The Declaration of Peace

Thursday, September 28 By Theresa Hogue
Gazette-Times reporter

Corvallis peace activist Leah Bolger of the local branch of Veterans for Peace has been arrested again in Washington, D.C. for her anti-war, anti-torture activities.

Bolger spent Wednesday night in a downtown Washington, D.C. jail after being arrested that afternoon in the House of Representatives. She interrupted a House debate on H.R. 6166, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, shouting down a speaker who was in favor of the bill.

H.R. 6166 will allow the creation of military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects, as well as allowing interrogation techniques that do not fall into the category of torture, rape or biological experiments. Opponents call the bill unjust and claim it violates the Geneva Convention and allows the use of some forms of torture.

Bolger, speaking by cell phone shortly after she was released from jail Thursday afternoon, said she was charged with a misdemeanor charge of unlawful conduct disrupting Congress. She pled not guilty during her arraignment Thursday, and will stand trial Nov. 7. She faces up to six months in jail if found guilty, but said she would more likely face a large fine.

She said she was held overnight because of her previous arrest in front of the White House last week after attempting to deliver a large version of the International Declaration of Peace.

She returns to Oregon today, but will fly back to D.C. for her trial.

Theresa Hogue is features reporter for the Gazette-Times.

Festive rally marks world day for peace

Corvallis Gazette-Times
By Theresa Hogue
September 22, 2006

CORVALLIS, OREGON - More than a hundred pinwheels cheerfully spun alongside Fourth Street Thursday evening, their colorful whorls lining the edge of the courthouse lawn.

To LoErna Simpson, organizer of Corvallis’ commemoration of International Peace Day, the pinwheels were evidence that community members of all ages were participating in the event, even if it was simply their artwork that ended up on the lawn of the Benton County Courthouse.

“I’m thrilled,” she said, after looking at the pinwheels, and scrunching her face as an unaware rally participant trod on one. Members of the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis made 153 of the pinwheels, and church youth groups made others.

While the rally participants numbered just a little more than the pinwheels, the mood was festive, more so due to the live music and the craft tables full of paper pinwheel supplies that kept the younger crowd, and their parents, engaged.

Oregon State University senior Anne Yemaya and her 4-year-old daughter, Mehalia Irvine, were busy at one of the craft tables. As a mom, a student and an employee, Yemaya said it isn’t always easy to participate in social activism, and the peace rally was her first such event in Corvallis.

“I try to make it more so,” she said of keeping activism as a priority.

Simpson said Pinwheels for Peace was a national project, started last year, that commemorates International Day of Peace by involving students in art projects. More than half a million pinwheels were placed across the nation last year on Sept. 21, the day chosen to honor peace and call for ceasefires across the world.

Music, poetry and speeches were all on tap for the Corvallis celebration, which included the second performance by “The Raging Grannies,” the new local incarnation of a national phenomenon.

Not all the members of the group were grannies, but the singers dressed in aprons, hats and little-old-lady attire, using the outfits to juxtapose the radical, and often funny, lyrics they spouted.

“We follow the tradition of elder women sharing their wisdom and caring to improve the future,” said organizer and “granny” Rachel Ozretich, after the group sang the words, “Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, Uncle Sam? Uncle Sam? Anti-war bells ringing, hear the people singing, ‘No more war, no more war.’”

Bolger arrested at White House

Meanwhile, across the country, Corvallis resident Leah Bolger, a member of Veterans for War, reported that she had been arrested in front of the White House earlier Thursday.

Bolger, who is spending a month in the nation’s capitol participating in peace-related activities, was arrested with 34 other demonstrators after attempting to deliver a large version of the International Declaration of Peace to the White House.

She and the others were charged with demonstrating without permits, and were booked and released. They will likely face a $75 fine.

Bolger said the arrest was worth the hassle, and said peace activists are frustrated with the current situation. Polls indicate that a majority of Americans do not favor the war in Iraq and want, at the least, a timeline for troop withdrawal, but she is not seeing those numbers reflected in participation at peace rallies.

“You don’t see it out in the street, and that’s what so curious about it.”