North Fork People of Conscience

FIVE YEARS TOO MANY

2008-04-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 15, to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, the NFPOC community gathered in Southold to hold the panels of the dead soldiers and to protest the ongoing war.

The event was reported in the Suffolk Times by Julie Lane.

50 march for peace
Honor the fallen memorial comes to Silversmith's Corner

By Julie Lane

Rainy skies gave way to sunshine Saturday afternoon, beckoning some 50 demonstrators to Silversmith's Corner in Southold to support North Fork People of Conscience in honoring troops who have given their lives in Iraq. On the fifth anniversary of that conflict, they stood shoulder to shoulder, bearing the images and brief biographies of the dead -- many with faces as young as those of local high school students.

When a couple of youths walked by and were invited to join the demonstration, they said they didn't have the time.

"You're going to be spending a lot of time in Iraq soon," a female demonstrator told them. An occasional passing car sounded its horn in support of those who stood in the chilly air. But most motorists went about their business, seemingly oblivious to the messages the demonstrators hoped to send.

"Somebody's got to hold these pictures up to honor their lives," Jean Lawless of Shelter Island said about the images of fallen soldiers.

"Southold will go with McCain," one man predicted.

Others had mixed opinions as to whether the November election will bring change to the country's war effort.

"Even Obama admits you can't get out overnight," said retired Southold school teacher David Hewitt. "It'll be at least another four years and another 4,000 lives. We're exporting democracy. We're losing it and they're not getting it," he said about the Iraqis.

Mr. Hewitt's wife, Mary, described herself as more optimistic, but said she's still not sure Americans will elect a woman or an African-American.

"I can't live my life believing that we can't make a change," said Jim Schwartz of Southampton. He's a World War II and Korean War veteran and a member of the anti-war East End Veterans.

"Ignorance is not bliss," Mr. Schwartz said. He remembers helping to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp early in his military career and believes it's only those willing to "take the road less traveled" who can make a difference in the world.

"We always have to have hope," Christine Baker of Mattituck said.

"We could have a third Bush term with McCain," said Bob Hovey of Southold.

"This is no democracy," opined Bill Douglas of Peconic. While ice cream just purchased at IGA was melting in his car, he felt compelled to spend some time at the rally."We talk about democracy; we better clean up our own democracy," he said.

"This was an important use of my time," Lucy Cutler of Mattituck said about joining the demonstration. She believes either Democratic candidate -- Sen. Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton -- would end the war."It's a drain of life, a drain of energy," she said.

"So my grandchildren won't be going over to Iraq," said Barbara Kujawski of Mattituck, explaining her reason for demonstrating against the war. "War solves nothing," said Ms. Kujawski, who was born on Pearl Harbor Day.

Two German students visiting NFPOC leader Pat Hovey and her husband, Bob, got off a plane the night before to be told their first full day here would be spent at the demonstration. Alison Wade and Felix Lauber, who are college students in Munich, said they hope a change of administrations in Washington will bring an end to the Iraqi war.

"But I hoped [that] when the last election was," said Mr. Lauber, a touch of sadness in his voice.

CANCELLATION

2008-03-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

The talk, Facing the Wall by Hazel Kahan, scheduled for Saturday, March 15 at noon, has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a weekday afternoon in June.

FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF IRAQ WAR

2008-03-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

Please join us to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War.

The war continues even if, as it sometimes seems, we have become less aware of it and less outraged by the ongoing killing and destruction.

We need as many people as possible from our community to hold the panels from the Honor the Fallen Memorial.

Join us to remember the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and to share our protest against this war.

Saturday, March 15
1-3 pm
Silversmith's Corner
Route 25
Southold

Please be there, with your friends, families, neighbors, children. We want each one of the 200 panels to be held and we want each and every soldier to be honored.

For more information:
nfpofc@optonline.net

Broadwater Alert

2008-02-08T05:13:00.000-08:00

We are forwarding this email from NFEC alerting us to February 12, the date that Governor Spitzer will ben announcing a decision on Broadwater.

We encourage you to take action.

Greetings!

We are asking you to simply cut and paste the letter that appears below or write a letter of your own, protesting Broadwater to the following address: www.ny.gov/governor and then simply click on "Contact the Governor."

Governor Spitzer's announcement date is going to be on or around February 12th which is only next week. A contact number for him, if you wish to call him by phone, is (518) 474-8390

Dear Governor Spitzer: Say NO to Broadwater ! We at the North Fork Environmental Council field phone calls every day about Broadwater. "What can we do to stop this?" "Why are we having this forced down our throats?" "Why did we spend a ton of money to protect and preserve an estuary, only to have it polluted by Broadwater's chlorine wastewater which will kill marine life?" This is the largest environmental issue on the collective mind of all Long Islanders. If Broadwater is to be built, fisherman lose, boaters lose, folks just going down to the beach lose and the environment loses. Additionally, the United States Coast Guard has gone on record in saying that it does not have the resources to protect the public from a possible terrorist attack.

Broadwater has offered to provide the security necessary to protect the public and the transient tankers navigating the Sound and offloading its natural gas. I'm wondering why the federal government would even consider the outsourcing of the public's safety to a private security firm. Do we want another Blackwater-type incident here on Long Island? Protecting its citizenry is the first and foremost responsibility of any government, on any level. What can be done to stop this? The answer is simple. JUST SAY NO to Broadwater.

SAY "NO" TO BROADWATER

Sincerely,

Ken Rubino, President
North Fork Environmental Council

email: nfec@optonline.net
web: http://www.nfec1.org

AFSC on YouTube-please view and pass on

2008-01-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to forward this email in its entirety from the American Friends Service Committee and urge you to circulate the YouTube link to as many people as you can. It's not often that we see such a clear expression of what the war is costing real people in real terms.
_________________________________________________________
Friends,

American Friends Service Committee has just released a new 2 min. video to help people understand the outrageous amount of money that the U.S. spends daily on The Iraq War in comparison to the budget for human needs such as healthcare and education.

To reach the widest audience, we need your help. On YouTube, the more views a video gets, the more visibility it gets.

So we are asking all our friends and supporters to
- watch this video (at least once)
- rate it (be honest) and
- send it to your whole network of friends and family with the same message.
- post the video to your FaceBook profile

Please take a minute now - click here and watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnq6cD5jk1Q

After you view the video and send it to your friends, if you have a few more moments, please sign our petition to Congress to DEFUND the Iraq War and RE-FUND human needs at home and in Iraq: http://support.afsc.org/site/PageNavigator/DefundRefundPetition

Thanks much for your help.

Iris Bieri

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

15 Rutherford Place
New York, NY 10003
212.598.0958

FACING WAR-jazz concert at Riverhead First Baptist Church

2007-11-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

THE MUSICIANS
The first event of the ten-day long FACING WAR event, sponsored by NFPOC and Riverhead First Baptist Church, was a jazz concert held at the church.

It is not often that the forces and elements conspire to create a truly magical event, one that connected the diverse communities on the North Fork and brought us together to mourn the fallen soldiers and the ineffable consequences of war but also to celebrate life and hope through music, dancing and dialogue. Four groups of musicians played for three hours against a background of the panels that consist of the photographs and obituaries of the Honor the Fallen Memorial.

Although the lighting in the hall does not allow us to show the musicians at their best, we hope that these photographs will allow you to share some of the atmosphere even if you were unable to join us last Saturday evening.

THE AUDIENCE
These photos speak for themselves--the audience made up of children, teenagers and adults, all rapt and delighted, transformed by the music.

HONORING THE FALLEN
People took time to meditate and reflect at the lost lives honored in the memorial's panels which lined the hallways of the church.

THE WORKERS AND SPONSORS
Installing the panels and readying the church for the concert was a labor of love and collaboration which we hope will be the beginning of many other community projects in the future.

AFSC's 'ONE DAY OF THE IRAQ WAR' at First Baptist Church

2007-11-15T09:47:00.002-08:00

To bring home to us the cost of the Iraq war in terms that each of can relate to, AFSC lent us their new exhibit consisting of five tall free-standing banners, each itemizing what the cost of one day of the war costs Americans. Some examples:

95,364 Head Start Places for children,
34,904 4-year scholarships for university students
84 new elementary schools

For more information, http://www.afsc.org/cost/default.htm or IBieri@afsc.org

Here is how the exhibit looked at the First Riverhead Baptist Church this week. Please visit it soon before it returns to NYC.

TRAVEL FROM LONG ISLAND TO NYC FOR SATURDAY RALLY

2007-10-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.oct27.org/new_york
http://eastendrep.blogspot.com/

UPDATED 10-24

LIers will travel to NYC on PEACE TRAINS on LIRR arriving around 11 a.m. We will meet down in Penn Station in front of waiting room and will proceed to the assembly area near 22nd St and Broadway (see below).

East End Train:

Amagansett 7:05 am
East Hampton 7:10 am
Bridgehampton 7:19 am
Southampton 7:29 am
Hampton Bays 7:39 am
Patchogue 8:26 am

return to east end stops
from Penn Station 9:11 PM

alternates:

Speonk 7:56 am
Penn Staton 7:11pm return to Speonk,

Hampton Jitney 631-283-4600

North Fork: Ronkonkoma has hourly trains

LI Contingent Assemble: Noon– 22 nd St. (bet. Broadway&Park Ave.)

Rally: 12–1 p.m. Union Square

March: Steps off at 1 p.m. Down Broadway to Foley Square

Peace and Justice Tents at Foley Square

LONG ISLAND INFO : Long Islanders—will march together as one Island united against the war!

Look for Yellow Signs :

LI Says BRING THE TROOPS HOME! DON'T BOMB IRAN ! STOP THE WAR IN IRAQ !

TRAVIS M. VIRGADAMO

2007-10-16T03:47:00.001-07:00

_____________________________________________________________
Travis M. Virgadamo is one of the 4,275* US soldiers ( 3,829 in Iraq, 446 in Afghanistan) included in our Honor the Fallen Memorial which will be displayed on November 10-18 at the First Baptist Church in Riverhead.

Travis Virgadamo died outside Baghdad of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on August 30th, 2007. He was 19 years old. This is his story, published in his hometown newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun.
_____________________________________________________________* *as of October 15, 2007

Travis M. Virgadamo

Las Vegas Sun -- During a visit to his family in Pahrump in July, Army Pfc. Travis M. Virgadamo of Las Vegas shared his recent combat experience in Iraq.

He told of being ordered into houses without knowing what was behind strangers' doors. He talked of walking along roadsides fearing the next step could trigger lethal explosives.

Virgadamo told them he had been so frightened, he had sought and received psychiatric counseling from the military in Iraq. He received additional counseling during a trip home in late July, his family said.

On Thursday crisply dressed soldiers appeared at his family's door in Pahrump to report that the 19-year-old had died that day of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a forward post just outside of Baghdad.

The family says he was in no emotional shape to be assigned to combat. The Army knew he was suicidal, the soldier's grandmother, Katie O'Brien, said Friday.

His aunt, Rebecca McHugh, complained: "They gave him Prozac and sent him back to Iraq."

"They (military) knew his circumstances. They gave him counseling in Iraq before he came home and they gave him counseling in Georgia before he was sent back to Iraq. Now he's dead. What good is a dead soldier to them?" McHugh said the family will call for a complete investigation.

That will happen as a matter of procedure, said Sgt. 1st Class Cameron Anderson, one of two soldiers who gave Virgadamo's mother the news on Thursday.

Virgadamo, serving in an infantry unit, drove trucks shuttling ammunition. Virgadamo's death comes on the heels of a recent Pentagon report that at least 118 U.S. military personnel in Iraq have committed suicide from April 2003 to mid-August. That does not include unconfirmed reports of those who served in the war and then killed themselves at home.

Suicides have accounted for 3 percent of the overall Iraq war death toll, according to some Pentagon estimates. In mid-2006 the Veterans Affairs Department reported more than 56,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars had been diagnosed with mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and bipolar disorder.

In 2006 the Hartford Courant reported that the military is "recycling" troops who had sought mental health care, who had been diagnosed with mental diseases or who had indicated symptoms of mental duress and illness to their peers and chain of command.

The newspaper said some military personnel, after reporting mental duress, were pulled from duty, given 72 hours of rest and recreation, supplied with antidepressant medications, such as Prozac or Zoloft, and returned to their original duty stations. The General Accounting Office reported that four out of five returning veterans who by the military's own standards are at risk for mental illnesses receive no treatment. The number of troops taking antidepressants or other psychotropic drugs is unknown. However, Army reports indicate that medical treatment in Iraq involving psychotropic drugs has increased steadily. Virgadamo is believed to be the first Nevada soldier to die in Iraq of a self-inflicted wound.

His family said the soldiers who told them of his death did not use the word "suicide," but rather said it was a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound .

When Virgadamo was on his 15-day leave in July, he told his grandmother that he had been seeing therapists in Baghdad and Kuwait. "He did not want to go back. He had had a couple of close calls," O'Brien said, including being involved in a vehicle rollover. McHugh said she heard of similar close calls from her nephew.

Virgadamo was born Aug. 17, 1988, in Victorville, Calif., and moved to Las Vegas with his family at age 5. He was home-schooled and worked as a box boy at an Albertsons in southwest Las Vegas.

His family said Virgadamo wanted to be a soldier or a police officer since age 4. As a teenager he joined the Nellis Cadet Squadron. In an Oct. 29, 2005, posting to MySpace.com, Virgadamo wrote with great enthusiasm of his pending enlistment: "In 16 days my paperwork gets sent in for transfer to senior membership and I become a living CAP Myth Hooah to going active Army." His family said he was very proud when he completed boot camp and thought he had a future in the military or as a forest ranger. On his recent trip home, Virgadamo smiled when he saw a prayer poster for him at the Pahrump Taco Bell.

Virgadamo's other survivors include his father, Robert Virgadamo of the Philippines; his mother , Jackie Juliano of Pahrump; and two sisters, Katie Juliano of Pahrump and Nicole Virgadamo of the Philippines. Virgadamo's father was told of his son's death by Philippine police officers. He is en route to Pahrump, his family said. Services are pending.

On his MySpace profile, Virgadamo described himself as 5 feet 9 inches tall with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. He said his "most missed memory" was "Vegas." Under "How do you want to die?" Virgadamo replied, "In battle."

Fighting back tears on the phone Friday, O'Brien said , "I just cannot believe it. "I was like his mother," O'Brien said. "I helped raise him. I just talked to him a couple of days ago. I talked to him at least twice a week. "He was so young. He didn't want to be there. He was so scared," O'Brien said. "Then they put him on Prozac."

He had lost his spirit to be in battle, she said. When Virgadamo saw O'Brien earlier this summer, he told her, "Grandma, maybe I'll just go AWOL." O'Brien urged him to pray. "He went back praying and thinking it would be OK," she said. "For sure, it needs to be known he had problems," O'Brien said. "They were going to discharge him. I really think they (military) are at fault to keep someone there. "I think he just knew he was going to die," O'Brien said.

His last screen name was "Lost Purple Heart," O'Brien said.

published in Las Vegas Sun
Trackback URL for this entry: http://iraq.pigstye.net/trackback.php/TravisMVirgadamo
____________________________________
You can read 4,275 other stories on these web sites:

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html
http://afghanistan.pigstye.net/
http://iraq.pigstye.net/index.php?topic=individuals
http://icasualties.org/oif/
http://www.legacy.com/Soldier/Home.aspx?

COST OF WAR IN IRAQ

2007-10-10T18:05:00.001-07:00

NFPOC OCTOBER EVENT

2007-10-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

WALL
•Saturday, October 20•
•7 pm•
•Cutchogue Presbyterian Church•
•Cutchogue, NY•

Screening of WALL (Mur), a documentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which the filmmaker blurs the lines of hatred by asserting her double identity as Jew and Arab. In an original approach, the film follows the separation fence that is destroying one of the most historically significant landscapes in the world, while
imprisoning one people and enclosing the other.

For more information about the film http://www.wallthemovie.com/
and, from the New York Times, http://movies.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/movies/26wall.html

Discussion will follow the screening.

We look forward to seeing you.

NFPOC NOVEMBER EVENT

2007-10-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

FACING WAR
•November 10-18•
•First Baptist Church•
•Northville Turnpike•
•Riverhead, NY•

This is a joint project between the First Baptist Church of Riverhead and NFPOC. We are creating a week-long event with the Honor the Fallen Memorial panels at its center. The event includes a concert on Saturday, November 10 and and a day of films on November 17. Worship services will be held on Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11 and on Sunday November 18.

We are proud and enthusiastic about this joint project and hope you will be able to join us at all--or some--of the events.

We will be announcing a more detailed schedule and program soon.

For more information, please call Reverend Coverdale at (631) 727-3446 or Ethel Sussman at (631) 722-4121

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We are also asking for volunteers to help us hang the panels that make up the Honor the Fallen Memorial. If you are able to be there on Saturday, November 10 at 9 am to help us hang them, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Please email us at nfpofc@optonline.net and we will get back to you--by phone or email.

COST OF THE WAR IN IRAQ

2007-10-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE announces...

2007-09-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

We've received this announcement from our Quaker friends at AFSC. They need volunteers to help set up their new exhibit on October 16-19 in several public spaces in New York City. If you can't help them on those days, we hope you will be able to go and see the exhibit. We are also hoping to bring the exhibit out to the North Fork later this year.

Please contact Iris Bieri directly at 212.598.0958.
_______________________________________

Dear Friends,

We about to launch a very exciting new exhibit and will need your help to make it happen. This will be the first time to display the Economic Cost of War exhibit in the New York metropolitan area. This is what the exhibit is about:

One day of the war in Iraq costs $720 million. How would you spend it?
The Iraq war has certainly been costly in terms of lives lost, with thousands of U.S. military personnel dead, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed. Also, the economic costs are far greater than most people imagine, with more than $1 trillion tax dollars spent in the first four years of the war.

One trillion dollars equals $720 million spent each day, or $500,000 per minute. The taxpayer money spent on the war is displacing millions of Iraqis and destroying their hospitals and schools instead of supporting health care, education and housing for people in our own communities. The American Friends Service Committee is launching a national project to highlight the economic cost of the war and demand that Congress shift war funding to support human needs here and real solutions in Iraq.

We plan to display this exhibit on October 16th and 18th in Union Square, 17th in Washington Square Park, and 19th in Columbus Circle. This will only be possible if there are volunteers to hand out materials, collect signatures for petitions, and talk to passersby. Please respond to this email with the date, location and time you are willing to volunteer.

We appreciate your dedication and support. Please help us make this happen.

All the best,

Iris Bieri

15 Rutherford Place
New York, NY 10003
212.598.0958

UPCOMING EVENTS

2007-09-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

1. Our next film in the NFPOC film series will be WALL (Mur), written and directed by Simone Bitton.

Please join us on Saturday, October 20 at 7 pm at the Presbyterian Church in Cutchogue.

This documentary, in French, English, Arabic and Hebrew, tells the story of the wall being built by Israel as part of the separation barrier between Israel and Palestine. For more information,
http://www.wallthemovie.com/

2. We are also in the planning stages of a major event in partnership with Reverend Coverdale of the Riverhead Baptist Church that will span several days around Veterans Day, November 11. Although the details are not yet confirmed, the event is planned to include a display of all the panels that comprise the Honor the Fallen memorial in addition to films, music and an essay contest. Our objective is to bring together young people and their families from all the towns, hamlets and villages of the East End to talk and think about the consequences of war.

3. One of our board members is in discussion with a college in North Carolina about bringing the entire Honor the Fallen Memorial to their campus in January, '08. More as this develops.

Footnote
We urge those of you who missed our screening last Saturday of The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez, to try and find another opportunity to see it not least for the devastating causal connection it makes between poverty, foreign policy and war. For more information, http://www.theshortlife-film.com/en/

SONGS OF WAR AND PEACE--photos

2007-09-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

The concert was wonderful. If you missed it, here are some photographs to give you a feel for the way it was--the church, the audience and, above all, the spirited, talented performers.

NFPOC wants to thank Phillip Price and Peter Cameron for their enthusiasm, hard work and the generosity of their support to North Fork People of Conscience.

Here they were on the day:

Here is what greeted you as you came to the concert:

Here are some views of the appreciative audience:

And here are the performers.
We hope they know how much we enjoyed their music and how uplifting it was for us all.

And, as always and again, our very special thanks to the indefatigable Conscience Films team of Abe Krikorian who took all the photographs you see here and to his partner, Gene Taylor, who filmed the entire event.

SONGS OF WAR AND PEACE--PROGRAM

2007-08-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19

TRINITY CHURCH

768 MAIN STREET
GREENPORT, NY

for more information: 631 477 3496

Fode Sissoko (Kora) - West African Invocation

Tim Kelly (bagpipes) – battle song

Terry Keevil (duduk) - improv solo

Terry Keevil and Jay Lomas (duduk and flute) – musical dialog

Jay Lomas (flute) - improv solo

Chris Young and Fode Sissoko – reading with drums

Fode Sissoko and Toby Stover – kora, drums, folk tale, dancing

Glenn Jochen and Rick Hall (folk guitars) – Simon and Garfunkel

Ranny Reeve (jazz piano) - 9/11 blues and a lullaby

Strongarm (jazz combo) – Another You

Cork Maul (piano) – original composition

Corky, Terry, Jay, Fode (piano, flute duduk, drums)- meditative improv

YiYi and Terry (classical piano and oboe) - Chopin 7 minutes

JOIN US FOR THESE IMPORTANT EVENTS

2007-08-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

North Fork People of Conscience hope you can join us at all of these upcoming events!

___________________________________________________
Songs of War and Peace
Classical, African and Jazz Interpretations
A benefit performance for North Fork People of Conscience
produced by Music at Trinity.

Sunday, August 19 at 2 pm
The Church of the Holy Trinity
768 Main Street
Greenport, New York

Admission: $20
For tickets and information: 631 477 3496

___________________________________________________

NO MORE PROCRASTINATION:
Bring our children home now
Saturday, August 25, 3-5 pm
Main Street
East Hampton, New York

Contact: Betty Mazur at seabetty@optonline.net

___________________________________________________
UNEMBEDDED--photojournalist Kael Alford

Saturday, September 1, 1 pm
East End Arts Council
133 East Main Street
Riverhead, New York

In keeping with the theme of the upcoming Mirror of Our Times juried Photography Show (Opening reception August 31st), The East End Arts Council is proud to announce "Unembedded" photojournalist Kael Alford exhibiting her shocking images of the Iraq that we in this country have never seen. www.unembedded.net She will give a slideshow, discussion and book signing on Saturday, September 1st at 1 PM, also at the gallery. Admission $5.

Call to reserve seats: 631-727-0900

_____________________________

NFPOC film series
September 15 and October 13 at 7 pm
Cutchogue Presbyterian Church

Titles to be announced
___________________________________________________
WE ARE IN GREAT NEED OF VOLUNTEERS
to help us download the names, faces and obituaries of the dead soldiers for the panels that make up our Honor the Fallen memorial (Photographs of the memorial can be seen throughout this blog.)

Congress and the Iraqi parliament may be taking a break but American and Iraqi deaths continue and so does our work.

If you have modest computer skills, a willingness to contribute some of your time and to become personally involved in documenting the consequences of war, we ask you to email us at nfpofc@optonline.net

MAY 26, 2007--A TIME TO REMEMBER

2007-05-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

North Fork People of Conscience is a co-sponsor of the Peace Procession organized by Pax Christi to be held at Jones Beach on May 26. We urge you to join in with this Memorial Day event.

From Pax Christi:
The American people dedicated Memorial Day as a time to mourn the victims of war.

In that spirit, Pax Christi invites you to gather with Long Island peace groups at Jones Beach from 10 AM until noon on Saturday May 26, for a solemn procession and recitation of the names of Americans and Iraqis who have been killed in the war.

We will assemble at the western end of Parking Field 2, which faces the ocean. As we process east toward the needle and the main mall, we will carry the Memorial Ribbons and pause at intervals along the boardwalk to read the list of names. Everyone is welcome to participate in this peace action. However as this is a solemn procession, no signs will be used.

Co-sponsors: (in formation) Long Island Alliance for Peace, LI Veterans for Peace Chapter 138, Code Pink LI, Suffolk Peace Network, South Country Peace Group, St. Anthony’s Peace and Justice Committee, Pax Christi Long Beach, Schools of the Americas Watch, OLMCC Peace and Justice, North Fork People of Conscience, Ethical Action Committee of the EHS
There is a fee of $ 9 per car to enter the Parking Field

Further information:
email scroke@verizon.net www.peacelongbeach.com

FACING THE WALL--May 4th

2007-04-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

NFPOC board member, Hazel Kahan, will be presenting FACING THE WALL, a multimedia presentation about the outpouring of art on the massive wall Israel has been constructing on the West Bank since 2002.

She will examine what the art reveals about the psychological effects this structure has had on Palestinians whose fields, towns and villages have been enclosed by the wall.

Friday, May 4, 2007
5.30 pm
Mattituck-Laurel Library
Mattituck, N. Y.

FACING WAR-NFPOC'S first documentary-May 5

2007-04-24T09:13:00.001-07:00

NFPOC is excited to announce the first public screening of FACING WAR, a 40-minute documentary we have produced in partnership with Conscience Films of Port Jefferson, N. Y.

We will also be showing a short film, March on Washington, by Emily Greenberg of Mattituck High School. This will be followed by a discussion about both films with a group of high school students. We hope to have a lot of students and their families in the audience.

****STOP THE PRESSES!! ****We have just heard that Emily was awarded second prize for her film--among 18 entrants--at the CW Post Film Festival. CONGRATULATIONS, EMILY. We're proud to know you.

We have been exhibiting the Honor the Fallen memorial-- the nearly 200 panels containing the faces and obituaries of the American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan--for two years now and in 15 major venues.

However, until now we have never really understood what effect the panels have on those who come to view them. In February this year we installed the memorial in Brooklyn Friends School for three days and then went back to interview the high school students and teachers who had been living with them for those days. What they told us and what we learned is captured in the documentary and we invite you to come and see it with us.

More information on our blog http://nfpofc.blogspot.com

FACING WAR at Brooklyn Friends School

2007-03-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

For three days in February, the Honor the Fallen memorial took up residence in the high school of Brooklyn Friends School, a Quaker school in downtown Brooklyn. We had met Leah, a BFS senior, when she volunteered to help us set up the panels at the Brooklyn Peace Fair in the fall.(See our archives, October 26, 2006.) She contacted us later to ask if we would consider bringing the memorial to her school. We were delighted and one Sunday morning drove the panels from Southold to Brooklyn, handed them over to students from the Peace and Social Justice group who installed them and managed the impressive three-day, Monday to Wednesday, event.

The sheer number of panels required that every spare inch of wall space on two floors of the upper school were covered. This made it a very powerful experience, overwhelmingly so for some. You could not turn away, it was everywhere.

Each high school class dedicated a Quaker meeting period to reflect on the ways in which the panels had affected them. Their reactions were wide-ranging, thoughtful and often surprising.

We left a "Reflections" notebook so that students and teachers could express their thoughts and feelings about their experiences over the past three days.

We bring you some of their handwritten pages.

We have tried to distill what we learned from this rich and provocative experience. Although we have displayed the memorial in many, many locations over the past two years, this is the first time we have left it in place for three days. It is also the first time we have worked with a small, close community and had the opportunity to interview its members to understand what the impact of this 'in your face' and personal proximity to the ramifications of war might be.

In a wonderful working collaboration, Gene Taylor and Abe Krikorian of Conscience Films and NFPOC produced a 43-minute video documentary titled FACING WAR which we will be happy to share with anyone who is interested in seeing it: perhaps you or somebody you know would like to talk about bringing Honor the Fallen to your school, college, religious or other institution. If you'd like a copy, please email us at nfpofc@optonline.net

Another perspective of the three-day event can be found at the school's web site http://www.brooklynfriends.org/resources/pdfs/BFSnews3_07.pdf

YEAR 5 OF THE IRAQ WAR BEGINS

2007-03-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

Along with people around the country and the world, we marked the beginning of the fifth year of the Iraq war on Sunday, March 18, 2007.

Here we are setting up the panels--on walls and on the floor.

Here is how 3300 dead faces appeared to those who saw them in the Southold Recreation Center.

We welcomed three Veterans--from WWII and Vietnam--who spoke about their sadness and frustration as they looked at all the people who they felt had given their lives for no good reason.

NFPOC wonders if we are witnessing a change in feelings about the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. Many organizers this year have reported lower participation at rallies, vigils and demonstrations. This year we too saw considerably fewer people than those that crowded the events we held in 2006 and 2005. We speculate on the reasons: the weather is of course always a factor and Sunday was a very cold and windy day. Are some people waiting to see if the "surge" works, withholding their protest in case it does? (We are not sure what "works" means!) There were so many gatherings scheduled this year--protesting not only war but immigration and the environment. Too many protests, not enough time? Or, perhaps people feel their protests of the past four years have worked:with a new Congress in place, it's time to turn over the work to them. After all, that's what we elected them for?

Tell us what you think.

NFPOC MARKS BEGINNING OF WAR'S FIFTH YEAR

2007-03-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, March 18 from 11 am-5 pm, NFPOC will be marking the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion and the beginning of the fifth year of the war by displaying the Honor the Fallen Memorial at Southold Recreation Center on Peconic Lane, Peconic.

Speakers are scheduled from 2-2.30 pm and we will offer an open mic from 2.30-3.00 pm.

We need help!

1. We are looking for speakers from the North Fork. In particular, if you are an Iraq vet, we would especially like to invite you to speak at our event.

2. We need help distributing posters around our community. Please download the poster below and print as many as you feel you can post in your neighborhood. Thank you!

3. We need help installing the Memorial. We can open the Recreation Center at 9 am which gives us two hours to install the 170+ panels. Many hands will really make lighter work of this.

If you can help in any of these ways, please call:
Gwynn at 631 298 4912
Pat at 631 765 4612
Eleanor at 641 749 4378

Thank you very much.

BRING OUR TROOPS HOME POSTER CONTEST

2007-02-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

Contacts:

Roger Snyder, Green Party of Suffolk Chair
(631) 351-5763 rogersnyder@pobox.com

Kimberly Wilder
(631) 422-4702 kimberlywilder06@yahoo.com

The Green Party of Suffolk invites everyone to showcase their artistic talent and their commitment to ending the War in Iraq by entering its "Bring Home Our Troops Poster Contest." The contest is designed to help encourage creativity, and support the goal of ending the War in Iraq and bringing our American troops home immediately.

Two prizes of $100 will be awarded, one for youth 17 years and younger, the other for adults 18 years and over. Rules and an application/release form are available on-line at www.gpsuffolk.org. Or, you may contact the Green Party of Suffolk County at (631) 351-5763.

The deadline for entry is March 1st 2007. Winners will be announced at the Green Party of Suffolk Fundraiser at the Setauket Neighborhood House on Friday, March 16th. Winners do not need to be present to claim their prize.

The Fundraiser will also include a silent auction of the work of local artists.

Local greens designed the Bring Home Our Troops Poster Contest as a way to encourage people to share a vision of peace.

Background: www.gpsuffolk.org

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH COMES TO CUTCHOGUE

2007-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

NFPOC is very pleased to announce a joint project with North Fork Environmental Council and the Cutchogue Presbyterian Church in which we will be offering a free public screening of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, Al Gore's critically important documentary.

The event takes place on Saturday, March 3 at 7 pm in the Sanctuary of the Presbyterian Church on Main Road in Cutchogue.

Even if you've already seen An Inconvenient Truth, you may want to join us for the discussion that will take place after the film. Please bring your family and friends. We are especially interested in reaching out to students--the next generation.

We look forward to creating new alliances with other local groups in the future. If you have any ideas, please feel free to contact us at nfpofc@optonline.net

We'd appreciate your downloading the poster and hanging it in places where others can see it.

For more information, please call Gwynn at 631 298 4912.

If you'd like to be added to our email list so you can learn about our upcoming events, please contact us at nfpofc@optonline.net

WE MARCHED ON WASHINGTON--JANUARY 27, 2007

2007-01-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

We did it--we were there, we marched, we made our presence felt but we would really prefer to never have to protest another year of war--or another war--ever again.

It was so heartening to fill two buses with over a hundred People of Conscience, mostly from the North Fork but many from the South Fork too. We were gratified by the demand for seats and amazed that we actually had to run a waiting list.

We even had a few people who, thanks to Steve of Green Earth Grocery, had to be shuttled to meet another Suffolk County bus at Exit 63.

The weather was grand, the crowds enormous, the mood a seemly mix of outrage and good humor. With the media continuing their outdated, coy policy of underestimating the crowd size, we will never know how many people actually traveled from all over the country to gather in our nation's capital. (Surely those hovering helicopters know?)

Perhaps most gratifying was the number of young people who joined us--high school and college students with their friends, parents and grandparents. We liked hearing that in some cases it was actually the kids who persuaded the parents to come. We hope East End classrooms this week are filled with students and teachers listening to these new activists' stories and points of view.

Thanks to those who volunteered to help us with downloading the photographs and obituaries of the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Keeping up with the accelerating pace of the dead for the Honor the Fallen Memorial is an increasingly challenging task. More volunteers are welcome!

We have scheduled two events for displaying the Memorial: (1) the week of February 26 at Brooklyn Friends School and (2) March 18, the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, at the Southold Town Recreation Center on Peconic Lane. We will be sending out more information as the dates approach.

Thank you to everyone who made this such a successful and stirring day.

WE MEMORIALIZED THE 3,000

2007-01-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

It was already 3,009 by the time we assembled in Southold, spoke our thoughts to each other on the open mic, held the panels bearing names and photographs of the dead for passersby to see and lit candles as it got dark. Southold Town was flying the flag at half-mast to honor President Ford. We wish this could have been intentional rather than serendipitous but we were grateful anyway.

At dusk, we lit candles and ended the vigil.

CANDLELIGHT VIGIL SATURDAY JANUARY 6

2007-01-03T04:23:00.000-08:00

A TIME TO MOURN

On Saturday, January 6 there will be a candlelight vigil,

from 3 PM to 5 PM at the Town Green,

at Silversmith's Corner, opposite IGA on Main Road in Southold.

The vigil will mourn those killed

in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and all wars.

We invite people to speak at an open mic

and to make musical offerings appropriate to the occasion.

Please bring candles and signs to express your feelings about the dead.

Sponsored by North Fork People of Conscience

(631) 765 4612 or 298 4912 or nfpofc@optonline.net

-----------

This is what 3,000 looks like:

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/20061228_3000FACES_TAB1.html

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

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO LEARN ABOUT OUR MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC ON JANUARY 27

MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC January 27

2006-12-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

Join us for a massive, nationwide MARCH ON WASHINGTON, DC to make sure our officials understand why we elected them in November and to remind them what we expect them to do about our troops in Iraq.

On Saturday, January 27th, the NFPOC bus will leave from the municipal parking lot behind the Green Earth Grocery in Riverhead at 5.15 a.m.

Please meet us there by 5 a.m. so we can leave on time. We will return around midnight.

Return trip tickets:
Adults $40
Students $20

We offer subsidies, if needed.

Tickets are available at:
Green Earth Grocery, East Main Street, Riverhead
and by calling Gwynn at 631 298-4912
or Tom at 516-369-0360

More information is available at www.unitedforpeace.org

PLEASE JOIN US AS WE BRING THIS CRUCIAL MESSAGE TO THE 110TH CONGRESS.

NFPOC will let you know how and where we will mark the 3,000th soldier's death. Until then, please visit bringthemhomenow.org/

BROOKLYN PEACE FAIR, October 22, 2006

2006-10-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

(Photo courtesy of Tom Martinez)

We were able to hang all 156 panels at the Brooklyn Peace Fair last Sunday, October 22 at the Long Island University Brooklyn campus. 156 represents only those who were killed until the end of June, 2006. We are preparing several hundred more names and faces for printing and lamination which will bring the total to an even more horrible number.

We couldn't have done it without the help of wonderful volunteers and our own members, whom you can see in the pictures below.

The Honor the Fallen memorial is becoming a larger and larger project every day. These pictures illustrate what is involved in hanging them--you can see the unfolding of our work in progress.

But it was a gratifying experience and we all felt the time we spent, essentially the whole day, was well worth it because so many people came to the Peace Fair and saw it. Here are some of them.

This woman wanted to be photographed against the
panel bearing the picture of her dead brother.

The American Friends Service Committee brought part of their
"Eyes Wide Open" project: 130 pairs of boots
belonging to soldiers from New York State who were killed in Iraq.

Our amateur cameras were not up to the task of capturing the entire extent of the Memorial and we are grateful to Tom Martinez (www.digitalrailroad.net/witness) and his professional camera for providing the pictures below for us. Thanks, Tom.

IRAQ FOR SALE by ROBERT GREENWALD

2006-10-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

The fourth film in our NFPOC War Series is IRAQ FOR SALE: The War Profiteers, another important contribution by the indefatigable Robert Greenwald, in which he exposes the enormity of the war profiteering that continues every day in Iraq.

Increasingly, film makers are bypassing traditional distribution methods and launching their documentaries all over the country through the alternative distribution of community halls, private homes, churches, bowling alleys and pizza parlaors. Last week, 4,000 screenings of IRAQ FOR SALE in these grass roots venues, combined with post-film discussion and debate have led to energized people who take immediate action such as telephoning voters.

We hope you can join us on Saturday, October 28 at 8 pm in the Peconic Landing Auditorium, Greenport.

For more information about the film, which is free and will be followed by an audience discussion,
please visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/iraq-for-sale-upda_b_31990.html or call Gwynn at 631 298 4912.

COST OF THE WAR IN IRAQ

2006-10-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

GREENWALD'S FILM: UNCOVERED: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR ON IRAQ

2006-09-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

North Fork People of Conscience presents the Robert Greenwald film “Uncovered: The Truth About the War on Iraq”,
on Saturday, September 30 at 8pm, at the Peconic Landing Auditorium in Greenport.

Admission is free.

A discussion will follow screening of the film. The length of the film is 90 minutes.

For more information about the screening, please call 631 298-4912.

For more information about the film, please visit http://www.truthuncovered.com/

WE HELPED NUMBER THE DEAD

2006-09-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, September 17, North Fork People of Conscience were among the people who lined Fifth Avenue in New York City to hold up posters, each bearing the name of one soldier killed in Iraq.

Even though it was a beautiful sunny day and although the Darfur protest attracted larger crowds, we were disappointed that more people didn't show up for the one hour required to participate in the vigil. Our disappointment extends to the local media who ignored the event.

We are more committed than ever to continue our struggle to raise consciousness about the realities of war and to look at what the human cost of one dead soldier--and of 3,027 dead soldiers--means.

As of today, September 21, 2006, 2,689 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq, 338 in Afghanistan.

This does not include the incalculable number of Iraqi civilians nor the mounting number of coalition soldiers and American civilians.

WHAT DOES 2,651 (SO FAR) LOOK LIKE?

2006-09-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

Please make every effort to join us at the NUMBER THE DEAD vigil and demonstration.

On Sunday, September 17, from 10-11 am, in New York City, we will be joining the NUMBER THE DEAD line of people holding pictures of the soldiers who have died in Iraq. The line will stretch down Fifth Avenue from 98th Street to 8th Street.

We all need to see what the number 2,651 dead (as of Sunday, September 3) looks like. We hope you will spread the word (a flyer is attached) and join us on the line.

Here is the information we have received from the organizers.
******************************************************************************
NUMBER THE DEAD – VIGIL & DEMONSTRATION – NYC – SEPTEMBER 17 10-11 AM

On Sunday September 17th there will be 2700 concerned persons lining the east sidewalk of 5th Avenue from 8th Street to 98th Street in NYC. The number corresponds to the number of US soldiers that have died in Iraq.

Each person will hold a poster board with the name, age and hometown of every fallen US soldier. In addition, each block will have a poster marking the number of Iraqis who have been killed. Each block will represent 1000 Iraqis. From 10-11a.m. we will stand together in a silent vigil and demonstration, called NUMBER THE DEAD. For more information, please visit our website: www.numberthedead.com

IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE
If you want to be part of the line on September 17th, you MUST send us an e-mail at:
numberthedead@mac.com

You must sign up to line up! We need a count to make sure that we have enough volunteers to represent the 2700 soldiers. In your email, please provide a contact number. Once you have signed up, you will receive more details about the event.

Please support the cause of remembering and honoring the US soldiers and Iraqis whom we have lost in this war. This project will only be successful if we have every soldier represented. It's time we take a stand and illustrate what the number 2600+ looks like alive.

Hope to see you on the line.

Contact: Annie Lennon Carroll
Head Organizer of NUMBER THE DEAD
numberthedead@mac.com
www.numberthedead.com

COST OF THE WAR IN IRAQ

2006-09-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

NFPOC OFFERS SCHOLARSHIPS FOR NON-VIOLENCE TRAINING

2006-08-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

To show our support for the Creating A Culture of Peace program being offered by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, North Fork People of Conscience are offering five need-based scholarships to enable five people in the community to participate in the three-day workshop to be held at the Southold Methodist Church on September 22, 23 and 24.

In the words of the organizers, here is the purpose of the workshop:

**************************************************************
Peace is possible

You may believe there is a need to replace violence with peace in your community, across our country and around the world. Did you know that you have the power? Creating a Culture of Peace is a program which uses an interfaith and intergenerational approach to help people just like you achieve nonviolence in their communities. CCP is a program of FOR—Fellowship of Reconciliation—which works with schools, civic organizations, veterans, congregations, and many others seeking personal and social change through practice of active nonviolence.

We invite you to our three-day workshop.

Creating a Culture of Peace
Nonviolence Training for Personal and Social Change

***************************************************************
The cost of the workshop is $75 of which the NFPOC scholarship will pay $60.

If you or anybody you know--of any age or faith--would be unable to attend this nonviolence training workshop without the scholarship, please email us at nfpofc@optonline.net or call Pat at 631 765 4612. Please tell us why you would like to attend the workshop and how you think you might use the training to achieve nonviolence in our community.

If you are not applying for the scholarship, you may use the attached form to register for the workshop. William Moore at 631-765-4663 or Lorraine DeArmitt at 631-765-3449, organizers of the workshop, can answer any questions you may have.

For more general information, please visit the Fellowship of Reconciliation website at www.forusa.org

We hope you can join us at the workshop starting on Friday, September 22.

NFPOC receives generous grant from LICF

2006-08-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Southold, New York
August 24, 2006
Contact: Pat Hovey 631 765 4612 or nfpofc@optonline.net

NORTH FORK PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE (NFPOC) Receives $10,000
Grant from LONG ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION (LICF)

The Southold-based peace group, North Fork People of Conscience, is the recipient of a $10,000 grant from the Long Island Community Foundation (LICF). The award came with a recommendation from the Long Island Unitarian Universalist Fund (LIUU Fund).

This generous grant will be transmitted through the Community Land Trust of Southold, Inc. (CLT) which will serve as the funds administrator for North Fork People of Conscience. NFPOC is a not-for-profit organization run by volunteers. The group is non-partisan and the funds will not be used to support fundraising events for political candidates or other electioneering activities.

According to NFPOC director, Pat Hovey, “We are grateful to LICF and LIUU because this grant will help support our ongoing work, including educating the public about the consequences of the war in Iraq and the connections between war and other national and local issues confronted by our community.”

The funds will support NFPOC’s Honor the Fallen memorial to the casualties of the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars. Through panels of photographs and biographies, the Honor the Fallen memorial bears witness to the U. S. servicemen and women who have lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The memorial also honors the Iraqis who have perished in the war. The memorial, which was started in 2002 by Nicholas Cohen, a New Yorker and former Army Ranger, has been displayed in numerous venues, from New York City to Greenport. “Visiting the memorial has been a very moving experience for most people,” said Eleanor Oakley, an NFPOC director. “when they look at the faces of those killed and read about whom they have left behind. After spending time with the panels, those killed can no longer remain anonymous. Unfortunately, we have to update the memorial every month because every month more soldiers die.”

As part of its community-based mission, NFPOC is presenting a Documentary Film Series spotlighting films that deal with the consequences of war. The first in the series, “Sisters in the Resistance” will be shown at Peconic Landing in Greenport on August 25 at 8PM. Admission is free. The group plans to screen films on a monthly basis. “This very generous grant will allow us to screen more films in numerous venues”, says Ms. Hovey, “and this in turn will, hopefully, generate more awareness and discussion about the costs of war”.

NFPOC LAUNCHES FILM SERIES ABOUT WAR

2006-08-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

North Fork People of Conscience is pleased to announce the first film in our series dealing with issues of war.

SISTERS IN RESISTANCE, a documentary about four French women who put their lives on the line to fight the Nazi occupation of France which led to their arrest by the Gestapo and and deportation to the Ravensbruck concentration camp.

The film shows them as they are today, still activists, still bound by an enduring friendship. More information about the film and Maia Wechesler, the film maker, can be found at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sistersinresistance/film.html

The film will be screened in the Peconic Landing auditorium in Greenport on Friday, August 25 at 8 pm, and will be followed by an open discussion.

Admission is free.

We hope you and your friends can join us to watch this compelling story of courage, conviction and commitment.

For more information, please contact Gwynne Schroeder at 631 298 4912 or email us at nfpofc@optonline.com

If you live on the North Fork, we hope you will be seeing our poster all around town.

SOLIDARITY IN SETAUKET

2006-07-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday, from 11 to noon, a group of stalwart people from North Country Peace Group and Veterans for Peace meet on Route 25A in Setauket to demonstrate against the war in Iraq. They have been doing so since the war began. Recently, a small group of war supporters have gathered on the opposite side of the highway, becoming increasingly vocal and confrontational.

On Saturday, July 8 several Long Island groups including North Fork People of Conscience, South Country Peace Group, Suffolk Peace Network and Pax Christi, traveled to Setauket to lend support and express solidarity with the anti-war demonstrators. This increased peace group presence of at least 30 people provided an impressive contrast to the five war supporters across the street. Along with a lively display of flags and signs, demonstrators held panels from the North Fork People of Conscience Honor the Fallen memorial of photographic panels of U. S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Organizers expect that this heightened peace presence will lead to a larger number of war supporters in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Bill Kelly for the photographs, more of which can be seen at www.pbase.com/rakelly
For more news about East End events, see http://eastendrep.blogspot.com and sign up for future updates.

DOLLAR COST OF THE IRAQ WAR

2006-06-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

VOICES FOR PEACE

2006-05-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

On May 21, North Fork People of Conscience displayed 140 panels at Voices for Peace, a fundraising event to support war veterans running for Congress.

Despite the huge walls and floors of the space generously donated by Bill and Eileen of OneSource Tools in Southampton, we were able to hang only 100 of the panels and had to stack the remaining 40 on a table.

COUNTER-RECRUITING

2006-05-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

We were very pleased to hear about a two-day counter-recruiting teach-in at Mattituck High School last week.

Emily Crook, a graduate of the school and now a junior at college, developed a two-day agenda for seniors at the school, based on materials she had found on the web from sites such as warresistersleague.com. We provided her with DMZ, an excellent publication from War Resisters League, that offers students important information to help them make a considered and informed decision about their future when they are approached by military recruiters.

We applaud Emily's initiative and integrity and look forward to reading about her in this week's Suffolk Times.

ANOTHER LOOK AT MOTHER'S DAY

2006-05-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is Julia Ward Howe who is better known for writing the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic than for the Mother's Day Proclamation that she wrote in 1870.

Although she succeeded in broad acceptance for her idea of Mothers' Peace Day Observance on the second Sunday in June, she was unable to get recognition for it as an official national holiday. Nevertheless, it was Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Peace Day that led to Mother's Day as we now celebrate it in May.

However, Mother's Day as we celebrate it today with flowers, candy and taking Mom out to dinner is very different from Julia's original concept thinking of it as a Mother's Day for Peace, a day on which women speak out in their own voices against war and aggression. For her, Mother's Peace Day was a call to activism.

We urge you to echo her voice this Sunday and to remember all the mothers who have lost their children to war or whose daily lives are filled with images of their children fighting in a war of any kind anywhere in the world.

Mother's Peace Day Proclamation of 1870

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

WE WERE THERE! April 29 in New York City

2006-05-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

North Fork People of Conscience were at the UFPJ anti-war rally, joined with 350,000 other enlightened voices against the war.

APRIL 29 RALLY IN NEW YORK CITY

2006-04-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a map of the meeting points for the rally. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

North Fork People of Conscience will be traveling on the 9.43 train out of Ronkonkoma and assembling on East 20th Street. Look for our banner. See you there.

If you have a VOICE AGAINST THE WAR/NFPOC t-shirt, do wear it. If not, we still have some for sale.

For more information, please link to http://www.april29.org/ You may want to sign up to get their email updates directly.

MAY 21 PICNIC LUNCH TO SUPPORT BAND OF BROTHERS

2006-04-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

We hope you can join us for this event and kick off the mid-term election season.

For more information, please call 631 288 0800.

APRIL 15 EASTHAMPTON PROTEST

2006-04-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

This protest was set for income tax day to organized by Jerry Mooney and the East End Peace & Justice Coalition in order to remind people where their money is going on income tax day. It was attended by both Democrats and Republicans and widely reported in all major South Fork newspapers.

NFPOC receives generous grant from RESIST

2006-04-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE

Resist contact: Robin Carton, Grants Manager
RESIST, Inc.
259 Elm Street
Somerville, MA 02144

617.623.5110 or robin@resistinc.org or www.resistinc.org

North Fork People of Conscience Receives Grant Award

NFPOC has just been awarded $1,400 by RESIST, Inc. a national progressive foundation located in Somerville, Massachusetts.

NFPOC received this funding for an organization dedicated to progressive political and social change, with a strong focus on opposing the war in Iraq. "We are very excited to have received this grant from RESIST," said Ethel Sussman, a member of NFPOC. "This will enable us to continue updating and maintaining the panels of photographs and biographies that constitute Honor the Fallen, our memorial to the US soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will also support our efforts to remember the Iraqi civilans who have been killed in this war." To contact NFPOC, please write to North Fork People of Conscience at PO Box 1330, Southold, NY 11971 or email nfpofc@optonline.net

RESIST began in 1967 with a "call to resist illegitimate authority" in support of draft resistance in support to the Vietnam War. RESIST has continued to fund a broad range of movements for social justice and, over the years, has evolved into a national foundation providing small but timely funding for grassroots peace and social justice groups. RESIST has six funding cycles during the calendar year. In fiscal year 2005, RESIST gave almost $282,000 to 136 organizations across the country.

"Each year, RESIST funds groups like North Fork People of Conscience, because our mission is to support people who take a stand about the issues that matter today, whether it's to resist corporate globalization, promote a woman's right to choose, or develop activist leaders," says Board Chair Marc Miller. "And we believe it is especially important to help grassroots organizations that might be too small or too local for mainstream foundations."

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR—a great success!

2006-03-25T15:49:00.000-08:00

Every now and then something happens that is just right: the right time, the right place, the right people, the right reason and the right spirit.

Sunday, March 19, 2006 was such a day. We are especially heartened by the many calls and emails we have received since from people telling us how good it made them feel to be part of such a gathering, how much they learned from the speakers, the films and each other and how they are strengthened in their resolve to assert their voices against the war. This in turn has inspired our resolve to encourage more people to become more active in ending this war.

Have you called your senator or congressman today?

We estimate 200 or so people attended the event on Sunday. Most of them were publicly protesting the war for the first time which has allowed us to expand our email list for future communications. People came not just from the North Fork but also from points south and west, including Southampton, Bethpage, Babylon, Flanders, Yaphank, Speonk, Westhampton Beach, Bayport, Patchogue, Sag Harbor, Hampton Bays, Miller Place, Holbrook, East Patchogue, Mastic Beach, Huntington, New York City and New Jersey.

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR was also designed to raise much-needed funds to continue the expansion of the Honor the Fallen Memorial—the lamination of more panels to memorialize the American soldiers who have been killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We succeeded far beyond our expectations by raising $3,310. This would never have been possible without the energetic, heartfelt support of our volunteers and the very generous donations from so many of those who attended the event and others who could not be present themselves.

We thank each and every one of you whose support made this into such a great success.

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR—highlights from the program

2006-03-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

Our first speaker was MICHAEL HARMON who spoke movingly and frankly about the very difficult time he has spent as a returning Iraq vet. It is one thing to read about PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome) and quite another to hear about the personal toll it exacts on a human being. He told us about the grueling life of a combat medic, living on a daily ration of two bottles of water and one portion of MREs, seeing young and old civilians being killed and wounded along with soldiers and gradually beginning to question why the US was in Iraq. He described the medical treatment he received from an overwhelmed VA hospital as “throwing pills at me” for what they diagnosed as “normal” feelings. He is now an active member of Iraq Vets Against the War and is studying to become a respiratory therapist.
Thank you, Michael, for coming to Riverhead and for offering to help us in our future efforts.

Does your elected official know that you exist?

CARMEN TROTTA of the Catholic Worker movement gave an impassioned speech in which he expressed his fear for his country, his belief that the system is broken and beyond repair, based as it is on both political parties being equally driven by a commitment to oil. In his own words:

"I am deeply fearful because in the last couple of years I have come to believe that we can no longer reform this country... Republican Party, Democratic Party ..they both want this war, they both need the oil. There is no way to
reform this country yet there is a world begging. The strongest political voice is the voice of the American people if they would begin to speak and if they would speak articulately."

We can learn from the enormous, vocal, Vietnam peace movement, he said, echoing the words of Martin Luther King that it is only out of community-based action that change can occur. Otherwise, Carmen believes, we will slip into chaos.

Have you called your senator and your congressman? Today?

JOHN PHILLIPS spoke about his former job as a New York City police officer in which he identified and brought to justice people who acted in criminal fashion. Using the same principles, he has investigated the administration’s activities after which he came to the same conclusion: these are criminal activities and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

Walking his talk, John was arrested at Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's office when he refused to leave the premises. "We have heads of state admitting to felony crime on television and we need to stand up and say this is unacceptable," Mr. Phillips told the court. "Their agenda is inconsistent with the rights of the American people," he said.
Does your elected official know what you think?

JOE GIANNINI, founder of East End Vets Against the War, said that the Iraq war is fueled by oil, hubris and greed. He quoted Smedley Butler who left the Marines in the mid-1930s and wrote: 'War is Hell: the profits are measured in dollars and the losses are measured in lives'."

Joe’s continuing activism will be channeled from now until November into support for the Band of Veterans, composed mainly of Democrat vets, who are seeking Congressional office this year.

He also told the audience: "I want to take back our government…I have made a decision I won't support any politician unless they stand with another Marine, John Murtha , who's already come to the conclusion (that we should withdraw our troops now).”

Have you called your elected officials this week?

OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND
We learned a few days ago that director Garrett Scott, had died of cardiac arrest while swimming in a public pool in Los Angeles. He was visiting his family before attending the Indie Spirit Awards the next day. He was 37. We send his family and team our condolences and thank them for the opportunity to show this documentary to our audience.

It gave people an up close and personal look into a platoon in Falluja, casting light onto what can often be a very mundane soldier’s life: it brought home to us how young and confused and seemingly leaderless these young men can feel.
It resonated very deeply with the more than 2,000 faces of the dead in the panels lining the halls and rooms of Vail-Leavitt Music Hall.

RECRUIT ME!
This documentary, created by Matt Dadonna, a Mattituck high school student and Greg Rothman, captured a demonstration organized by NFPOC last summer in front of the military recruiting offices in Riverhead. We are hoping to show this film to a larger audience of North Fork high school students.

ALERT! NFPOC on WRIV

2006-03-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR will be the subject of a call-in show with host Jay Oliver on WRIV-Riverhead (1390 AM) at 9.50 a.m. on Friday, March 17.

We hope you will tune in and call in--a great opportunity for your voice to be heard.

MUSIC AGAINST WAR: CLAUDIA JACOBS AND HER GUITAR

2006-03-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

The rallying cry against this senseless war has brought Claudia Jacobs back to her folk and political musical roots! Raised on The Weavers by her Liberal parents, she got her first guitar at age 11 and hasn’t stopped performing since. Though Claudia (known as CB to some) has been on a hiatus from touring for several years and has collected an array of musical influences since then, she’s back in full swing. Claudia’s strength as a musician surely lies in her soulful live performance which is probably why she’s just now getting around to recording her debut CD.

fyi-This will be the 11th Honor the Fallen Memorial event

2006-03-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

Since we formed NFPOC one year ago, we have shown the Honor the Fallen Memorial eleven times.

Our first event was on the second anniversary of the invasion, in Greenport, NY, on March 20, 2005.

Since then, the panels have been seen at the Ethical-Humanist Society in Garden City, the Methodist Church in Southampton, the auditorium at Mattituck High School, Quinipet Hall in Shelter Island, Shinn Vineyards in Mattituck, Hofstra University, New York University, Washington Square Park, Smithhaven Mall in Lake Grove and, on March 19 at Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, Riverhead.

We agree with Alice Walker when she said: "Activism is my rent for living on this planet."

WE ALSO REMEMBER THE IRAQI DEAD

2006-03-13T07:28:00.000-08:00

We are not reminded often enough of the toll this war has taken on the Iraqis. Although we cannot begin comprehend the suffering of the Iraqi people, as they live with the daily destruction of their families, friends and homeland, we feel we must at least bear witness, from far away though it is.

Here are two offerings that will be on display at VOICES AGAINST THE WAR: The faces of nine children, men and women who have been killed in this war along with facts and figures that place these faces into their appalling context.

To date, there have been at least 33,000 identified Iraqi deaths. It is estimated that there are nine times as many unidentified as identified dead.

For context, Southold Town, home to North Fork People of Conscience, has approximately 22,000 residents. Perhaps comparing this to the 33,000 identified Iraqi dead will help make the numbers seem more real.

Driving instructions to Vail-Leavitt Music Hall

2006-03-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

We look forward to seeing you at VOICES AGAINST THE WAR on Sunday, March 19.

To make sure you have no problems finding us, here are driving instructions to Vail-Leavitt Music Hall if you are coming from the west. For other directions, please visit http://vail-leavitt.org/directions.htm or email us at nfpofc@optonline.net

From the LI Expressway (495):
Take Exit 71 South and turn right at the bottom. Travel approximately 3.5 miles to the traffic circle, past the jail and other Suffolk County offices on right. You will see three gas stations (Shell, Getty, Gulf). Proceed 2/3 of way around circle past the Gulf station on the right. That is Route 25. Approximately 200 yards later and just before the traffic light, you will see a sign for Vail-Leavitt MH. Turn right onto Peconic Avenue .

For best parking, use the municipal parking lot halfway up the block on your right. Walk back to Peconic Avenue (past information booth) and then north toward Main Street. Vail-Leavitt Music Hall will be the 4th building on your right. Main entrance has a slate-stepped entrance alcove.

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR: postcards

2006-03-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

We offer two postcards with the hope that they will provide more voices against the war--and add to the funds we raise for continuing our work on the Honor the Fallen memorial.

We will be selling them on March 19 for $1.25.

"War Bride" by Gina Gilmour, an award-winning North Fork artist whose work is currently on display at the East End Arts Council in Riverhead.

"Flag", a photograph taken at a peace demonstration by Barbara Earnzerhoff.

NFPOC has a bank account!

2006-03-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

NORTH FORK PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE is now registered with the IRS as a not-for-profit corporation.

This means we have a bank account and you can now make out your tax-deductible checks and donations to North Fork People of Conscience.

All proceeds from everything we do will be used to continue the heart-breaking task of expanding and maintaining the Honor the Fallen Memorial, which consists, so far, of over 120 laminated panels of photographs and biographies of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We have nearly 400 new faces waiting to be laminated--that's another 22 panels. So far.

Our address:

North Fork People of Conscience
POBox 1330
Southold, New York 11971

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR: the bumper sticker

2006-03-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

We also have a bumper sticker so you can raise your voice against the war as you drive around town.

Why not buy one for a friend who can't get to our event on March 19?

Cost $3.

All the money raised will go to support the continuation of the Honor the Fallen memorial project.

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR: the t-shirt

2006-03-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

Just in time for March 19, we have created a VOICE AGAINST THE WAR t-shirt.

Black, with red and silver design and our logo, the short-sleeved t-shirt is available in a variety of men's and women's sizes for $15. Made in the USA.

If you'd like to reserve one, please email us at nfpofc@optonline.net.

SPEAKERS—VOICES AGAINST THE WAR

2006-03-01T06:30:00.000-08:00

We are honored to welcome four speakers, two of them veterans, one a retired NYPD officer and one a peace activist.

Here is some information on each of them. We hope you will be able to join us on March 19 so you can hear each of them in person, ask them questions from the audience or speak with them face to face at the end of the program.

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JOE GIANINNI is a Vietnam Veteran. He served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, as a U.S. Marine officer in the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines. In November 2004 he formed the East End Veterans Against the War.

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MICHAEL HARMON is a member of Iraq Vets Against the War. This is what he told us about himself in an email:

“I saw the flyer and I am excited. I am glad I could help. I joined the army in May 2002 partly to do with 9/11. I was deployed to Iraq on April 2nd, 2003 as part of the initial invasion force. My unit was 1/67 armor battalion with the 4th Infantry Division out of FT. Hood,Texas. I was a combat medic (civilian EMT) and was 10 miles north of Baghdad. I spent 13 months in a blown out hospital that we called home. I received an Army Commendation Medal with Valor for saving 3 soldiers lives along with 2 other medics. I returned home on April 29, 2004."

Michael is planning to bring a film crew with him for a documentary they are producing:

“It is a short film by an NYU film student who has done many projects with BBC. He is really good for the cause and good for exposure. He said he would like to attend so he could see your wonderful display.”

We welcome Michael and his friends. We support their cause as they support ours—although of course it is really all one and the same cause!

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JOHN PHILLIPS is a retired NYPD officer.
Following is the statement that he made to the court accounting for his action in Senator Clinton's office.

"The basis for my actions was to call to the attention of Senator Clinton the apparent misuse of our US military and the National Guard of the State of New York, subjecting them to injury and death and forcing them into combat against the civilian population of Iraq.

“The premise of this war has been proven baseless and therefore the continuation of this war constitutes a crime ! It is in the effort to halt that crime that I raise my objections.

“Since October 26, over 275 more of our military personnel have been killed! And it appears that a criminal motivation is perpetuating this war. We need to object to the inaction of our local leaders as to protesting the continuance of this crime, and investigating the reasons behind these actions.

“My conscience demands that I be here before you today. Just as that conscience dictates that it is my civil responsibility, upon observation of a violent crime in progress, to halt that crime for the protection of the victim or victims; and to report the details to the authorities responsible for the jurisdiction.

“I have probable cause to believe that a crime is being committed against the people of this state. And I bring that premise before you today, and while I am no longer an active police officer in this state, it does not lessen my responsibility to speak out."

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CARMEN TROTTA is a leading member of Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker movement. He is a riveting speaker and we are honored that he has agreed to participate in VOICES AGAINST THE WAR.

Carmen has lived and worked at the Catholic Worker's St. Joseph's House on the Lower East Side of Manhattan since 1988. This hospitality house was founded by Dorothy Day in 1933 and offers shelter to the homeless and a soup kitchen for the homeless of New York City.. The Catholic Worker movement has been a 70-year experiment in radical Christianity based on community living, the acts of mercy and nonviolent resistance to war making. A major influence on Carmen has been his long time friend Fr. Daniel Berrigan SJ who was imprisoned during the Vietnam War period for burning draft cards. Along with his late brother Philip, Daniel Berrigan influenced the pacifist Catholic Worker movement dramatically.

For more information, www.catholicworker.org

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR-program preview

2006-02-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

As we count down the days to March 19 and our VOICES AGAINST THE WAR event, we will be posting more detailed information about our speakers, films and North Fork People of Conscience t-shirts, bumper stickers and postcards.

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OCCUPATION:DREAMLAND

Today, we want to tell you more about OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND, Garrett Scott’s documentary about US soldiers fighting in Falluja. The film follows Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon from the 82nd Airborne Division patrolling and securing Falluja, Iraq in 2003 and 2004 prior to the major insurrection that cost heavy American casualties to retake the city.

The film has been shown all over the country since September, 2005.

Here are some comments from reviewers:

"Occupation Dreamland" is a tribute to the men and women serving in Iraq by telling their story, offering all points of view, and avoiding stereotypes or simplicity. Some soldiers believe in what they're doing in Iraq. Some believe they're in Iraq for oil. Still others ponder why they're in Iraq at all when the September 11th hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. One soldier points out that Cheney's former company Halliburton gets all of the no-bid contracts for reconstruction and says, "War is money." And several soldiers acknowledge what is really happening to the people of Falluja and admit that if there was an occupying army in their hometown they would fight back too." --BuzzFlash

“A respectful and determinedly nonpartisan portrait of regular guys…all doing their best to carry out inchoate orders in an untenable situation.” -– Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

“A grunt’s eye view of the current situation that needs to be seen, regardless of a viewer’s political persuasion.”-- Ty Burr, Boston Globe

"The terrific Occupation: Dreamland, a fair-minded grunt's eye view of the war in Iraq that trusts the audience to draw its own conclusions." --Joshua Land, Village Voice

"By giving these men a forum even before Falluja became a household name and showing what has been conspicously absent from our tv screens - actual footage of the conflict - the [directors] have made something far chewier than the usual bumper-sticker polemics." --David Frear, Time Out New York

"You love the filmmakers...for their open love and respect for the young men." --Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

You can find out more about filmmaker Garrett Scott in this BuzzFlash interview http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/06/01/int06003.html

And, of course, by joining us to watch his film at the VOICES AGAINST THE WAR event on March 19!

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We will also be screening:

RECRUIT ME: Matt Dadonna, a student at Southold High School, has made a short film about an anti-recruiting protest outside the Riverhead Army Recruiting offices last summer.

We are proud to see this young filmmaker speak truth to his convictions and hope he’ll be in town to speak to us about his film.

NORTH FORK PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE have a blog

2006-02-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Now that we at North Fork People of Conscience have our own blog we will be able to share information more easily with you, let you know what we are doing, give you an opportunity to post your comments and questions, interact with each other, volunteer for specific events, link to other blogs and sites with similar interests and forward the information to your friends and kindred spirits.

The most important news we have is VOICES AGAINST THE WAR, a major event planned for Sunday, March 19 from 1-5 pm at the Vail-Leavitt Hall, 18 Peconic Avenue, Riverhead, New York. (telephone 631 727 5782)

We will be proud to raise our voices in solidarity with hundreds of other groups all over the country and hope you will join us to raise yours on that day.

We are about to post the press release we will be sending out to raise awareness and enthusiasm for the event. Please feel free to send it on to your own network.

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR-press release

2006-02-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

NORTH FORK PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE
POB 1330
Southold, NY 11971

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2006
Contact: 631 765 4612 or nfpofc@optonline.net

VOICES AGAINST THE WAR

On Sunday, March 19th, 2006 North Fork People of Conscience will be marking the day we enter the fourth year of the Iraq war. The program runs from 2-5 pm. at Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, 18 Peconic Avenue in Riverhead, New York 11901 (telephone 631 727 5782). Doors open at 1 pm.

In an ever-growing series of 120 photographic panels, each holding 18 individual lives in photographs and short biographies, VOICES AGAINST THE WAR includes Honor the Fallen, the Memorial that remembers the more than 2,400 US soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. These panels will be displayed on the walls, floors and balconies of the Hall--as many as there is space for. The Memorial will be open for viewing at 1 pm.

The program for VOICES AGAINST THE WAR also includes two films and several speakers:

• OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND, directed by Garett Scott. The documentary follows Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon from the 82nd Airborne Division patrolling and securing Falluja, Iraq, in 2003 and 2004 prior to the major insurrection that cost heavy American casualties to retake the city.

• RECRUIT ME, a short film by Matt Dadonna, a North Fork
high school student.

• Michael Harmon, a recently returned Iraqi Vet and member of Iraq Vets Against the War, who was deployed as a combat medic with the 4th Infantry Division.

• Carmen Trotta, a well known Catholic Worker activist

• John Phillips, a retired NYPD officer who was arrested for
protesting in Senator Hillary Clinton’s office

• Joe Giannini, founder East End Vets Against the War

Funds raised through admission tickets, merchandise and refreshments will be used entirely to create more laminated panels to reflect the mounting dead. NFPOC will be selling t-shirts, bumper stickers and postcards, designed for the event by North Fork artists.

Tickets: $10 for adults; $6 for senior citizens and students. These will be available at the door.

For more information: Gwynn at 631 298 4912

THE COST OF CREATING A PANEL

2006-02-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

It costs us approximately $75 to produce one panel.

First, we have to download the photographs and biographies and print them on glossy photographic paper. Once we have completed 18, we send them to Manhattan for laminating onto a 3'x5' panel. The cost includes printer cartridges, paper, lamination and shipping.

We also buy various adhesive materials for securing the panels in a variety of environments.

Everything else is contributed by North Fork People of Conscience.