Old business
1. Approval of Minutes for July 8 and August 12:
There were no corrections to the July 8 minutes other than the date. During
our discussion, Ellyn informed us that shortly after the July 8 meeting, Steve
told her that he would no longer be pursuing the letter to Donnelly with MPJC.
However, his name still appeared on the agenda for the August meeting. We
decided to delete the clause "Since Steve and Caroline were not present"
from Progress Reports section d of the August 12 minutes, and to completely
eliminate 1a under new business - which asked for a report on the Donnelly
letter. With these corrections, both sets of minutes were approved.
2. Progress Reports
a. Environmental Issues Topic of the
Month: Rey had collected the emails on this topic from the list serv. He volunteered
to gather the ideas together and post a proposed policy statement on the list
serv for comment on the list serv and approval at the next meeting. We discussed
ideas about cheaper solar energy and removal of trays from dining services,
thus saving water and wasting less food. The policy statement will probably
read that MPJC supports all efforts to protect the environment, for example:
...
Lois mentioned that she bought a car that can run on E-85, but had a hard time finding gas stations that sold it. When she asked her car dealer about using it, he told her to drive 7 miles after getting gas to mix it well with regular, and that it did not give as good gas mileage as petroleum-based fuels.
3. Treasurer's Report: Glenda Rae reported $274.86 in checking and 9.85 in petty cash. Peter announced that the Peace Ed Fund had received a letter from the IRS that their exempt status was inactive, even though we filed all the proper forms over the years and the IRS is still accepting forms for the Peace Ed Fund. Peter filed a request for reactivation form with supporting materials. He was asked to put a notice on the website where people can contribute to the Peace Ed Fund that their contributions may no longer be tax deductible.
New Business
1. What do we (can we) do next?: September 27 is a national day of action to stop a war on Iran. Since it is a Saturday, we decided to devote our Saturday vigil from 1 to 2 pm at Grape and Cleveland to this issue. Peter will register us on the website http://www.stopwaroniran.org/sept272008volorgcent.shtml. We will see if CPNV can support this vigil - also the College dems (students from most of the area colleges) and the Progressive Student Alliance. Lois will contact CPNV and Ellyn will talk to the student groups.
October 10-20 is the 3rd annual week of nonviolence throughout Iraq to oppose corruption and violence. Groups in all 18 governates are participating. We decided to stand in solidarity with these brave Iraqis. Ellyn will synthesize the important points on this issue from www.christianpeacewitness.org and www.peacefultomorrows.org and encourage other people to visit these sites.
October 4-8 is Keep Space for Peace week.
2. Jobs with Justice Dinner/Ad: The dinner on Tuesday, September 30 is $30 for one or $25 each for two or more. We decided not to get a table for the dinner. Ads are $300 for full page, $200 for half page, and $100 for quarter page. This is all too expensive for us, so we decided to donate $50 to Jobs with Justice which would include MPJC dues for the coming year. A social Hour will begin at 6:00 pm with dinner to follow at 6:30 pm. The banquet will be held at the South Bend Firefighters Association located at 4025 Lincoln Way West, South Bend, IN.
3. Anti Death Penalty support: We decided not to take an active role. We will support events that others organize, especially Jay from Little Flower.
4. Topic of the Month: We decided to revisit our policy on voting. Peter will post it on the listserv and ask for comments particularly in light of the efforts to clear people off the voting rolls and not counting provisionsal or write-in ballots.
5. Other Topics and Issues:
a. Tuesday, September 16. The "Vote Smart" bus will be at Saint Mary's College 10-3 outside the Haggar Student Center. This is part of a national tour to teach voters how to defend themselves against the rhetoric and misinformation that come out of political campaigns today. See www.vote-smart.org
b. "Meet the Candidates Night" - Thursday, Sept. 18 beginning at 6:30, at the Elks Club, 3535 E. McKinley Avenue. Ellyn will look through the list of questions we had developed for candidates and posted on the web site at http://www.michianapeacejustice.org/questions.html. She will post some of the more pertinent ones for this election on the list serv. Rey noted that you should attend the candidate night to legitamately submit a question.
c. Friday, September 19. The unions have arranged to bring the "Bush's Legacy" bus to South Bend. The bus will be parked downtown, hopefully in front of Morris Civic, from 11am to 7pm. See the website for the latest information. Folks can go through it to see the results of 8 years with Bush.
d. Saturday, September 20. Folks are asked to sign up through the www.milliondoorsforpeace.org website to pledge to knock on 40 doors to advocate peace and an end to the war and occupation of Iraq. You will get the names and addresses of 40 voters in your zip code along with material to hand out when you sign up. The project is called "A Million Doors for Peace."
e. Sunday, September 21 - International Day of Peace. There will be an interfaith prayer service at 8am at St. Peter's United Church of Christ at 915 N Ironwood, South Bend. The interfaith service will have prayers by Jewish, Christian, Bahai and Muslim leaders. A joint Proclamation by the Mayors of South Bend and Mishawaka proclaiming Sept. 21 as "an International Day of Peace throughout the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka and urges all government departments and agencies, organizations, schools, places of worship and individuals in our cities to commemorate, in an appropriate manner, the International Day of Peace. This may include community service projects, cultural exhibits and performances, a moment of silence, ringing of bells, sharing the universal wish "May Peace Prevail On Earth," vigils, religious services in our places of worship, and other education and public awareness activities in order to establish a global day of peace in our homes, our communities and between nations." See http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
f. Friday, October 10. The League of Women Voters will host a lunch discussion open to the public concerning national security. This will be held at the South Bend Chocolate Café (Rockne Room). Program begins at 12:00 noon, but attendees are encouraged to come as early as 11:30 to order lunch. Note that lunch is on a pay as you go basis. See http://www.lwvsouthbend.org/index.html.
g. Thursday, October 30 - St Marcellus Day. Folks will gather at 1:50pm at the Civil War Monument, Battell Park, 301 Mishawaka Ave in Mishawaka. We will walk and pray for peace along the river from Mishawaka to South Bend. At 4pm we will gather at Seitz park between the East Race and the dam off Niles Ave (rain site Zion United Church of Christ, 715 E. Wayne) for a dramatic reenactment of the St. Marcellus Story along with testimonies of several conscientious objectors. There will be a soup supper at 5:30pm at First Unitarian Church at Michigan and North Shore. The day will end with a prayer service at 7pm in the Basilica, Notre Dame campus, featuring a keynote address by Fr. Richard Rohr on "A New Consciousness for Peacemaking." See www.cpnv.net or call 574-291-0924 for more information.
5. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:40pm.
6. Next meeting: Wednesday, October 8, at 1036 N. Niles Ave. We hope by switching to Wednesday we will avoid election meeting conflicts so more people can attend.