------------------

Ruth Dailey, one of our Associate Members, was "capped" as an RN from Rogue Community College on June 11, 2010 (picture on right), passed her State Boards on July 16 and is now working at the Clear Creek Family Practice in Selma, Oregon. Congratulations, Ruth!!!

------------------

BIG BIRD FLIES AGAIN! Ashland July 4, 2010, parade Left: The large above-the-fold photo on the front page of the July 5th Medford Mail Tribune, Section C, with the caption,"Hal Anthony, center, with Rogue Valley Veterans for Peace, helps carry a giant peace dove down Siskyou Boulevard during the Ashland parade." And lucky us... we wound up "marching" behind the belly dancers for the second year in a row! This year, the crowd was estimated at 27,000 and the participants at 1000. The next day Ashland Tidings said the parade judges put us in 3rd place in the Social and Service Organization category. Bringing up the rear of our "formation" was 89 year old WWII WAVE, Charlotte Carter, dashing around handing out miniature flags, yet keeping up with the rest of us!!!

Below, left to right: 1) Parade route before the event; 2) getting ready to go "on stage"; 3) ransom note, found on Hal's truck windshield, from the scoundrel that kidnapped Big Bird!!! (Note: Even though leaving a name and telephone #, this amateur kidnapper has been difficult to track down and Hal remains in full grief mode.)

Grants Pass Daily Courier, May 27, 2010: Members of the Rogue Valley Chapter of Veterans For Peace (Jim Woods, foreground, Hal Anthony, Background) building a giant dove with body and wings made from bed sheets as the group's entry in the 51st annual Boatnik parade on Saturday, May 29. Jim Woods found a dove pattern on Roots and Shoots, a website by the Jane Goodall Institute. "This is a symbol that's a positive thing," he said. The completed bird has a 21-foot wingspan and a chicken-wire-wrapped-in-cloth head whose beak holds an olive branch. Here's the full Currier article.

"Big Bird" appeared to be a very popular attraction in the Grants Pass Boatnik Parade on May 29rd, 2010.

Once again, the crowd was estimated at about 20,000.

Left: Our Chapter Treasurer and Vietnam Marine veteran, Emmet Band of Grants Pass, OR, adjusting wheel chairs as a volunteer for United Cerebral Palsy Wheels For Humanity in Kosovo, during the week of May 9-15, 2010. Right: Emmet and Marlene on the way to Kosovo. Grants Pass Daily Courier article here.

Thanks to our new media consultant, Tracy Phillips, on April 30, 2010, Hal Anthony had a live 55-minute interview with "The Spaceman" on TakilmaFM streaming radio (logo at right). You can listen to that interview here.

March 20, 2010, in Medford, a co-sponsored protest of the seven-year Iraq War. Left: HAl Anthony, VFP 156 President... Hal, how can you focus the camera when your eyes are closed??? Right: On the March through Medford

On Feb 24, 2010, we co-sponsored with Southern Oregon SafeHaven (SOSH), Peace House and CPJ to bring Gerry Condon to the SOU campus. In addition to assisting GI resisters get into Canada, Gerry runs two blogs, http://www.soldiersayno.blogspot.com/ and http://soldiersayno.blogspot.com/search/label/project%20safe%20haven, Gerry is also the President of VFP Chapter 92 in Seattle, WA.

Nov 6-7, 2009, we worked with the Southern Oregon SafeHaven (SOSH) to bring in the cross-country bicycle team of Josh Stieber (left) & Conor Curran (right), who documented their cross-country bicycle ride at http://contagiousloveexperiment.wordpress.com/. Josh continues to interview and speak out at http://rv-vfp156.org/Enlist.html#Discharges

In November 2009, the Dahl Jamial presentation was an interorganizational effort. Right: Jim Woods, Dahl Jamial and Hal Anthony.

May 2009, we helped to bring Benji Lewis to the Rogue Valley for a 3-city speaking tour Ex-Marine speaks out. Benji is a very dynamic speaker and can vividly describe his experiences during his Marine training and two tours in Iraq, which lead to his plans for a very public refusal to allow himself to be pulled back to Iraq under the IRR.

Likewise, in the Ashland July 4th, 2009 parade, with a crowd estimated at about 25,000 and where our Chapter was applauded virtually the entire 45-minute route. Left: Only a small part of the crowd (from the local Daily Tidings). Right: The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) contingent that marched with our Chapter. Far Right: Starting out.

We had a VERY SUCCESSFUL Boatnik Parade in Grants Pass on May 23rd, 2009, with a crowd estimated at about 20,000.

ONGOING PROGRAMS

We have various "Committee Actions" in progress:

• Alternatives to Military Recruitment (AMR) - in conjunction with Peace House. This is to be a 30-to-50 minute show for on-campus presentations, intended to highlight the realities of military enlistment as well as alternatives to enlisting (Don Chapin is the Chapter liaisan to Peace House for this effort).
  
  
• A grant from the AJ Muste Foundation is providing for PH to contact Rogue Valley schools and teachers to promote the VFP 'Straight Talk' pre-enlistment program mentioned below.
  
  
• As an outgrowth of the above AMR Program, this Chapter has organized a Straight Talk on Military Recruitment Counseling Program (see link to the left of this paragraph) consisting of two key activities:
  
  1. We have organized a "Straight Talk" pre-enlistment program for those considering entering the military, consisting of:
     
     
     • A service-specific one-on-one counselor/advisor capability and...
       
       
     • A short HS and college classroom presentation using Power Point slides as a "topic focus," but relying on our experiences and studies of current events. The intent is to limit the presentation to about 20 to 30 minutes, then open the floor to a Q&A session.
       (Although none of us are "recent" ex-military members, we are keeping up with various changes in education, etc. From what we review and from contacts with our "brother" organizations that often represent more recent enlistees, we see the military as basically unchanging in it's essential training and functioning. We are also writing grant requests for external funding to cover some minor costs of the program.)
     
     
  2. We are attempting to highlight the inequities and Constitutional violations of the manner in which the Armed Services Vocational Ablilities Battery of tests are conducted around the State of Oregon.
     
     
• Stand for Peace - For details, contact Emmet Band of Rogue Valley Veterans For Peace at 474-3782 or emmet.band@gmail.com.
  As of March 17, 2010: U.S. Military Deaths (Afghanistan): 796; U.S. Military Deaths (Iraq): 4,331
• Assisting veterans in any way we can, such as a job hunt, or working with the VA's annual Standdown for homeless veterans: (2009 Southern Oregon Stand Down Statistics) and 2009 Immunization Statistics.
  
  
• Working to "gain the ears" of State and Federal elected representatives to inform them of various veteran and Chapter-related issues.
  
  
• Working with other peace groups in the Rogue Valley, such as Ashland's Peace House, Nuclear Weapons Abolition Project, and the Southern Oregon SafeHaven project.
  
  

NOTE: From a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2001 -- the lowest rate on record -- the Army reached an all-time high of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006. In January 2009, more Army soldier suicides occurred than KIA in both Iraq and Afghanistan, while Army recruiter suicides reached such levels that even the Army had to take notice. Then in May 2009, one soldier in Iraq killed five others in a treatment clinic.
References:

(1) "Soldier Suicides at Record Level," http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/30/AR2008013003106.html?referrer=emailarticle
(2)http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051201127.html?wpisrc=newsletter
(3)http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1889152,00.html
(4) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2009-05-11-iraq-shooting-soldiers_N.htm