Tom Sturtevant Chapter 1
November 29, 2012
Mediation and Reconciliation Center
Augusta, Maine
Attending: Nicole Moreau, Regis Tremblay, Ed McCarthy, Dud Hendrick, Bud Buzzell, Richard Clement, Rita Clement, Dan Ellis, Dovey Balsam, Clarence Smith, Peggy Akers, Peter Woodruff, Bruce Gagnon, Dawud Ummah, Cathy Roberts, Doug Rawlings
Reading: Doug read a personal appeal to Israeli soldiers to lay down their arms.
PeaceJam: Cathy Roberts talked about PeaceJam which is a national youth training program with two clubs in Maine. She requests VFP sponsorship of the effort in Maine. She hopes to recruit more clubs at local high schools across the state. No action taken. See peacejam.org
Farming Program: David Ummah from Portland talked about the youth farming program he has been working on for some time. Wanted to give us an update. Now starting a greenhouse program with a local high school and needs help. Visions it as a prisoner reentry program with the state. He will work with Smitty and come back another time with more details.
Past Minutes: Approved and on web site.
Treasurer Report: Agreed to combine the Justin and Tom fund’s and rename to “Crowley Fund” to be used for PTSD related activities. At our last meeting $4,500 was approved for our next PTSD symposium in Portland.
Membership: Currently have 159 chapter members. 95 have paid their dues.
Education Committee: Will begin vigiling at shopping plazas through Xmas. Contact Richard and Rita Clement for details. randrclement@yahoo.com
Media Committee: Dud got an announcement about this meeting in the local paper. He also met with editorial director at the Bangor Daily News. Is looking for ways to link topics to meeting announcements in the future. Dud also had an excellent article printed at Common Dreams.
Outreach Committee: Blue Angels are coming back to Brunswick next September 14-15. Was agreed that we’d do another protest but will go inside the event like 14 of us did last time. Because the base is now a quasi-public place they are reluctant to arrest us which gives us the ability to do virtually anything we want to do inside the airshow where we have more visibility and can hand out literature. Bruce will facilitate the planning committee comprised of Dud, Doug, Peter, Dan, and Nicole. Let Bruce know if you want to be notified when committee meets. globalnet@mindspring.com
Maine Missile Defense Base?: Bruce reported that some in the Congress are pushing for a “missile defense” base on the east coast (currently bases in Alaska and California). These would be underground missile silos with interceptors. Maine and New York are mentioned as most likely sites if approved. The chapter declared its opposition to any MD base.
By-Laws: National covers local chapter by-laws and they call for 3-6 board members and gives wide powers to that local board. Smitty volunteered to draft a local set of By-laws for us.
PTSD Symposium: Doug reported that a deposit has been made to USM for the hall. Paula Kaplan will be keynote speaker. Talking with her about others to be on a panel about ways to deal with war trauma. Let Doug know of ideas for other panelists. Might show some 5 minute videos throughout the day about what people are doing to deal with trauma. Event will be held on May 18. Applying to national VFP’s Zinn Fund for support. Was suggested we check with Maine Initiatives as well for financial help.
List Serve: Dan asked if the new list serve as working well for folks. You can mail directly to it at vfplistserv@vfpmaine.org
Next Meetings: We will not meet in December. Next meeting will be January 10 in Brunswick. Will possibly have a one-day retreat in February. Rita and Peggy will work on this.
Doug’s Retirement Party: Doug’s retirement party from UMF will be held on Dec 21 at 4:00pm in Farmington at the famous juke joint called “The Homestead”. All are invited.
