Present: Brenda Collier, Steve Ludwig, Ellen Finkelstein, Karen Moore, John Bito, Gunnel Clark, Esther Wolf, Linda York, Diana Forman
Faces of War – Gunnel met with Michael Ramos of the Church Council, who has agreed to mention her project in the next edition of The Source, their newsletter, and who may also promote it on the council's website by linking it to mention of the recent bus ads. We agreed that Support the Faces of War Project should appear on the SNOW site as an action rather than under resources to help people find it, and Gunnel will notify Eric to make the change. It will also go into SNOW announce this week.
Lobbying in Olympia – The group went again to Olympia with their sign and handouts, they had a good time, and the session is now over.
Action of the Week – Maureen is working on this week's action.
Military counter-recruiting ads – Capitol Hill Neighbors for Peace and Justice has combined the $70 raised at the last general meeting with $25 raised at CHNPJ's April meeting and added $65 of the group's own funds to run half-page counter-recruiting ads in the Garfield Messenger in both April and May.
Beyond Oil – Sponsors have materialized and reflect the three strands of the conference scheduled for May 14. We need to get the word out to the larger community and also find day of volunteers.
May 1 coordinated peace actions – It's too late to plan our own contribution to the border to border peace events planned to support the nuclear proliferation action in New York City, but SNOW will encourage people to join the Greenlake vigil to show their enduring support for peace. There may also be a Seattle Center event at 3:00 sponsored by Jobs with Justice.
May 23 rally in Olympia proposed by Lake Forest Park for Peace – The rally will protest US militarism around the world and highlight opposition to excessive involvement of the military in Washington State, as encouraged by Governor Gregoire. LFPP has requested endorsement, but Gunnel will carry the message to the group's meeting that while SNOW will endorse the event, we cannot participate in financing the action. We will, however, get the word out to our membership and help provide contact with anti-war groups in Olympia with Ellen's help. John Bito may also attend the group's organizational meeting.
Counter recruiting activities - Steve, Linda, and Ellen will attend the May 2 counter-recruiting meeting at University Lutheran Church. Karen, Linda, and Ellen also attended an earlier meeting and discussed the counter-recruiting ads and possible actions at recruiting stations. Alex Bacon has outlined a possible weekly action to tell delayed-entry inductees what their rights are while they are put up at hotels in Belltown prior to their processing south of Safeco Field.
Speaking of young people - a peace activist from Port Townsend took young people to the United for Peace and Justice conference this winter and reported that they were treated like royalty. If adults working with these young people, with the FOR interns, and an AFSC intern could coordinate efforts, they could create a youth camp for the fall.
Plans are already underway in response to WA State's having the second highest number of National Guard troops going to Iraq, second only to Vermont.
Steve reported that he is meeting this Thursday with the Garfield committee to decide how to implement their plan, and that May 9 is the date for the Garfield resolution on military recruiting to go to the general membership of the PTSA. He would like to take the Garfield success to other high schools and may form a SNOW working group to involve interested participants. Efforts at AFSC will move ahead thanks to an intern arriving soon, and there may be someone working in counter-recruiting at Ingraham, as well. What's needed is coordination among these groups and individuals.
Voice in Wartime curriculum training will be a five-hour event on April 28th.
ISO program on primary documents – The International Socialist Organization is planning a program over Memorial Day as a follow-up to Howard Zinn's People's History of the US. A number of historians associated with Zinn will participate in the program at the Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park.
Voices of Conscience event – Jackie Renn has organized an informal afternoon of conversation with Ed Asner on Sunday, May 15, from 1-4PM, at C and P Coffee in West Seattle. Space is limited.
May visit of Mike Hoffman, founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War – Gunnel announced that Mike Hoffman will be visiting the Northwest from May 23 through the 26th. So far, we know that Mike will appear in Port Townsend and that a panel is being planned locally for Tuesday, the 24th, at either 11:30 or 12:30 in which Abe Oshoroff will also participate. Mark Jenkins is looking into organizing something at the UW for either the afternoon or evening of the 23rd or the morning of the 25th. This is a wonderful opportunity for SNOW to get involved with his visit, given our counter-recruiting efforts and the chance to connect the vet's appearance with young people. We could endorse the event at the UW, use SNOW announce to promote it, get out flyers for the general meeting on the 9th and ask for someone to volunteer their help with promotion. Perhaps Mark could even attend on the 9th.
Iraq visitor – Though he is currently having visa trouble, a union member from Iraq is planning to visit Seattle in June. Ellen and Steve will attend an organizing meeting at LELO, 1419 South Jackson this Wednesday.
Japanese visitors – This Thursday is the dinner for 53 Japanese citizens who are visiting the US to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and participate in non-proliferation activities in New York City. Jean Buskin will represent FOR and give the visitors flyers and buttons. Ruth Yarrow will represent SNOW, and it was decided that she will give each one an Iraqi faces notecard and SNOW flyer.
Ruth will also take the three large posters, each featuring an Iraqi child or adult, to the dinner and, as SNOW's message to the delegation, will describe the group's origin, purpose, and current activities.
SNOW bulletin for 5/4/05 – Marcia will not be able to produce the May 4 SNOW announce bulletin. John Bito is willing to help and will talk to Marcia and determine what will happen in her absence.
May 9 general meeting agenda – So far the agenda should contain Beyond Oil, counter-recruiting activity, Mike Hoffman's visit, SNOW projects, presentation of the budget, the Olympia rally and march, and possible further discussion of SNOW's focus.
Fremont Market table – We missed the April 1 deadline to sign up for a table at the Fremont Solstice celebration, but Steve will renew our membership and sign us up to participate in the Fremont Market's regular summer season to substitute for vendors unable to come. Steve will coordinate use of the table, and whenever a table becomes available, Big SNOW will have the first chance to take the space with SNOW Fremont filling in if Big SNOW decides to pass.
Upcoming meetings – Steve will send out the list of volunteer facilitators and note takers if he can locate it. Brenda is willing to facilitate the general meeting on the 9th if the list doesn't turn up.
Budget for 2005 – Brenda explained that $4,500 in expenses for the March 19 rally and march still have not been paid and that there will be a meeting this Thursday with representatives of the six sponsors to talk it over. Brenda and Ellen will attend. SNOW, ISO, and the Church Council are the only sponsors with cash; the other three made in-kind pledges. There is also the possibility of returning to endorsing organizations to collect the money they promised but have yet to contribute. Volunteers were obtained. At the moment the March 19 committee is simply not paying its bills, such as to Seattle Center and possibly the printer. One thought would be to just pay our part – either $750 (1/6 of the total) or $1500 (1/3 of the total) – because it's so difficult to collect money after the fact. We agreed that Brenda and Ellen could offer at the meeting to pay the $750.
It was felt that SNOW needs to refine its outreach and the presentation of the budget to the membership. Perhaps all program expenses should be lumped together. In the end we approved the budget information as well as the numbers.
Rotating Coordinating Committee membership – All of us are finding it difficult to get a replacement for ourselves from our neighborhood groups. Now that the number of meetings has been reduced, we need help encouraging others to take their turn as part of the organizational structure. Steve suggested we should put the topic onto the next CC meeting agenda.
The meeting adjourned at 9:10PM.