Contact : Steve Miller
(567) 395 9443

For Immediate Release

March 15, 2012

Peace Group and Occupy Toledo Lament the Ninth Anniversary of War In Iraq and Denounce the Rush Toward War With Iran

On Sunday, March18, friends and members of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition (NWOPC) and activists from Occupy Toledo will be holding a rally to kick off a march decrying the 9th anniversary of the war in Iraq and the rush toward war with Iran. The rally, with speakers, will begin at 12:15 pm at the corner of Talmadge and Sylvania; followed by a march around the periphery of Westfield Shopping Center.

The anti-war march will coincide with others around the country commemorating the 9th anniversary of the war with Iraq and protesting the recent talk of war with Iran. The NWOPC and Occupy Toledo, given shared values of non-intervention and peace, will be participating together for the first time to co-sponsor the demonstration.

Steve Miller, a founding member of the peace group, said "We've heard it all before: weapons of mass destruction, a clandestine nuclear weapons program — a threat to stability in the region." The former U.S. Army Spec 4 added, "It was a mistake when we attacked Iraq 9 years ago and we are on the threshold of making another one in Iran. John Kerry's quote "How does a man ask the last man to die for a mistake." seems especially prescient now. The answer, to me, seems obvious; don't make the mistake in the first place so you won't have to ask. And, sure as hell, don't make the same mistake twice."

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[Please note: this is an amended version of the original release]

February 15 2011
Contact Steve Miller
Cell Phone (567) 395-9443

For Immediate Release

On Tuesday, February 15, at 6:00 P.M. in the conference room at the Reynolds Corner Library (4833 Dorr St), author, activist and past president of Veterans for Peace, Mike Ferner will be speaking about his recent trip to Afghanistan.

The presentation, sponsored by the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition (NWOPC) and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), will focus on Mr. Ferner's efforts with a group titled Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers. The group exists to make human connections between citizens of the U.S. and the youth of Afghanistan.

Mr. Ferner said, "Finding anything hopeful in Afghanistan today is not easy yet the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers are exactly that. Knowing full well the true costs of war they nonetheless say, unabashedly to all, that they are 'creating a life based on love and truth.'" The former U.S. Navy Corpsman added, "To spend a week with them is to understand how the mightiest military machines in the world must eventually give way to grassroots citizens who patiently organize"

May 31, 2010
Contact Steve Miller
Cell Phone (567) 395-9443

For Immediate Release

The Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition (NWOPC) joins with millions of others around the world to roundly condemn the recent actions of Israeli commandos resulting in the reported deaths of 20 human rights activists. The attack on the flotilla of relief workers bringing desperately needed humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza has sparked outrage around the world. In the next few days the NWOPC will be joining others (time and place to be announced) in a public demonstration to protest the killings and ongoing blockade of Gaza.

Peace coalition member Karen Wolf said "The horrific nature of firing on relief workers is incomprehensible to me."

Steve Miller, of the peace group, said "After 32 billion dollars of military aid (since 1967) to the state of Israel, the United States shares in the culpability of this brutal attack." He added "It's incumbent upon the U.S. to use the leverage of its foreign aid to demand Israel stop these kinds of brutal attacks as well as the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people."

March 14, 2010
Contact Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

For Immediate Release

On Wednesday, March 17, at 4:00 pm at Lock It Up Self Storage (10740 Airport Highway) members and friends of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition (NWOPC) will be loading a large exhibit on a truck to transport it to Washington D.C. to be part of a national peace march (flyer attached).

The exhibit, titled Arlington Midwest (AMW), is a symbolic replica of the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The presentation ,due to be assembled in Washington D.C., will be part of an upcoming anti-war demonstration and camp city scheduled the from March 19 to March 22.

The Arlington Midwest exposition currently consists of over 5,000 wooden tombstones representing the U.S. dead in Iraq and Afghanistan. The anti-war display is scheduled to go up Friday, March 19 on the mall in close proximity to the Washington Monument. Although AMW has been assembled at almost a dozen venues in the last 6 years, this will be the first time it will have been featured as part of a national event in the nation’s capitol.

The AMW project will be part of a Camp Out event previously permitted for the D.C. mall under the auspices of Cindy Sheehan’s Peace of the Action (POTA) organization.

Steve Miller, a member of the peace group, said ,“This will be the first time we’ve had this display in the nation’s capitol during such a large gathering”. The U.S. Army veteran added, “Over 5,000 wooden tombstones as a backdrop to a large peace rally should the be the perfect venue for such a large event. The large array of white markers should make a compelling and powerful statement symbolizing the human cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan”.

February 25, 2010
Contact Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

For Immediate Release

On Sunday , February 28, at 2:00 P.M. in Corpus Christi University Parish (2955 Dorr St.) a coalition of groups (Arab Student Union, Media Decompression Collective, Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition) will sponsor a talk given by Sr. Paulette Schroeder. Sister Paulette will be speaking about her recent fact finding in Hebron, Palestine..

Sister Paulette, a Franciscan Nun and Member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, has been to the Middle East several times reporting on conditions in Palestine and the surrounding occupied territories. As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, Sr. Paulette, in the Christian tradition of bearing witness, will be reporting about the circumstances of her visit through personal testimony and photographs of the daily reality of living in Palestine. As opposed to those merely report about Palestine, Sr. Paulette will share the unique perspective of one who has lived with the people of Palestine.

Steve Miller, of the peace coalition, said, “Sr. Paulette’s compelling account of the plight of the Palestinian people is something we all need to hear.” Mr. Miller added,“ Sr. Paulette doesn’t just report the news from Palestine, she is the news from Palestine.”

December 31, 2001
Contact Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

For Immediate Release

November 29, 2009
Contact Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

For Immediate Release

On Tuesday, December 1, members and friends of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition will hold a candle light vigil for peace in Afghanistan. The vigil will be held at 5:30pm at the intersection of Talmadge and Monroe. The observance is being held to send the Obama administration a message to draw down, not build up, troops in Afghanistan.

In light of President Obama’s scheduled 8:00 pm press conference, local peace activists will be joining others around the state and nation saying no to a build up in Afghanistan.

Member of the Peace Coalition, Steve Miller, said “If reports of a 35,000 troop build up are meant as a trial balloon, I say deflate it, it won’t float” the former army veteran added, “We should learn from the Soviets. Victory, however defined, is illusory given the political and tribal geography of Afghanistan. Let’s stop it now before more have to die!”

Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition for Single Payer

September 13, 2009

Contact Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

For Immediate Release

On Wednesday, September 16, the Northwest Ohio Coalition for Single Payer will be holding a "Healthcare not Warfare" rally at the Lucas County Courthouse at 5:00 pm. The rally will feature speakers advocating national single payer healthcare. The rally is scheduled from 5:00 pm to approximately 5:30 pm at which point a march is scheduled from the courthouse to One Government Center. At the Government Center, some brief closing remarks will end the event.

The featured speakers will be representing their respective constituencies. The coalition consists of University of Toledo Anti-War, Toledo International Socialist Organization, Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition, Single Payer Action Network of Ohio, Northwest Ohio Green Party and Physicians for a National Health Program.

Steve Miller of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition said, "With the money we're spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we could fund a national healthcare program that would be of real and lasting benefit for all Americans" the former army veteran added, "Dr King said 'A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.' At times like these Dr King's admonition seems disturbingly prophetic."

For Immediate Release

May 7, 2009

Contact Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

On Sunday, May 10, members and friends of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition will be displaying a large Mother's Day anti-war proclamation at Heatherdowns and Reynolds from noon to 1:30 pm. A large display of placards printed with Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day anti-war proclamation (included separately) will be the focus of the demonstration.

In 1872, suffragist, pacifist and social activist Julia Ward Howe penned a Mother's Day statement widely believed to be the origin of the first Mother's Day. Those attending the event will be wearing black in the tradition of the Women in Black peace network.

Peace group member Kelli Zenz and mother of three said "I'm a firm believer in peace and wouldn't want my children to do anybody harm or to be harmed".

For Immediate Release

April 29, 2009

Contact Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

Peace Group Decries U.S. Deaths During Obama’s First 100 Days

On Friday, May 1, members and friends of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition will be holding a picket at the corner of Secor and Central Avenues from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. The purpose of the demonstration is to express the disappointment of local peace activists to President Obama’s first hundred days in office.

Steve Miller, a member of the peace group, said “President Obama ran on a platform on of “bring the troops home” not bring them home from Iraq in due time while increasing troop strength in Afghanistan.” The Veterans for Peace member added “After the administration of George Bush I thought we had an ally in the white house. His first hundred days have been a profound disappointment”

Jeff Klein, a member of the peace group, constructed a number of large signboards reading “Obama’s Watch: Day 100 – U.S. Troop Deaths: Iraq , Afghanistan (followed by the current total)” as a visible statement and display.

For immediate release

May 8, 2008

Contact: Steve Miller
Day 419-242-7317

Like the First Mother’s Day in 1870,
Women Today Mourn War Dead, Plea for Peace

Mother’s Day Vigil, Sunday May 11, corner of Reynolds and Heatherdowns from noon to 1:30pm.

We ask all who attend to wear black and stand silently during this event.

The following lines are among those from Howe’s statement that will be displayed on large posters and held for passing motorists to see on Reynolds Rd.

"Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause."

"Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience."

"We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

"From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!”

Mother’s Day wasn’t always about shopping for flowers or jewelry. On the first Mother’s Day in 1870, Julia Ward Howe -- reformer, writer, peace activist, and suffragette -- called for mothers everywhere to raise their voices and bring an end to all war. Her anguished Proclamation (attached) remains timely to this day.

On this Mother’s Day, the North West Ohio Peace Coalition invites all area women – and men who support them – to join with us in mourning the tens of thousands of lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. We invite residents to stand silently in recognition of the thousands of mothers, grandmothers, wives, daughters, and sisters who grieve the death of a loved one – an American, an Iraqi, an Afghan – on this 138th annual commemoration of what is one of history’s most eloquent pleas for peace.

For Immediate Release March 21, 2008
Sue Carter 419-729-7273

Peggy Daly-Masternak 734-457-2394, Ext. 3

For Iraq War’s 5^th Anniversary Peace Groups Rally to Say:
Not One More Death!!

At 11:00 am on Saturday, March 22, area citizens will gather at Toledo Promenade Park on Summit Street in downtown Toledo (next to the COSI building) to hear the remarks of Marine veteran, Wes Liggett, who speaks out against the war and urges us to support the troops when they return home. Liggett, from South Bend, Indiana, was deployed to Iraq three times. From Promenade Park the activists will walk to the site of the Arlington Midwest display of 5,000 tombstones on the Lucas County courthouse lawn. After a solemn closing ceremony, participants will take down the tombstones.

We hope we will never need to add another one,” states Peggy Daly-Masternak organizer from the NW Ohio Peace Coalition. This rally and march is the last in a series of events to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq but people of peace will continue to protest until this war end and the troops return.” For over 6 years, the NW Ohio Peace Coalition holds an anti-war demonstration every Sunday on a Toledo street corner.

The week of peace activities is co-sponsored by 37 organizations including communities of faith, campus groups and labor unions from Toledo, Fostoria, Tiffin, and Adrian Detroit and Monroe Michigan.

Endorsing organizations:

*UT Anti-War - Tiffin Pax Christi - Pax Christi of Corpus Christi University Parish - Fostoria Area Citizens for Peace - People for Peace and Justice Sandusky County - Green Party of Northwest Ohio - Toledo Area Jobs With Justice Coalition - Sylvania Sisters of St. Francis - Pax Christi Wood County - NAACP Toledo Unit - Broadmead Monthly Meeting (Quakers) - St. Paul's United Methodist Church - Interfaith Justice and Peace Center - Toledo NOW - Flowing Waters Sangha - International Socialist Organization - Ursuline Sisters - Military Families Speak Out Ohio - Toledo Area Committee on Central America - Adrian Dominicans Office of Global Missions - Lenawee Peacemakers - Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe - Sisters of St. Francis, Tiffin - AFSCME Local 2415 University of Toledo Medical Center - St. Rose Catholic Church Peace and Justice Committee - Farm Labor Organizing Committee - Monroe for Peace and Justice - Media Decompression Collective - October 15 Anarchist Collective - St. Mark’s Episcopal Church - Voices for Peace and Justice - Millions More Movement Local Organizing Committee - St. Johns Jesuit Social Justice Alliance - Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus - The Servant Leadership Center

For Immediate Release

Sue Carter 419-729-7273

Peggy Daly-Masternak 734-457-2394, Ext. 3 March 17, 2008

Peace Groups Mark 5th Anniversary of the Iraq Invasion, March 19.
At the display site of 5,000 tombstones, activists hold a 12 hour vigil to read names of U.S. military and Iraqi citizens who have died.

At 8:00 AM on Wednesday, March 19, the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, area citizens and activists will gather in a 12 hour vigil at the Lucas County Courthouse on Adams Street in downtown Toledo to read the names of U.S. military and Iraqi citizens who have died. The courthouse is the site of Arlington Midwest: The Human Cost of War , a display of 5,000 tombstones of those who have died in the wars in Iraq, in Afghanistan and when they return home by suicide. A candle light reading will start at 6:30 P.M. Both at 8:00 AM and at 6:30 PM, after the bugler plays taps, readers will begin with the names of the Ohio fallen.

“The 5,000 tombstones of Arlington Midwest try to depict the human cost of war and we read the names so we can remember and grieve for each of them,” states Anna Colnar, member of Military Families Speak Out, an organization of military families opposed to the war in Iraq. “The devastation caused by this war is beyond repair and yet after 5 years there is no end in sight! We need to stop this madness now, bring our troops home, give the Iraqis back their country and use the $275 million dollars (current according to National Priorities Project) we spend each day on war and death to heal and rebuild both of our nations.”

Volunteers will be setting up the tombstones on Tuesday, March 18. Arlington Midwest is the project of the NW Ohio Peace Coalition and Veterans for Peace and is supported and co-sponsored by 35 organizations from Ohio and Michigan including communities of faith, labor unions and campus groups*.

*UT Anti-War - Tiffin Pax Christi - Pax Christi of Corpus Christi University Parish - Fostoria Area Citizens for Peace - People for Peace and Justice Sandusky County - Green Party of Northwest Ohio - Toledo Area Jobs With Justice Coalition - Sylvania Sisters of St. Francis - Pax Christi Wood County - NAACP Toledo Unit - Broadmead Monthly Meeting (Quakers) - St. Paul's United Methodist Church - Interfaith Justice and Peace Center - Toledo NOW - Flowing Waters Sangha - International Socialist Organization - Ursuline Sisters - Military Families Speak Out Ohio - Toledo Area Committee on Central America - Adrian Dominicans Office of Global Missions - Lenawee Peacemakers - Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe - Sisters of St. Francis, Tiffin - AFSCME Local 2415 University of Toledo Medical Center - St. Rose Catholic Church Peace and Justice Committee - Farm Labor Organizing Committee - Monroe for Peace and Justice - Media Decompression Collective - October 15 Anarchist Collective - St. Mark’s Episcopal Church - Voices for Peace and Justice - Millions More Movement Local Organizing Committee - St. Johns Jesuit Social Justice Alliance - Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus - The Servant Leadership Center

For Immediate Release
Sue Carter 419-729-7273
Peggy Daly-Masternak 734-457-2394, Ext. 3 February 28, 2008

Peace Groups Mark 5^th Anniversary of the Iraq Invasion with Week of Activity

5,000 Tombstones Will Stand on the Courthouse Lawn

See complete program below

From March 18th through March 22nd, co-sponsors will stage Arlington Midwest: the Human Cost of War at the Lucas County Courthouse. 5,000 tombstones create this display, including US service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and those returning home and committing suicide. Also included are the names of 3,000 Iraqis out of over a million killed.

Complete Program:

• March 18 at 11:30 a.m. at Lucas County Courthouse: Dozens of volunteers will spend the day erecting 5,000 tombstones on the courthouse lawn.

• March 19 at 8:00 a.m. at Courthouse: Opening ceremony of Arlington Midwest and the start of the reading the names of the fallen, beginning with Ohio.

• March 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Courthouse: Candlelight vigil for the fallen and the reading of names continues.

• March 10 at 7:00 p.m. at UT Law School: Colonel Ann Wright, former State Department official who resigned in protest to the plan to invade Iraq. She will sign copies of her newly released book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience.

• March 20 at 6:30: documentary film: Sir! No Sir! at Sanger Library. “Sir! No Sir!” documents for the first time on film the underground GI movement against the war in Vietnam.

• March 22, 11:00 a.m., peace activists rally at Promenade Park and march to the Lucas County Courthouse for a rally and closing ceremony for Arlington Midwest tombstone display. Speaker is South Bend USMC veteran, Wes Liggett, deployed to Iraq three times.

Sponsored by: Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition and University of Toledo Anti-War. Co-sponsors include Tiffin Pax Christi; Pax Christi of Corpus Christi University Parish; Fostoria Area Citizens for Peace; People for Peace and Justice Sandusky County; Veterans for Peace; Green Party of Northwest Ohio; Toledo Area Jobs With Justice Coalition; Sylvania Sisters of St. Francis; Pax Christi Wood County; NAACP Toledo Unit; Broadmead Monthly Meeting (Quakers); St. Paul’s United Methodist Church; Interfaith Justice and Peace Center; Toledo NOW; and International Socialist Organization.