We decided to continue the weekly Monday vigils at least until the Sept. 30th meeting. We discussed vigiling on Saturdays on the Grape Road turnpike overpass, but no one at the meeting could come on the 21st. It was decided to see if Ellyn would be here and could coordinate. Lois was to do press work and link the vigil with the International Day of Peace which is also Sept. 21. (Note: When Ellyn was contacted, she also will be out of town on Saturday.)

Caroline brought some rough drafts of antiwar leaflet layouts which we all approved. She and Lee will meet next week and get them into better shape. She asked if several coalition members could each help research links and resources for one leaflet. Once the leaflets are ready we will plan zap leafletting at malls and megastores.

We discussed the rocks project that Ed had proposed (folks bring a rock to a symbolic site -- like the Nevada Test Site -- and add to a pile to build a cairn for peace). Several of us had brought rocks to the IUSB 9/11 service but there was nowhere to put them. We decided to think about a symbolic site where there were already plenty of rocks laying around before organizing a monument.

Peter was unable to find his nonviolence training materials so there will be no training in September. He will be gone until November 5th, but Lee and Glenda Rae will do emergency training if war starts before then.

Lee will draw up plans for our response to the start of a fullscale war against Iraq (or anyone). He will send them out on the email list for critique. Essentially, the plan is to meet at Peter & Ellyn's or Caroline's the evening of/after the war breaks out and organize a large demonstration for the next day.

Since the FOR Pledge of Resistance is much like MoveOn's pledge that many of us have signed, we decided not to push the Pledge of Resistance. Our web page has a link to that pledge for anyone who is interested. See links at the bottom of the page. We also found some new web sites with good information regarding the Iraq issue. These are listed under links as well (see truthout.org and stopthewaragainstiraq.org).

Lois encouraged us to take time on the 21st and meditate about world peace. She also told us about a public lecture by the head of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Robert Muessel, at Goshen College at 7pm, Wednesday, Sept. 18, in Room 28 in the Administration building. His wife will also talk at 7pm in the Brick House.

The next meeting will be on September 30th at Lois' house. See home page for directions. There will be no meeting after the vigil on the 23rd.

Some of us stayed after the meeting to view a 16-minute video produced by the Church of the Brethern from footage and voiceover by folks on a recent delegation to Iraq. We liked the video and thought it suitable for churches of any denomination. It really emphasizes the humanity of the Iraqi people. This might be a good future project for the group.

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