Skowhegan permit at issue for peace walk

By Doug Harlow
Staff Writer
SKOWHEGAN -- One of the organizers of the Sunday vigils for peace in Skowhegan and a supporter of a planned peace march next month left Skowhegan selectmen with more questions than answers Tuesday night.
University students and Buddhist monks, along with local activists and members of Veterans for Peace, are scheduled to march across the state in November to draw attention to the affects of war and war spending on the economy, Mark Roman of Solon said Tuesday.
Veterans for Peace, in conjunction with Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice, are set to walk through central Maine beginning Nov. 2 -- Election Day. The Maine Walk for Peace, Human Needs and Veterans Care is slated to start in Farmington, Roman said.
The questions raised Tuesday were if the vigils and the march will need permits in Skowhegan.
Selectmen Tuesday night were about to approve an application for Bridges for Peace to hold silent vigils on the Margaret Chase Smith Bridges each Sunday, when Roman stood to withdraw the group's application.
Roman said he objected to needing a permit for the Sunday vigils on the bridge, which he said have been happening every Sunday for the past eight years. He said it was a matter of free speech, not municipal ordinance.
He said his Sunday group does not block the sidewalk, does not solicit donations or initiate response from passersby.
"To me it's an issue of Skowhegan supporting free speech," he said.
Selectmen accepted Roman's application withdrawal, but wondered aloud what to do about the peace march, which under town ordinance might be considered a "parade or procession," but was not included in Roman's original application. Chairwoman Joy Mase added that she did not know what will happen this Sunday when the Bridges for Peace group assembles for its silent vigil at noon.
Town Manager John Doucette Jr. said town officials will discuss both matters this week.
"The peace walk is to put a spotlight on what the war economy is doing to our country and is a walk for human needs and veterans' care," Roman said of the peace march earlier in the day Tuesday.
He said there is a core group of 15-20 people who will march, along with a contingent of Buddhist monks, led by Rev. Gyoway Kato, and nuns from the Nipponzan Myohoji order, with headquarters in western Massachusetts.
"The peace walk will average 16 miles of actual walking each day," he said. "Because of the great distances between stops, occasional shuttling will be necessary. Some people will walk the entire distance and others will join the walk for an hour, or a day, or several days."
The nation currently is spending billions on the Afghanistan war, Roman said, reducing funds for education, health care, infrastructure and social spending. Citing published reports, Roman said there is suicide in the military, as well as soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and sexual trauma.
Roman said the peace walk also will concentrate on the environmental costs of war with oil fires, unexploded weapons, polluted rivers, contaminated soil, and damaged landscapes.
He said anyone who cares to join the march and the public gathers each day of the walk is encouraged to do so.
Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice and its sister organization Code Pink have held vigils on bridges in Skowhegan, Waterville and other Maine locations since 2002.
Doucette said the group never applied for an assembly permit, but when he saw an announcement on the Veterans For Peace walk, he contacted Roman.
"I saw that and I said I want to make sure they're covered so they don't have a problem when they get to town," Doucette said. "We do have a parades and processions ordinance."
The walk each day:
* Farmington program on Nov. 2 to kick-off the peace walk
* Farmington to Skowhegan on Nov. 3
* Skowhegan to Waterville on Nov. 4
* Waterville to Bangor on Nov. 5
* Bangor to Belfast on Nov. 6
* Belfast to Rockland on Nov. 7
* Rockland to Bath on Nov. 8
* Bath to Freeport on Nov. 9
* Freeport to Portland on Nov. 10
* Veterans for Peace will participate in the Veterans Day parade on Nov. 11 in Portland.
Community potluck dinners are scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Skowhegan Community Center and at 6 p.m. the following day in Waterville at the United Methodist Church on Pleasant Street.
Doug Harlow -- 474-9534
dharlow@centralmaine.com

Too much of Maine's money going to war

No matter who voters send to Blaine House, our next governor will be faced with a $800 million budget shortfall.
Last year, I listened to testimony in a joint session of the Appropriations and the Education & Cultural Affairs committees of our Legislature. Each agency head came forward to testify about cutting important programs in order to deal with last year's budget crisis. It struck me that every agency contributed in some way to the education of Maine's children: the state library, the Maine State Museum, the arts commission.
In the coming year, we will hear about more cuts on top of those imposed last year.
Where is all Maine's money going? In fiscal year 2009, 51 percent of income taxes paid by our state's citizens went to military spending by the federal government. This year it is 54 percent.
And if the proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 passes (Congress tabled it until after elections), military spending will climb to 57 percent of the total discretionary budget.
This is an alarming trend, leaving our communities and our states in dire circumstances.
We cannot afford to go on spending more than half of federal income tax revenue on destruction, while schools, libraries and other education resources are reduced. The path we are on is unsustainable.
No matter who is elected, join me in calling on Congress to bring our war dollars home (www.bringourwardol larshome.org) where they are needed. State legislators and governors have a role to play in making this demand.
Lisa Savage
Solon

The stage is set!

Well, I just finished three days of installing my art at Space Gallery where we will be holding the Draw-A-Thon...it was great fun! I reserved a section of my wall drawing for our event...looking forward to meeting all who attend and am very excited to see some great drawings posted into my exhibit!

Went to the Mall

Hello Maine organizers,
Your ears must have been burning last weekend as Codepink launched their national version of the BOW$H campaign, holding up Maine as a shining example to follow and learn from.

Below is a compilation of resources sent by Janet Weil, my co-organizer in Pink. She is based in the SF Bay area but works nationally. I am at this moment working on uploading a video of Ann Wright's talk about the federal budget from a well-attended training workshop for BOW$H action that Janet, Mark & I conducted last Sunday.

For a report on the Oct 2 One Nation march, see my blog post "Went 2 the mall"here. More to come soon.
peace,
Lisa

BOW$H photos from One Nation


This book is a must-read, or at least a must-look-through, for BOW$H work:
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict
by Nobel Economics prizewinner Joseph Stieglitz and Linda Bilmes
(Ann talked about their testimony at the event last Thursday on Capitol Hill).

What to do back in your home communities?
Check out this report back from Lisa in Maine:
report
and from Janet in San Francisco:
report

Mainers in Washington!

FYI, Maine's BOW$H banners will be in Wash DC Sat Oct 2 as several of us join the Peace Table contingent of the One Nation march for jobs.

On Sunday Mark will attend a BOW$H training workshop that Janet Weil of Codepink has organized to help activists learn how to bring resolutions at the local level. Our website is a prominent link on the Pink campaign page, and the slideshow on closed schools and businesses in Maine is embedded there as well.

I will attend a meeting of reps from groups around the nation working on campaigns similar to our i.e. defund military, fund human needs. In addition to the expected p&j orgs this meeting includes reps from labor, communities of color, and economic justice groups. Mike Prokosch of the Mass. 25% campaign invited me represent BOW$H at this meeting. Some of you may remember he and Susan Lees came up to one of our organizing meetings in Bath earlier this year. Our campaign is mentioned in a great article by Mike in War Times which gives an overview of national efforts. You can read it here.
Peace,
Lisa Savage

Press image

Bring Our War Dollars Home...News

The Alliance for Peace and Justice is making headway in our "Bring Our War $$ Home" campaign. The city council of Northampton, MA just passed the resolution calling for no more funding for the war, bringing our troops home and using some of the war money to create jobs, support education and to also help support all the veterans of the wars in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. We are pushing into more towns and cities here and hope to have more city/town endorsements soon.

One of the actions that is being born out our movement - we soon will have a picnic event in which military families, our alliance and the public will be invited. Our goal is to create an open dialogue with all groups.

Sherri Long

Image: sketch for wall drawing, Kenny Cole

The date is set!

Our committee met last week to brainstorm about our next Draw-A-Thon, which will be held in conjunction with my exhibit at Space Gallery in Portland, Maine. What a great group of motivated people! Since that meeting we have been fine tuning details and debating the best day to have our event via email. We are excited to have picked Veteran's Day and hope to reach out to the public by offering to draw portraits of veterans and the public at large. We want to hear what everyone would like to say with regard to how we can better spend our war dollars and will include their thoughts on their portraits. Meanwhile I am waist deep in preparing hundreds of pieces of art to exhibit for my show, which will be hanging as a backdrop to our event.