoming annual dinner. He requested and received approval to place an ad in the dinner program. Caroline agreed to ask Kay for assistance with ad layout. The cost was $25 and collected in the pass-the-hat activity mentioned in item 2. As a result, the money for the MLK booth will have to be raised at the next meeting.

  6. Lee has been our unofficial rep/laison to the Jobs with Justice (JWJ) local group. At his request, the group authorized him to continue that in an authorized way.

  7. Lee informed the group that there will be a Teach-In and rally opposing the Free Trade agreement on the campus of the University of Notre Dame on Oct. 20. The rally will begin near the Athletic Convention Center (ACC) and conclude with a walk to a campus hall. (We will put info on the http://community.michiana.org/justice website.)

  8. Some of the members who vigil on Monday evenings have been uncomfortable with perceived threats to post pictures of us on websites by those who oppose us. Lee will check for the pictures and let us know.

  9. Andre reported in a telephone conversation with Ellyn earlier that there was car room if anyone wished to attend the CPT conference in Cleveland, Ohio Sept. 25-8. He can be reached at Kern Rd. Menonite Church at 291-0924 days.

  10. Monday vigils at Main and Jefferson continue from 5-6 p.m. Numbers range from 12-20 persons.

  11. Peter reported that the National War Tax Resistence Coordinating Committee will have its National Conference Nov. 7-9 in Chicago this year. Sat will be the main day of workshops and panels. MPJC members are invited to attend. See www.nwtrcc.org.

  12. Caroline reported that she was collecting orders for yard signs being sold by Majorie and Doug. These are $5 and read "War is Not the Answer". Contact Caroline at 574 287-6263 if you want to order some.

  13. Pam and Ron are willing to have our MPJC material at their booth in the Farmers' market.

  14. The group discussed the "No Child Left Behind" provision that mandates that the telephone numbers and addresses of upper level high school students be forwarded to the Armed Services Recruiting Divisions. Rosalind was meeting with a student group the following day and will bring up the topic there. Ellyn and Lois will e-mail her with more info. The group would like a subgroup to pick up the project of outlining strategies for families facing this, at times unwanted, intrusion in their teen's life.

  15. We reviewed the issue of conflict between members of the list serve. We agreed to not exclude people, but will ask people to take personal conflicts off the list serve. Also if they find a way to resolve their differences we will appreciate knowing that process. We suggest that people take into account the limitations of list serve communication and that they forego name-calling or agree to let such things roll off. ES