[lavplist] Notes from March 12, 2007 meeting

Wed Mar 14 23:57:51 PDT 2007

Notes from Los Altos Voices for Peace meeting of March 12, 2007

Barbara Kyser was the facilitator.  Barbara and Kevin O'Reilly will
facilitate in April and May.

Introductions were made.  Our special guests included 3 Raging Grannies.

Barbara Kyser offered inspirational words.

Guest Speaker, Raging Granny Ruth Priest:  Ruth described how and why
she decided to commit a nonviolent civil disobedience act in order to
convince her Congressman, Mike Honda, to sign HR 508, "The Bring the
Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Act of 2007."  She handed out
information about our rights to demonstrate and protest.

She convinced herself to feel guilty that she could garden while the
women in Iraq live in a "Hell."  She asked, "What can I do?"  She had
read HR 508 and felt it was the right way to stop this war.  When she
learned that Mike Honda had not signed on as a co-sponsor, she decided
to protest.  She wrote to him and asked him to support the bill and if
he wouldn't, tell her why.  His response was that he was against the
war, not mentioning HR 508.  Not satisfied, Ruth joined the Occupation
Project, a project in which citizens occupy their elected officials'
offices, demanding certain actions.  Ruth demanded that Honda sign the
bill or explain why not.  About 20 people occupied Honda's office.
Before the 4th day of the "occupation," Ruth seriously considered
refusing to leave the office and thereby getting arrested.  Against the
advice of one attorney, but fully supported by the Grannies, Ruth called
the Campbell Police to ask if she would be cited and released if she
would not leave Honda's office.  The officer was interested in what she
was doing and said that if she didn't resist arrest or cause problems,
she would be cited and released.  On the 4th day, at Honda's office,
Ruth stayed after 5 PM and was cited and released.  An attorney was also
cited and released with her.  When Ruth was to be booked, (fingerprints
and mug shot), a few days before her 70th birthday, Ruth invited the
Grannies to come to her "booking party."  Chocolate chip cookies with HR
508 written in icing on top, were served.  Honda had scheduled a meeting
with Ruth, but she was ill.  She wrote him a long letter saying how
upset she was and that he needed to sign HR 508.  On Feb 26, he signed
it!  Ruth will be arraigned on April 10 and plans to plead "Not Guilty"
based on the Nuremburg Trial laws.  She could face 6 months in jail and
a $1000 fine, the charges could be dropped, or anything in between.  ALL
PRESENT APPLAUDED HER COURAGEOUS ACT.!

Ruth urged all present to demand support of HR508, from our
representatives.  Even if they support other similar bills, they can
support this one too.  The Grannies sang 3 songs, "She'd Been Sittin" in
Mike's Office," "For She's a Jolly good Photo-op," and "Peace Instead of
War."

LAVP Vigil on Monday, March 19, 5:30 - 6:30 PM:  Local clergy will be
invited to speak and inform their churches about the vigil.  The city
council members of both Los Altos and Los Altos Hills will all be
invited.  (LAH especially since Larissa Keet lived there.)  Speakers now
include Karen Meredith, possibly an American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC) speaker, and possibly an Iraqi American, president of the Arab
American Cultural Center, a friend of Sami's and Virginia Bates will
read her poem, "Pieta."  Names of the California soldiers lost will be
read.  Publicity will be through flyers and a Town Crier listing.  The
vigil has been listed on move.on, but you need to sign-up at:
www.political.moveon.org/event/iraq4/34255  Small flags will be
"planted" temporarily at the plaza to represent both the American and
Iraqi deaths.  

Treasurer's Report:  LAVP account balance is $405 of unrestricted funds.
The Larissa Keet scholarship fund has a balance of $1,149, which
includes a generous donation from Aubrey Keet.

Signs for stores:  Signs that state opposition of the Iraq war were
shown by Katrina, but it was decided to delay discussing them until next
meeting.

Dept of Peace:  Vince stated that the San Francisco City Council was
going to consider supporting establishment of a Dept of Peace at its
Tuesday, March 13 meeting.  [Note:  It passed!]  He also mentioned a
fundraiser on April 1, in the Bay Area, with Dot Maver, Executive
Director of the Peace Alliance (the non profit promoting a Dept of
Peace) as a speaker.   For information, see www.ThePeaceAlliance.org.
<http://www.thepeacealliance.org./>   Barbara Kyser attended the March
Challenge Team meeting.  LAVP will continue its presence there.  Next
meeting, April 5, 7AM, MV Police Dept.

A Peace Plan for the Iraq War:  Frustrated with the continuing war and
an apparent lack of action by the Congress to end it, one of the members
present suggested her Peace Plan.  She would declare a cease-fire.  All
Iraqi leaders would be invited to talk about what should be done.  She
would have respected bi-partisan peace leaders such as Presidents Carter
and Clinton and Jim Baker facilitate the discussions.  Her attempts to
engage Congresswoman Eshoo in any dialog have not been successful.  She
and others will keep trying.

Notes by Donna Poulos.

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