EPEC News

EPEC Meeting Minutes

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On March 19, 2009 EPEC sponsored "Eyes Wide Open",a day long event in Centennial Park, honoring the fallen victims of six years of war in Iraq. Check back soon for a full report of this event. We got great press and media coverage and hundreds of people came to mourn and honor the troops and Iraqi civillians who have perished as a result of this illegal and immoral war.
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An open letter to the Fort Myers News Press from EPEC president, Tom Guelcher

If I would have had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with President Barack Obama during his recent visit here in Fort Myers, I would have suggested a way that trillions of additional dollars could be added to our economic recovery and permanent economic stability.

I would have suggested that he begin to take measures to close the more than 730 United States military bases on foreign soil. These bases are a relic of empire that we could never really afford. They are bleeding our precarious economy. They did not prevent Al Qaida from staging an attack on our soil during 9/11.

I would have suggested that President Obama honor the current agreement our nation has with Iraq which states that ALL U.S. TROOPS will be withdrawn from that nation by 2011. The U.S. occupation has wrought devastation upon Iraq, has strengthened Iranian influence in the Middle East, and is a prime reason why world public opinion has turned against the United States. More than four thousand Americans have died there, and more continue to die there. Many of our veterans come home limbless, brain-injured and suicidal.

I would have suggested that our troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan as soon as possible. The fact that the United States does not have a clear mission in Afghanistan, after seven years of making war there, is compelling reason for bringing them home now.

History shows that people have risen up and taken arms against the United States, not because they hate Americans or our freedoms, but because of our unjust militaristic foreign policies. U.S. intelligence agencies and even former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have stated that the United States has created more terrorists in Iraq than we have captured or killed there. History shows what has happened to every bloated, over-extended military empire. Their demise began at home economically.

I would have suggested to President Obama that the savings derived by bringing our defenses back within America's borders, and by reducing our military budget, would provide trillions of dollars over future decades for domestic needs. More funding would be available to combat global warming, to repower America with clean energy, to end our dependence on oil, provide universal healthcare, invest in good jobs and a sound economy, and to keep Social Security solvent. The United States can do all of that and still maintain a defense strong enough to safeguard the American people from harm.

I would have suggested that the United States should engage the peoples of the world diplomatically, through discussion and debate, through cooperative endeavors, through economy, culture, education, environmental pursuits, through justice and friendship. The pursuit of a peaceful, non-militaristic foreign policy will reduce the threat of terrorism and will strengthen our economic condition here at home.

Lastly, I would have asked President Obama: Do you have the audacity to choose peace and the needs of the American people over military empire and the ruin it will surely bring?




The annual meeting of the Environmental and Peace Education Center was held on Sunday May 18, at 2:00pm, in the Eco Living Center at Rutenberg Community Park.
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IN LOVING MEMORY

Bobbie Heinrich Aug 6, 1920 – October 15, 2007

Bobbie was born in Petropolis Brazil on Aug 26th, 1920. She lived a rich and full life and traveled to many places in the course of her lifetime. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Yale Divinity School and did her Graduate work at Cornell University. From 1952 through 1970 she worked as a missionary for the Congregational Church and traveled to Southern Rhodesia, Chicora, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya and Botswana among other countries. She was a long time peace and justice activist starting with protesting the Vietnam War both in Washington DC and in Africa. In 1979 she started to be involved in the anti-nuclear movement against the building of nuclear power plants and the production of trident missiles. She and her husband John Moved to Alva, Florida in 1981 and started an organic farm and citrus orchard with two other Quaker families. They co-founded the Lee County Coalition for Peace in 1982. The Coalition later changed it’s name to EPEC, The Environmental and Peace Education Center. She was also very active in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers. Many have said that while there were different individuals serving as EPEC president over the years, that Bobbie was often calling the shots and doing the work behind the scenes. Here are some things she wrote about her activism in SW Florida and the founding of EPEC.

“In May 1982, a member of the Punta Gorda Unitarian Church, phoned me to say that a Soviet delegation was coming to the U.S. on a peace-seeking mission. He said it seemed likely that they would at best be given a cold reception, so he asked that I try to get a group together who would publicize the visit and support our Congress meeting with the delegation as a step toward peace between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
I was loath to phone people I didn't know, but having been brought up as a Quaker I trusted these organizations working for peace. When I phoned for a possible meeting place, one church said that no way would they allow a peace group to meet there as that would be very subversive. We were welcomed by the Brethren in Christ Church and its pastor out in west Cape Coral. Twenty-six people attended, many from Sanibel. We introduced ourselves and talked about what reasons had impelled us to come to the meeting. We decided on a name for the group - Lee County Coalition for Peace - and since so many people were going to be away during the summer we decided to meet again in the fall.
At a peace conference we held at Bishop Verot High School in the fall of 1982, we had a set up of 10-12 photos of ordinary people, mothers and children, babies and grandparents, children playing. These 2'x4' photos were placed on a stage to remind attendees that in spite of Reagan's "Axis of Evil" the average Russian is much like average American, concerned about their families, their governments and their world.”
At the 1985 peace conference at Riverside High School, one outstanding feature was the 18 life-size models of cruise missiles, displayed in the entrance hall, as a help to make conference attendees see what our billions of dollars going to the Pentagon were going for.
In 1987, a busload from Lee County drove to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to protest the testing of the Trident II missile. These missiles are designed to be able to shoot a target 6,000 miles away and land within 100 feet of its target. About 5,000 attended the rally and made the three mile walk to the gates of Cape Canaveral Air Force Base. There about 80 women and 60 men dropped down into the waiting arms of Air Force soldiers. Among those arrested was Dr. Benjamin Spock, the writer of the bestseller "Baby and Child Care". Since he had recently been released from the hospital after recuperating from pneumonia, he paid his $100 and left the group of the arrested who were waiting to be processed. I was one of those who was jailed for two days and nights before being released on my recognance."
Bobbie will me missed by all who knew her. We are grateful to have known such a giving and wonderful person.

MEETING WITH SENATOR NELSON

by Tom Guelcher - EPEC President

On August 7, Holley Rauen of EPEC and Code Pink, and I met with Senator Bill Nelson (D) FL.

We were part of a delegation of 10 peace activists from around the state representing the Florida for Peace campaign. The goal of the campaign is to convince Senator Nelson to vote against funding the war in Iraq and to vote to bring our troops home now.

Nelson said his positon on Iraq has been evolving. He pledged to vote for an amendment to the military appropriations bill in September which will mandate a timeline for a troop withdrawal. Previously he voted for the war resolution in 2002, and has voted to fund the war every year since.

We let him know we are not happy with his record on Iraq and that we want to see him take a leadership position against the war. This was the first such meeting he has had with peace activists in Florida, and we believe it was a good opening dialogue.

Our delegation may have moved him a slght bit further towards our direction, but we know we have to keep the pressure on him. Lydia Vickers of Code Pink Tallahassee, who organized the meeting, has lobbied Nelson on the war in Washington. She will monitor him at Senate committee meetings when Congress resumes in September.

Now we in Fort Myers and Naples need to do our part. Phone calls to his local district office will be helpful. The phone number is 334-7760. He needs to be reminded the majority of his constituents in Florida want the war ended. He should vote against additional funding for the war, and he should vote to bring our troops home NOW!

 

EPEC News

Fort Myers Approves Chalk Memorial

FORT MYERS, Fl.

The city has given permission for EPEC member, Willie Filkowski, to memorialize on city streets!

Willie, 15, and two companions were told to stop their writing after a city worker called authorities claiming there was an anti-war protest going on in downtown.

Filkowski had begun his chalk work on July 1 and had worked on his memorial most nights along with his parents, sister and friends. He started writing the names beneath a flagpole in an area park and had written almost 300 names before being stopped Monday evening. Recent rains and power washings have since swept away much of the writing.

"I thought it would be thought-provoking, and it appeals to people on both sides of the issue," Filkowski told The News-Press in Fort Myers.

To read comments in the News-Press click here.

To read more about the Names Project on Willie's blog click here.

Join us in planning events and activities that further our agenda. 
EPEC meets at 7:00pm on the second Monday of every month in the
Edwards Building, 10051 McGregor Blvd. in Fort Myers.

Call (239) 223-8223 for directions and information.