Veterans for Peace
Chapter 98
Taos, New
Mexico
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Projects |
| Veterans for Peace, Chapter 98 Taos, New Mexico  | ||
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Taos Churches Toll Bells for American
Dead | ||
 US Marines pray over a fallen comrade after he died from wounds in Fallujah, April 8, 2004. (AP/Murad Sezer) In memory of all those who have suffered and died as a result of
war, Taos Veterans for Peace held a Vigil at the War Memorial in the
historic Taos, New Mexico, Plaza the evening of Memorial Day, 2004.
Register to Vote by October 5!
Electronic Voting vs Paper Ballots In Taos County we have the option of voting by paper ballot rather than electronic machine IF we participate in early voting. Early voting is different from an absentee ballot. Between Oct. 5 and Oct. 30 Taos County voters can go to the Bureau of Elections (105 Albright St., across from Supersave) and vote early for the Nov. 2 election. More importantly, you have a choice of voting either by machine OR BY PAPER BALLOT during early voting. When you appear at the Bureau of Elections, request a paper ballot. A staff member at the Bureau told us that these paper ballots will be tallied by machine, but, if kicked out, they will be kept and tallied manually. Yes, there is still potential for abuse in this system, but fraud is much harder to conceal when there's a paper trail. Please pass this info on. If you want to clarify it for yourself, the staff at the Bureau seem very helpful and willing to answer questions. You can call our local Bureau of Elections at 737-6400. VOTING INFORMATION IN TAOS COUNTY Registration for the Nov.2 presidential election ends on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5. OCTOBER 5 is also the date that early voting begins at the bureau of elections on Albright St. (across from Supersave). PLEASE NOTE— in Taos county we have the option of voting with a paper ballot. That's right, if we choose to not use the electronic voting machine we can use that tried and true method! We are urging everyone to vote early and to vote with a paper ballot to send an unequivocal message to our clerk that the people of Taos county, at least, do not trust voting machines that do not print out a verifiable paper ballot. OCTOBER 5 is also the date that absentee ballots start getting mailed out. OCTOBER 30 Early voting ends. Veterans Honor Veterans
Taos Plaza, March 20, 2004 A Joint Project with Community Supporting Veterans  RIDING WITH CINDY | On Aug. 8, 05, Eddie Richardson and myself, of Veterans For Peace (VFP) Taos, rode with Cindy Sheehan to Crawford TX. to speak with bush. It all began when we booked a seat on the VFP Impeachment tour bus from California, heading to the VFP convention in Dallas TX. We met the bus in Albq. , spent the night, had a great reception at the Peace and Justice Ctr. There was great food, and entertainment including the raging grannies. In the morning we had breakfast at senator and Sally Thompson’s house. They are both avid VFP members and the senator spent several years in the N.M. senate. We left for Dallas that day and drove all day and night. We stopped at several rest stops, restaurants, and truck stops. We were very well received at each stop and handed out lots of information and met some potential new members. Texas hospitality is alive and well, much to our surprise. We spent the next 3 days at the convention. We met some new blood in the form of some courageous and articulate Iraq Veterans Against the War. We were also fortified and renewed by the many vets and friends who spoke out against the war. On the last day, Cindy Sheehan gave a talk re: her wanting to see W and why. It seemed at one point in her speech she became very resolute, and said " I am going to Crawford TX. to speak with W and I am not going to leave until he answers some questions". This seemed to be spontaneous. Then she said, " Who is going with me". Much cheering and negotiations, and Cindy got on the bus with many VFP members and supports. All and all, there were about 20 cars and the bus traveling from Dallas to Crawford. So many VFP' went that the organization was fearful they wouldn’t have a quorum for their business meeting. We arrived in Crawford at the Crawford Peace and Justice Center . We found that the word had gotten out and there were several other organizations there to meet us. Code pink, Gold Star Mothers, and many more. I eavesdropped on a conference with the local peace folks and Cindy. They were asking for her plan and giving her the possible consequences of each action. Cindy was resolute and undeterred when she was told she may be thrown into the county jail and probably placed with some very undesirable people to discourage her from further actions. She most probably would spend the next 5 days in the jail, along with several other protesters. Cindy was unmoved, and said, "the time is now, which way to the ranch". Quickly, the police arrived and we were told we must wait until we had the proper police escort. ("Concerned for our welfare"). There was some frustration and exchanges while we waited, but mostly everyone was civil. The police arrived with several vehicles and we were given Inst. regarding how we could proceed. Single file with police vehicles in front and in back. We weren't sure if we were going to the ranch or other more sinister places. After about ten minutes, we arrived at a triangular median in the road and we were told we could go no farther and must park the bus and the cars. There was a huge phalanx of police and unmarked agents with guns, and a huge group of news reporters from the White House Press and etc. Undaunted, we parked, disembarked and began to form a parade with banners behind Cindy and the Gold Star Mothers. We were informed that we could not walk on the road (for our safety), and that we must walk in the ditch. Many Veterans etc. voiced their disdain of being made to walk in a ditch, but complied. Oddly the press walked in the road and swung their cameras down at us and held they microphone booms over our heads. After a half-mile of marching and staggering in the ditch, singing songs, and shouting slogans in the 100-degree heat; we were told we could go no farther. Cindy was quite angry at this point and asked the police why. We were told that the reporters were walking in the road and broke the rules so we could go no farther. Several moments passed, what to do, what to do. Large #s of police and cars and plain-clothes people primed to do whatever was necessary to keep us from preceding any farther. Cindy simply spoke," So this is where we will begin". This is were we will stay, until george bush comes to talk with us and answers some questions. And there we stayed. Now two weeks later. Three encampments. Steve Earl, and Joan Baez. Growing from hundreds to thousands. The spark that light the flame of Peace. It has rekindled the hope that one voice crying out in the wilderness indeed can be heard. Viva Cindy, Viva the revolution, Viva Martin, Viva Rosa, Viva Jesus of Nazareth, Viva Mohammed. Wage Peace, Joe Balsamo and Eddie Richardson (V4P Taos)     | |
Nancy Tunnell, right, a member of
Veterans for Peace (VFP) smooths the sand at a memorial dedicated to
American soldiers killed in Iraq Sunday, April 4, 2004, in Santa
Barbara, Calif. VFP groups in Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Calif.,
and Oceanside, Calif., erect white wooden crosses on the beach for
every American serviceman killed in Iraq. (AP Photo/Ric
Francis)
Memorial Marks U.S. Toll From Iraq
War
Sat Apr 10,12:41 PM ET
By VERONICA TORREJON,
Associated Press Writer
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Lane
Anderson sees the ghosts of fallen troops he knew in Vietnam when he
looks out at the sea of white crosses that cover the sandy shore
near Stearns Wharf. The memorial, dubbed "Arlington West," is made
up of one small cross for each U.S. military death in Iraq, placed
on the beach at sunrise and taken down at sunset every Sunday. This
Sunday, more crosses will be added to the mock cemetery for deaths
in this past week's fierce fighting at Fallujah and Ramadi.
Anderson made sense of his comrades' deaths more than 30
years ago by telling himself the country had learned a lesson in
Vietnam.
But last Sunday, he said he couldn't help drawing
parallels between that conflict and the fighting in Iraq as he and
more than a dozen volunteers arranged the crosses, each bearing the
name, rank, age and hometown of a fallen U.S. serviceman or woman.
"I see a tragedy," Anderson said. "I see Vietnam in its
first year. Even then, people kept saying once we started the war we
had to finish."
Anderson and other volunteers from the Santa
Barbara chapter of Veterans for Peace started erecting the crosses
last November and intend to continue until all the troops come home
from Iraq.
Stephen Sherrill conceived the idea and took it
to the veterans group.
"Before, the casualties were just a
number in the paper," Sherrill said. "But I thought, when Americans
see the price we are paying, they will understand."
Sherrill, a semiretired building contractor and longtime
anti-war activist, makes every cross. When he started, there were
close to 400. By last Sunday, he had made 605.
The Santa
Barbara beach crosses inspired similar tributes in Santa Monica,
Oceanside and Ann Arbor, Mich., with plans for a display in Maine,
said David Cline, national president of St. Louis-based Veterans for
Peace.
"Taps" played in the background as a steady stream of
tourists and locals paraded past the Santa Barbara display. Most
stopped just long enough to scan a makeshift wall of cardboard and
wooden slats that features the names and pictures of every person
killed.
"Each of those are people, and they had so much to
do in this world," Vietnam veteran Sharon Lee Kufeldt said as she
surveyed the crosses. "I am one of them. I wore my uniform proudly.
Tears still run down my cheeks when I hear the songs."
Nicole Soliman, 57, stopped at the edge of the memorial and
wept silently. The Santa Barbara resident finds herself drawn back
to the growing display every week.
"It's my little way of
paying tribute," she said.
Passer-by Ray Sargent approved of
the memorial but disagreed with the anti-war message. The
77-year-old Korean War veteran believes President Bush had reason to
send the military into Iraq.
"I think you people are
beautiful for doing this," he told a volunteer. "But we'll never
know until history tells us whether Bush was wrong or right."
Chris Haskell, 45, respected the effort to honor the fallen
fighters but disagreed with using their deaths to make a political
statement.
"How many lives were saved by our invasion of
Iraq?" he asked. "How many people who were imprisoned under Saddam
were saved?"
Stacy Menusa, 31, came from Santa Maria with
her 4-year-old son Joshua and other family members to see the cross
of her husband, Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa—one of the first Marines
killed in Iraq. The native of the Philippines was granted U.S.
citizenship after he was killed in an ambush.
She didn't see
politics or a war protest when she looked at the rows of white
crosses.
"I see heroes," she
said.
Bring our troops home
Now.
