Vigils in March 2013

[Brian]

The record heat for March 1 sent a steady stream of people driving and walking by the corner of Ocean View and Honolulu throughout the entire 90 minutes of this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil. Even the honks, waves and comments from passersby felt warmer. Ten regulars stood for peace.

During the vigils every week since October 2011, we have posted printouts of the Defense Department's news releases of combat deaths in Afghanistan. After a fine February with none to report, March begins with the death of a Marine sergeant from Camp Pendleton along with the Army's January suicide tallies. You are invited to register and log in on this message board to download this PDF attachment:

Attachments:

[Brian]

Ten hardy peaceniks braved the drizzle to participate in this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil.

Yet another week passes with no American combat deaths reported by our Department of Defense. I could get used to that. Meanwhile, however, the lives of contractors, NATO military personnel, Afghan soldiers and police, tribal warlords and innocent civilians are lost every day because of our 12-year occupation.

Mar 8, 2013 12:36:51 GMT -8 uconnhuskies said:

hello every one. pearl and i (norm) are going to a rally on saturday. stop violence against women everywhere! march 9, hollywood & vine at 1:00 pm. pearl and i are waiting for warm weather for us to go to the peace vigil. take care. norm.

I have to work on Saturday, but please post about any future rallies, Norm. We love seeing you and Pearl on the corner when you can make it! And thanks to both of you for registering on the message board.

[Brian]

In the past week, the Defense Department announced six military deaths, three of them unrelated to combat. Still, six is the highest weekly total since the Montrose Peace Vigil last October 5, when the Pentagon's Public Affairs webpage reported nine deaths.

During our vigil tonight, Anni will post a printout of the two-page PDF that I've attached below.

Attachments:

[Brian]

Last week's Montrose Peace Vigil was especially dark because the street light was out. This Friday, Daylight Savings Time returned to the corner, along with warm weather and the throngs of folks on the sidewalks and roads. Anni put the candles away for eight months. Now everybody can read our signs.

A total of 14 peaceniks participated this week. Sharon and Bill brought two friends. Bill B. visited again with Nikki and Conni, who I can't count although they were the original Peace Pooches every Friday from 2006 to 2009, when Bill lived in Montrose. And all of us were happy to meet Joe, who stood for the entire 90 minutes -- Joe learned about Montrose Peace Vigil on the Bradley Manning Support Network's website.

[Brian]

The deaths of seven marines training in Nevada this week were widely reported. But I didn't learn of the five soldiers who were killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan until I read the news release on the Department of Defense website. (I had to look elsewhere to find out the cause, a helicopter crash.) The Pentagon has not issued a release about the men in Nevada -- I believe that they only announce the deaths of deployed personnel. The other death in the PDF attached below was also from a helicopter crash, according to iCasualties.org. Anni will post these pages on the light pole during tonight's Montrose Peace Vigil:

Attachments:

[Brian]

We enjoyed more good weather -- and solid attendance -- for this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil:

• March 1 - 10
  
• March 8 - 10
  
• March 15 - 14
  
• March 22 - 12
  

Before I got to the corner, a woman came over to thank us for being there and to hand out flowers. And a man named Armando stopped to read our signboard about Bradley Manning and offer his support.

[Brian]

I am sad to report the deaths of three U.S. troops in combat in the past week, all from Afghanistan. The Defense Department also released the Army's monthly suicide data. At tonight's Montrose Peace Vigil, we will recognize all of them when we post the three pages of official announcements in this attachment:

Attachments:

[Brian]

Hardly anybody can attend every Montrose Peace Vigil. And there are fewer spontaneous participants than in years past. Yet somehow, roughly the same number of people can be seen demonstrating on the corner of Ocean View and Honolulu between 5:30 and 7 p.m. every Friday. Our attendance this month:

• March 1 - 10
  
• March 8 - 10
  
• March 15 - 14
  
• March 22 - 12
  
• March 29 - 13
  

Rounding to the nearest whole peacenik, the vigils averaged 12 participants per week in March -- the same as February and January -- compared to 10 in December and 11 in both November and October. In March 2012, the corner also averaged a dozen per vigil.