Minutes for MPJC Meeting of August 3, 2015

Present: Peter, Ellyn, Glenda Rae, Rey, Wanda, Galen, Lois

Old business

    1.  Approval of Minutes for July 6: The minutes were approved as corrected.

    2. Progress Reports Rey agreed to

        a. Topic of the Month: Climate Change - Rey had agreed to put out a draft, but requested clarification about whether the topic was to concern climate change or fracking or both. We agreed that we had already done a piece on the fracking issue, so this topic will be on climate change. Rey agreed to compose a draft and send it to the list serve.

        b. Hiroshima/Nagasaki Day Presence: We will gather for the First Friday celebration at 11:30 on August 7 in front of Morris Civic. This date is between Hiroshima and Nagasaki days and there should be a good crowd near the fountain. This year is the 70th anniversary. Peter prepared a leaflet but it was too dense. No one would read it. He agreed to look at the UCS, NPP, PSR websites and develop a leaflet that answered the following questions. Do you know how many nukes the U.S. has? Russia has? Did you know that the U.S. is the only country that has used nuclear weapons? Do you know how much money the U.S. spends rehabilitating old nukes? Lois has the sandwich boards as well as the shadow figures we used in past years and will bring them She also found a banner and an umbrella with peace cranes hanging from it. She will sit with the umbrella and hand out leaflets. Wanda and Galen will not be able to make the Friday event. Peter will contact Joe Carbone and also some of the Catholic Worker folks to see if they can help. Ellyn will contact Kevin Hogart. Lois will make sure Kathy Liggett knows about the event.

        c. Tar Sands Oil Train Vigil: This vigil was fairly well attended. One person from the Socialist Worker Party from Chicago saw our posting on the Credo site and drove down. Peter made 8 signs re the trains and wrote a press release which Ellyn distributed. WSBT was the only media who covered the vigil and they did a 45 second spot on the 11:00 news. Kathy brought her model train and trifold sign that she used at earth day and acted as spokesperson. Ellyn sent a picture to the organizers after the event per their request. At the meeting, Ellyn brought up the WSBT coverage and we watched it. It was well done.

        d. Citizens Climate Lobby:

    2. Treasurer's Report: $33.72 with a $9.11 in petty cash. Lois and Peter/Ellyn donated during the meeting

New Business

    1. What do we (can we) do next? We incorporated this topic into other discussion

    2. Topic of the Month: Rey agreed to write a draft statement for discussion at the next meeting. We discussed the fact that the President Obama has announced a phase-in of EPA restrictions on power plant emissions. This is almost certain to be a topic at the Republican debates, one of which is today at St Anselm College in Manchester, NH, with 14 candidates. Coverage is on CSpan. Another, sponsored by Fox News, will feature the top 10 candidates on August 6 at 9pm. A third, sponsored by CNN, will be held on September 16.

    3. Other Topics and Issues: The September 12 Community Forum on the School to Prison Pipeline will be held at IUSB, time to be determined. It will be an all-day event with lunch provided for a fee. The keynote speaker is an IU Bloomington professor, Russell Skiba.

August 26th is Women's Equality Day. There will be a program at the IUSB Civil Rights  Heritage Center (former natatorium) 5:30-7:30. Glenda Rae and Lois will be recognized.

CPNV is still collecting stories of nonviolence. Send your story to [email protected].

September 21st is International Day for Prayer For Peace. No one had heard of any plans to celebrate on that day. Paul Mishler had asked about gathering a committee to plan for this, but he has had health issues. Lois will try to contact someone from the URC to see if they are planning anything.

    4. Next meeting: Monday, September 14th, at 2:30pm at Peter and Ellyn's.