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District 5 Co$t of War Town Hall Congresswoman Darlene Hooley
District 5 Town Hall a Success For eveyone who was unable to attend District 5's Co$t of War Town Hall (organized by ROP, Rural Organizing Project), for Representative Hooley yesterday in Lincoln City, here's a brief report. I'll first issue all my disclaimers about accuracy, inclusivity, etc, because there was alot said, much of it rapidly, as people had only 3 minutes to speak. And there was alot of emotion, partly because war's an emotional topic, but also because many of the speakers have children in Iraq now, or lost children or other family members there, or were themselves veterans of war. So for me it was difficult to remember to keep taking notes rather than just be swept away by what I was hearing and feeling. We were welcomed by the mayor of Lincoln City who thanked us for participating in the great American tradition of Town Halls and presented Hooley's representatives (her district manager and an aide) with a wooden carved "PEACE" that came from her mantle, asking them to take it to Darlene with her wishes for peace. She started her remarks by saying the best way to support the troops it to bring them home safely, and drew instant applause from the crowd of 100+. But she reflected that in a sane world peace would be the norm, and those who want to go to war would have to rally for it and try to get people out into the street to support it, rather than the other way around. The mayor was
followed by a mother and father of a young soldier who died in Iraq in
2004. They are members of Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star
Families. The mother said if her son could speak today he would say
"Bring my buddies home!" and that, as we all know, no additional funding
is needed to move troops out of Iraq. Now is not the time to play
At left - Michelle DeFord testifies on the cost of war to her family: the death of her son David while deployed in Iraq. Photo by Rennie Ferris Our own Mike Beilstein testified as city councilman representing Ward 5 and spoke about Corvallis facing a projected $1.3 million deficit in 2007-2008. Mike listed property tax-funded programs that will not be funded, which are not directly in competition with the federal expenses for maintaining the war effort in Iraq. However, the total cost of the war, at about $1200 per capita, comes to about $60,000,000 for the 50,000 citizens of Corvallis. This is money taken out of the Corvallis economy. But he also detailed recent losses of federal grants of about $2,000,000, including money for low income housing, and assisting first time homeowners, building roads and public facilities for roads, plus funding personnel, upgraded equipment and infrastructure for fire and law enforcement. Two young Hispanics from Salem said they spoke for the youth and also for the immigrant community. They described the fears that immigrants live with in today's social environment and emphasized that there is a big difference between immigrants, who want to become part of a community, and terrorists, who want to destroy communities. They said to some people immigrants and terrorists mean the same thing. A couple from
Stayton talked about the effects of Oregon Guardsmen sent to Iraq has
had on their small town east of Salem. The kids continuously have
substitute teachers because of their regular teachers having been
deployed. Federal cuts in programs like Head Start hit towns like
Stayton especially hard because so many families in their community are
low-income and so qualify for those federal assistance programs. A new pastor in Lincoln City, spoke, as a Viet Nam vet, about the human cost of war. He said everyone who returns from a war is a casualty. In his case, he was not the same person when he returned from Viet Nam and his world crumbled as he dealt with his emotional issues, paranoia, nerve damage (among many health issues) and finally a failed marriage. He ended by saying to Darlene Hooley: "We hold you and your colleagues responsible and accountable." At right: Matt Gallo of Newport sends his message to Congresswoman Hooley. Photo by Ginger Gouveia A soft-spoken woman introduced herself by saying she had come from Portland to testify because her daughter, who lives in Hooley's district, had asked her to. She said her son is right now somewhere in or near Baghdad. She thanked everyone for all they do to help stop the war and she warned Darlene, as her voice grew louder: "I forbid you to use my son's safety as an excuse to keep funding this war!" An angry man from Newport shouted into the microphone that he's outraged; seniors spoke about how cuts in Medicaid funding effect them; a Quaker declared the real cost of this war is the soul of our country. One speaker drew cheers when he asserted the only way to apologize to the world is start impeachment proceedings. Leah Bolger identified herself as president of the Corvallis chapter of Veterans For Peace and described the problems encountered lately in trying to provide a safe and comfortable place for the homeless of Corvallis to sleep. She spoke again later urging Hooley to join the Out of Iraq Caucus and to co-sponsor HR508 (introduced by Waters, Lee and Woolsey) and HR746 to stop the funding of the war (introduced by McGovern). I spoke about the effect the war has had on communities in Iraq, a country of 25 million, almost half children. Quoting from statistics gathered by the Middle East Children's Alliance, I detailed what the collapse of social, health and security services has meant for the Iraqi people (including that, since the invasion, kidnappings, robberies, rapes and homicides have skyrocketed forcing women and children to stay home, thus cutting them off from education and health services; acute malnutrition has doubled among young children; in the last 10 months nearly half a million civilians have fled Iraq, now becoming refugees in neighboring countries). Cara from Rural Organizing Project (ROP), the organizers of the Town Hall, announced after the testimonies were finished, that every county in the district was represented there and she affirmed the value of people from Tillamook to Oregon City networking across the district. She acknowledged that, while we would prefer Darlene herself had attended, we appreciated that she sent two from her staff to represent her (as opposed to Walden, who had 175 people at his Town hall the day before and didn't send anyone). Adele Kubein summarized the testimonies (local needs are not met, the lack of funding is felt by the elderly and by vets, vital members are missing from communities, the Oregon Guard is strained to respond to emergencies here, taxpayers in District 5 have other priorities over funding war) and then read a resolution which was affirmed by a voice vote. The four points to the resolution are as follows: 1) We urge Congresswoman Hooley and Senators Wyden and Smith to vote NO on any new appropriations for the Iraq Occupation. This includes voting NO on the new request for $240 billion for Iraq through 2008. Use the money currently appropriated to withdraw US forces from Iraq immediately. 2) Act now to stop any widening of the conflict and any attack on Iran. 3) Provide every constituent in District 5 an accounting of the human and financial costs of the Iraq Occupation. 4) We, the undersigned groups and individuals, pledge to work cooperatively and across House District 5 to ensure that our elected officials act in accordance with resolutions 1,2 and 3. In response, Hooley's district manager addressed the crowd and promised to deliver our messages. (Someone suggested sending Hooley a video of the Town Hall and that was agreed to.) She disclosed that their Salem office receives about 1,000 comments per week and overwhelmingly they are concerning the war. Last week, she said, MoveOn delivered 2,000 pieces of mail to their office. She recommended that people write to district offices, because when mail is sent to Washington, DC, it must first be routed to Ohio for irradiation and sometimes disintegrates. The bottom line message of the Town Hall for Representative Hooley was that, while originally the Republican owned this war, if the Democrats continue to fund it, then it will become their war. Darlene Hooley's constituents want more than Congress debating non-binding resolutions. They want the war defunded (which does not mean abandoning the troops) and are watching to make sure she summons the courage to do the right thing. Respectfully submitted, Valori George Alternatives to War, Benton County To read the Resolution for Congresswoman Hooley from District 5, Click below: Resolution as Word Document Resolution as PDF Document To return to the Co$t of War page, CLICK HERE
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politics.
Congress must have the courage to end the war. In the Nov 2006
elections Americans voted not for leaders, but for representation. If
Hooley votes for continued funding of the war, then it will become
her war, and the Democrats' war. They spoke also of the increased
suicide rates in the military (tripled since 2002) and that they
personally knew seven families whose kids have committed suicide since
returning from Iraq. So for them working to end this war is a very
personal challenge.