[Pacg] Update on Des Moines Oct 27th Peace Rally - YouTube video & other news

[Carolina 1961]

The Peace Demonstration in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday was poignant and
powerful.  Between three and four hundred attended.  It's hard to pick any
moment as the one most moving, since there were so many of them.  The long
procession of fifty flag-draped coffins through downtown Des Moines to the
State Capitol Building made its somber point well and clearly touched many
of the passersby.

A story in the Des Moines Register covering the story can be found at the
link below:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710280330

Rodger Routh did a great video excerpt of the event.  It's on YouTube at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oHajsksD5m4

Friend and former Catholic Worker Mauro Heck also took hundreds of photos
that will be putting into an online slide show soon.

Mona Shaw
Des Moines Catholic Worker



>From Frank Cordaro:

Grassley Agrees to Meet with Peace Advocates


Senator Grassley has finally agreed to meet with a group of peace makers.  Iowa
members of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and
their allies went to Grassley's Des Moines office on October 25 with the
purpose of remaining there until the Senator spoke with them about his past
and future votes on funding the war in Iraq.

Some members of the group were prepared to risk arrest unless the Senator
agreed to the meeting. The group requested that Grassley agree to such a
meeting within a month.  While several similar attempts previously have been
ignored or denied, mid-afternoon, Grassley's State Director Bob Renaud
informed the group that Grassley would meet them in a phone conference on
October 30.  The meeting will take place in Grassley's Des Moines office.

Those present were all residents of the Des Moines metro area and ranged in
ages from their mid-forties to late eighties.  They were: Sherry Hutchison,
Rita Hohenshell, Diane Krell, Jane Magers, Mary Hanson Harrison, Eloise
Cranke, Chet Guinn, Lynne Howard, Sherry Taha, Kathleen McQuillen, Maggie
Rawland, and Judy Lonning.

Mike Gillespie and Sally Frank were also present.  Gillespie, a freelance
investigative journalist, was covering the occupation. Frank, who has been
legal defense for occupation defendants in the past and is a member of the
National Lawyers Guild, did not have an official role but was there to
support the group.

More information about WILPF can be found at the link below:

www.wilpf.org
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