GAS Notice #60- Year 5 Candle Lighting, day of event
(3/16) We'll start unloading the candles at Bergamo Square at 7:15
this evening, we need to put candles in the new cups, check the old ones,
and put them all in place by 8:00.
BRING LIGHTER STICKS, we currently have 36.
If you want to light candles DON'T WEAR A LOW HANGING SKIRT OR DRESS.
As with previous candle lightings, we aren't having any signs at the event,
the media has a tendency to pick out and focus on the most controversial
and divisive ones. The candles and the beads speak the message, and they
speak it with a single voice.
Weather forecast is clear.
Total bead count approximately 750,000, total candle count 3988, last
named fatality
Juantrea T. Bradley.
GAS Notice #59- Year 5 Candle Lighting
(3/11) At 5 days to
Year 5:
470 additional candles were made by volunteers Saturday and 760 new names
attached. We're estimating 770 new candles for the event, in line with
the Year 4 projection. 380 blanks are on hand for replacements.
Hard copy press releases were distributed to area media today.
Event weather is projected clear with a high of 63.
GAS Notice #58- Year 5
(3/7) At 9 days to
Year 5:
We're making the final 480 candles tomorrow morning, we should have enough
people to get the job done in 2-3 hours, email if you want to help. Steve
has committed to bring donuts.
The bead structure currently has 610,000 beads, with another 200,000 being
processed for hanging. We anticipate approximately 900,000 beads on the
structure by the time of the event.
Year 5 flyers were posted at businesses in downtown Greenville today.
We have $83 on hand, which should cover expenses through Year 5.
#126 was added to the email list today.
And thanks to
Zebulon Lemon for setting up the GAS Facebook group,
19 Facebookers have confirmed attending so far, with 31 possibles.
GAS Notice #57- Year 5
(3/1) At 15 days to
Year 5:
640 candle assemblies were prepared and 50-100 bead strands processed
today by volunteers, thanks to everybody who showed up and helped out.
Team Barb has taken responsibility for bead strand processing,
we expect to have between seven and nine hundred thousand beads on the
tower for Year 5.
We need to schedule another work day to finish the remaining 480 candles,
probably next weekend, email in preferences/availability.
We need flyering, a pdf file is available at the top of the website, www.greenvilleantiwarsociety.com.
Everybody with a printer and a church/school/office/other public place
to post flyers is encouraged to get Year 5 out there. We typically turn
out more people in Bergamo Square than the Democratic or Republican parties
probably could. An appreciable increase would get a message across.
GAS Notice #55- Rusul, Year 5
(2/22) At 23 days to
Year 5:
Word was received today that Rusul has been accepted by Shriners Hospital
and will hopefully arrive for treatment in April. It was hoped she could
keep her leg, but it appears unlikely. They need core group volunteers,
money, and fundraising ideas, details are on
Rusul
and Salee's page.
Candle making for Year 5 has been scheduled for
Saturday, March 1 at
10 AM, anyone wanting to be added to the volunteer list contact admin.
Media coordinator
Roxanne sent out the first Year 5 press release
this week.
Soldier 4000 continues to track toward Year 5.
With 568 bead kits distributed to date, 54 remain available.
The position of Year 5 Flyer Czar remains open.
Notice #54- Year 5/Soldier 4000
(2/16) At 28 days to
Year 5:
The permit application for Bergamo Square was submitted yesterday. The
city is dropping the $25 fee this year, since the event is classified
as a demonstration.
Tentative candle making dates are either Sunday, Feb. 24 or Saturday,
March 1 at 10 AM. It looks like we have enough people to get the job done
in a few hours, but we can always use more.
Ann Cothran of No More Victims will be speaking at Year 5 about
her organization's efforts to bring war injured Iraqi children to the
US for medical treatment. Their latest project, Rusul, is on the website.
Roxanne Walker is the media coordinator for Year 5. Big thanks
to Roxanne.
We currently have 556,000 beads strung for the Iraqi dead. 290 bead kits
are outstanding and 54 remain available for distribution. If you want
your strands on the structure for Year 5, you need to get them in.
Whether Soldier 4000 will occur before or after Year 5 remains too close
to predict.
A downloadable Year 5 flyer is available on the website, everyone is encouraged
to print and distribute.
Notice #53- Year 5, Soldier 4000
(2/9) At 35 days to
Year 5:
We'll be making 1200 new candles and rehabbing the old ones within the
next few weeks, along with processing new bead strands, anyone interested
in helping RSVP. Anticipated timeframe Saturday 10-2, maybe 3 or 4 depending.
We need people for-
- Media coordination
- Church outreach
contact admin@greenvilleantiwarsociety.com
A Year 5 flyer is available on the website for printing and public posting/distribution,
the more the better.
Anybody with any thoughts on speakers vs. no speakers, send them in.
US military fatalities in Iraq currently appear to be escalating, five
were killed yesterday. At 3959, whether Soldier 4000 will occur before
or after Year 5 remains too close to call, though it's trending toward
before. We'll probably fold it in.
We have 67 bead kits remaining for whoever wants one.
The Rusul and Salee page has been updated with news from Ann Cothran,
fundraising is planned.
We have 50 copies of "Iraq for Sale" on DVD, courtesy Rochester Against
War (RAW), anyone who would like one let us know.
We're adding a page to the website for local antiwar videos, submissions
welcome.
Notice #52- Year 5, Soldier 4000
(1/21) At 3929 US military fatalities in Iraq, whether Soldier 4000
will occur before or after the Year 5 candle lighting on March 16 is at
the moment too close to call. Anybody with any thoughts on this unanticipated
and somewhat macabre scheduling situation, feel free to send them in.
A downloadable pdf flyer for Year 5 has been posted on the website.
Twenty additional bead kits for the Iraqi dead were distributed today,
88 remain available. Contact admin if you would like one or more mailed
to you.
And thanks to
WNC Peace Coalition of Asheville for the 500 candles.
GAS Notice #50- Soldier 4000, funding drive
(11/10) The website was reconfigured today for the coming Soldier
4000 candle lighting, a downloadable flyer has been posted for distribution.
With US military fatalities in Iraq at 3860, at the current fatality rate
of 2 soldiers/day Soldier 4000 is now projected to occur in January. We
need to make another 1000 candles and process new bead strands for hanging
on the bead structure, anybody with any suggestions on time and place
send them.
We're having a funding drive, our target is $250, to be used for candles,
beads, cups, city fees, stamps, the website, and various other items for
Soldier 4000 and the Year 5 candle lighting in March. A Paypal link has
been put up on the website.
121 additional bead kits were assembled by volunteers Wednesday evening,
all 500,000 beads in the recent shipment have now been incorporated into
a total of 210 new kits. 89 kits are currently in work by Furman students
under Furman coordinator
Annie Garrett. Anyone wanting a kit or
kits email us.
Salee now has a page on the website which we plan to keep updated with
her progress, speaking of which Ann with
Upstate
Coalition of Compassion says Salee and Hussein are back with the family
in Falluja, a lamb was sacrificed at their welcome home party. Cole is
working on getting Salee's little sister Rusul here so Shriners can operate
on her foot. And Salee's mom had a boy.
Notice #47- Soldier 4000, bead kits
(10/5) At 187 soldiers to go until 4000, the fatality rate in Iraq
has decreased significantly the past couple of weeks. This may or may
not be indicative of a pending offensive. Soldier 4000 should in any event
occur by the end of the year. We'll be making 1000 more candles a week
beforehand, notice will be sent out to distribution and posted on the
website.
97 additional bead kits were assembled by volunteers Wednesday evening
and are now ready for distribution.
Notice #46- Salee event,
Soldier 4000
(9/20) As a reminder, the Upstate Coalition for Compassion is holding
a silent auction and banquet at Caesar's Restaurant on Monday the 24th
for Salee and her family, see the UCC
website
for more information.
At 208 soldiers to go until 4000, the candle lighting is currently projected
for late November. We’ll be making 1000 more candles in the park a week
beforehand, notice will be sent out and posted.
500,000 more beads have been ordered for the ongoing bead project to mark
Iraqi deaths. The recent publication of an independent study by ORB corroborating
the Lancet estimate supports the target of one million we’re now using.