2007 ~Year in Review Michigan Campaign for a Department of Peace

Here’s a recap of the amazing 2007 generated by activists in Michigan. Thank you Michigan State Coordinator Linda Henderson for sharing this tremendous portrait of the difference even just a few people can make!


Annual Mother's Day Piece of the Pie Event
All 15 Congressional District Offices and several Senate Offices around the state, received pies with pie charts identifying that "Peace wants a Piece of the Pie."


District Updates
Below are updates for you of what Department of Peace district activists accomplished during the year. Please keep in mind there were many more that are not mentioned below who gave significantly to our efforts, and our most sincere gratitude extends to all:

1st District:
Rand Marquardt (District Co-leader); Barbara MacArthur (District Co-leader), Karen Martin, Molly Tate, Michael Moore and James Ramelis (Upper Peninsula) all pitched in to support the campaign. Molly Tate and others presented to the Charlevoix City Council, taking pies to a Council Meeting and requesting they send a letter to Congressman Bart Stupak to support HR 808. The letter was in fact sent by Council-members and the Mayor.

Shortly thereafter, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians voted in support of HR 808 in their Tribal Council. This is the first Native American Tribe in the U.S. to come on board!

Petoskey City Council was also approached by Rand Marquardt and his team during our Mother's Day event, but they decided not to support the resolution believing it to be a "federal issue." Karen Martin from Cheboygan also presented the resolution to her City Council, who also voted it down for the same reasons, and Karen thereafter used that as an opportunity to get a very impressive letter published in the local paper in response...further educating the public on the issue. Success comes in many forms.

2nd Distict:
Janet Schultz (District Leader), Dr. Barbara Edwards, Nanci & Josh Swenson, Commissioner Kathy Fenstermacher, Brenda Reeber and Bob Shrauger, among others, have worked to support the legislation in the 2nd District.

We met Barbara Edwards in Senator Stabenow's office during the national conference. She requested that I come speak to the Manistee Women's Network on September 20th. Thereafter a Manistee Peace Group was formed by Nanci & Josh Swenson who requested I speak to their group the night before on 9/19/07. Janet Shultz and Jim Gould (5th District) supported this effort.

Commissioner Fenstermacher attended the talks and presented the resolution in support of HR 808 to the Manistee County Board of Commissioners, who passed the resolution on 10/23/07.

But wait...there's more. Commissioner Fenstermacher then took the issue to the Manistee City Council requesting they pass the resolution, which they did on 11/20/07. I hear that the good Commissioner is now approaching local townships for support. Several articles and letters to the editor have been published in the local paper. I was also interviewed for radio. Keep in mind that Manistee is a small and rural city in northern Michigan...this is real good stuff.

Janet Schultz also requested that I speak at O.P.E.N.'s Peacekeeper Awards in Pentwater Michigan on October 14th. Bob Shrauger, who has his own cable television program, was in attendance and has graciously supported the effort by having us on his local program.

3rd District:
Andrea Kushba (District Leader) and Guy Jacobson, former District Leader have approached the Grand Rapids City Commission to pass the resolution in support of HR 808 and I understand the resolution is currently pending in committee. Go Grand Rapids!

Also, Andrea joined me on September 16th for a talk about the legislation, which was requested by members of Grand Rapids Trinity UMC Church. More outreach...can't say enough about having the conversation. In addition, Guy and many others in the area helped organize a tabling event at the Red Hot Chili Peppers Concert the preceding Fall at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. What a great opportunity to spread the word.

4th District:
Kristen Jongen (District Leader), Darla Kay Hill, Stacey Fleming, Ruthy Poluszny and many others have done wonderful things in the Traverse City area. Darla, who is faculty at Northwestern Michigan College, has become the faculty advisor for the first Student Peace Alliance Chapter in the state. As you may know, the Student Peace Alliance had sprung up around the country in the past year or so, and they held their first national conference at Brandeis University in October 2007. We were able to provide plane tickets for Stacey and Ruthy (NMC students) to attend.

One of the outgrowths was the student vote to have a "Call-In Campaign", coordinated with The Peace Alliance activists, which aimed at having a call go into each Congressional District office in the country every 30 minutes for one entire week. Quite ambitious and thousands of calls were in fact made, with a special emphasis on calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Who said the youth of this country are on disconnect?

Kristen, and her team, presented the resolution to the City Commission of Traverse City. It did not look like they had the votes...3 for, 3 opposed, and the Mayor opposed. There were blizzard conditions on the night of the vote, when an elderly woman, formerly a Commissioner, walked into the meeting. At the podium she stated that she was going to watch this on TV but decided to come out in a snowstorm in support of the resolution because it was "just too important." No one had lobbied this woman, but because of the local NPR radio coverage and other media the team got out, apparently this icon of the community was moved to show up. We don't know entirely why, but the Mayor changed his vote and the resolution passed. Never underestimate the effect your good work has on any situation.

5th District:
Jim Gould (District Leader). That's it. It's all Jim in this district, and yet would you believe?...after Jim did his homework and found that Congressman Dale Kildee had a special interest in educational issues, he requested our 8th District Leader (a teacher) to come with him to meet with the Congressman's staff during the national conference. Shortly thereafter, Congressman Kildee became the third Michigan Representative to sign on to HR 808. Another brilliant example of what one person can do!

6th District:
Robert Weir (District Leader), Bobbi Jo Gamache, and many others...had a very successful and productive year! Working on the heals of brilliantly hosting the Midwest Regional Conference in Kalamazoo MI in '06, this team has been very active tabling and doing fundraisers in support of HR 808. Most notably they had Swami Beyondanonda come in to entertain local folks while spreading the word about the Department of Peace campaign. It was great fun and introduced the campaign to many local folks, including the President of Kalamazoo College, while also raising needed funds to continue the campaign.

Robert and his team also requested the Kalamazoo City Commission pass a resolution in support of HR 808, and after much work in support, the resolution was passed on October 15th. This team has been particularly adept at getting media coverage for the campaign and Robert has been particularly thoughtful and thorough in his leadership role!

7th District:
Kelly & Jim Emerson (District Leaders), Ted Miller, Bob Lewis, Lyn Sawicki and members of the Jackson Interfaith Peacekeepers have continued to support the Department of Peace legislation, providing for tabling for the DoP at their annual awards ceremony at Jackson Community College each year. In 2006 Marianne Williamson came to speak at this event which raised considerable and much needed funds for The Peace Alliance! We thought we were getting close to having former Republican Congressman Schwarz sign onto the bill, but then he was defeated in the primaries. Great work in any event!

8th District:
Tina Duguay (District Leader), Merry Bering, Susan & Michael McPeak, and me...your State Coordinator, all have been contributing in the 8th. Lansing City Council passed the resolution in support of HR 808 unanimously on October 1st. In addition, Nathan Triplett, who had requested to see this resolution, has just been elected to the East Lansing City Council and we are hoping that they follow suit and pass the resolution also! We also saw passed a resolution in support of HR 808 in the Clinton and Ingham County Democratic Caucuses, which helped lay the ground work for passage on the state level.

11th District:
Colleen Mills (District Leader), George Mills, Mary Albertson, Linda Lieder, Clara Lawrence, Jerry Mehler, Ann & Rick Abdoo, Rosemary Doyle, Dottie Ochala, Bob Frank....it goes on and on believe me. They have named themselves: "Citizens for Peace"...and believe me folks these citizens are active every week with some new outreach effort to move us closer to the "Beloved Community". I cannot begin to list all that this team has done, so I will simply attach their list so that you can marvel at what one community has accomplished.

12th District:
Joanna Watts (District Leader), Bridget Brooks, Richard Hillier and Diana Gray (all former leaders) have contributed to our Department of Peace efforts, including tabling and lobbying for HR 808. Joanna has just graciously taken the helm in the 12th, as Bridget Brooks has encountered family obligations that require her attention. Bridget you are in our prayers. Bridget and I went to Michigan's state Democratic Convention this year, where a resolution was passed in support of HR 808.

13th District:
Betty Appleby (District Leader) Betty headed up a team of activists to visit Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks- Kilpatrick when attending the national convention in D.C. Congresswoman Kilpatrick has already signed onto the bill, and also heads up the important Congressional Black Caucus on the Hill. Betty was very instrumental at this meeting in lobbying for support of HR 808 in hopes to gain support from the Congressional Black Caucus.

14th District:
Dennis Mazurek (District Leader) James Britt, Fran Rosinski, Robert Hunter, Kathleen & Michael McEvoy, and more. Congressman John Conyers, now the Chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee in the U.S. House has been a supporter of this legislation from its inception. In 2003, Dennis initiated the national effort to pass City Council resolutions in support of the legislation. Robert Hunter saw the first resolution in the country passed in Hamtramck MI, with Detroit City Council following closely behind. Los Angeles CA, the second largest city in the country, just passed the resolution unanimously after 18 months of incredible effort by CA activists. There are now 33 resolutions passed in the U.S. and counting.

In addition, Dennis initiated our annual "Peace Walk" fundraisers for The Peace Alliance. This year, his team's efforts netted Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnna Watson, who lead our walk from Ferndale to Detroit, raising over $3,000.00 in support of the campaign. Also, Fran Rosinski helped organize the Martin Luther King Jr. Day effort at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Detroit. The keynote was given by Marianne Williamson, founder and President of the Board of The Peace Alliance. For those of you who have not heard Marianne speak, to hear her speak from the pulpit where Dr. King addressed his message many years ago, on a day dedicated to his memory...well...the effect was palpable. We then marched with the Department of Peace banner on Woodward Avenue, past the North American Auto Show, as we have done for several years running.

15th District:
We were happy to provide Rose Hurd, a student at Ypsilanti Community College, transportation so that she could also attend the Student Peace Alliance Conference at Brandeis University last Fall. She left inspired and dedicated to starting a Chapter of the SPA on her college campus.

Happy New Year....We shall go forth!