[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [uslawaffiliates] Iraq war examined in Vermont town meetings

[Alfred Kagan]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Kathy Black" <kblack at dc47.org>
> Date: March 3, 2005 8:50:32 AM CST
> To: <uslawaffiliates at lists.riseup.net>
> Subject: [uslawaffiliates] Iraq war examined in Vermont town meetings
>
>
> Subject: Iraq war examined in Vermont town meetings
>
>
>
> On Vermont's Ballots: Iraq War
>
> Annual Town Meetings Feature Both Discussion, Discontent
>
>
> By Jonathan Finer
> Washington Post
> Wednesday, March 2, 2005
>
>
> NORWICH, Vt., March 1 -- The resolution calling for the return of U.S.
> troops from Iraq was the 31st item on the town meeting agenda here in 
> the
> white-walled gymnasium they use for square dances and thrift sales. 
> After a
> day of balloting, it passed.
>
>
> In postcard-perfect Strafford, Vt., a few miles west along a dirt 
> road, it
> passed with hardly a whisper of dissent, minutes after residents 
> authorized
> $12,920 to buy a used backhoe loader.
>
>
> And in Bethel, a mill town that is considered conservative by this blue
> state's standard, residents narrowly endorsed a version of the measure,
> against the urging of a Vietnam veteran and a soldier who returned last
> week from the war.
>
>
> Town Meeting Day, a New England tradition that dates to the 17th 
> century,
> has been hailed as a paradigm of representative democracy. On Tuesday,
> voters in 56 Vermont towns, more than one-fifth of the state's 246
> municipalities, became perhaps the first in the country to participate 
> in a
> formal referendum on U.S. involvement in Iraq.
>
>
> By Tuesday evening -- it snowed all day long -- 39 of the towns had 
> passed
> a version of a resolution that asked state legislators to study the 
> local
> impact of National Guard deployments, the congressional delegation to
> reassert state authority over Guard units, and the federal government 
> to
> bring U.S. troops home from the war.
>
>
> Another three towns tabled the resolution; four rejected it, including
> Underhill, where 53 of its residents out of a population of 3,000 are
> deployed with the Guard, according to the Associated Press. Other 
> towns had
> not yet tallied their votes.
>
>
> The resolution is nonbinding and carries no formal weight -- just the
> sentiments of the tens of thousands of Vermonters who voted on it.
>
>
> With this small state having among the nation's highest per-capita 
> rates of
> Iraq casualties and National Guard deployment, Vermont has paid a heavy
> price since the conflict began. Of the 11 Vermonters killed, four were
> serving in the Guard.
>
>
> A petition drive by local activists placed the initiative before 
> dozens of
> this year's annual meetings, which are usually preoccupied with the
> nitty-gritty of local governance, such as school budgets. In some 
> places,
> the resolution was dealt with no more fanfare than any other item on 
> the
> printed agendas known as "warnings." In others, civil but pointed 
> arguments
> dominated discussion.
>
>
> "Vermont's always had a penchant for shooting its mouth off, and I 
> mostly
> mean that in a positive way," said Frank M. Bryan, a University of 
> Vermont
> professor and author of the book "Real Democracy: The New England Town
> Meeting and How it Works."
>
>
> He cites the example set by the Connecticut River Valley town of 
> Thetford,
> Vt., which on Saturday passed a watered-down version of the Iraq
> resolution. In 1974, Thetford became the first municipality to call 
> for the
> impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon. In 1982, more than 160 
> Vermont
> towns passed resolutions demanding a nuclear freeze.
>
>
> The state's three-member congressional delegation voted unanimously 
> against
> invading Iraq, and Vermont (pop. 619,000) became a nationwide symbol of
> antiwar sentiment with the presidential candidacy of former governor 
> Howard
> Dean, who now heads the Democratic National Committee.
>
>
> But the state also has one of the nation's highest rates of military
> service.
>
>
> "The hope is that this will begin a dialogue, that there will be a 
> debate
> about this issue that will restore more authority over state 
> governments,"
> said retired math professor John Lamperti, 72, of Norwich (pop. about
> 3,500).
>
>
> In Strafford (pop. just over 1,000), one of the measure's strongest
> proponents was the older brother of Rev. William Sloane Coffin, 80, the
> fiery former Yale University chaplain and antiwar icon during the 
> Vietnam
> era, who lives quietly along the town green.
>
>
> A sign at the front of the white steepled Town House, which was heated 
> by a
> pair of potbellied stoves, read: "Please speak your name loud and 
> clear.
> Sometimes it is hard to remember every name."
>
>
> "I can't think of another forum in which people can express their 
> views on
> any subject, even ones of national importance," said Ned Coffin, 83, a
> retired poultry farmer and windmill manufacturer. "The war was a 
> mistake,
> and this is a way for that message to be heard."
>
>
> But it was in Bethel, a working-class town of less than 2,000, that 
> some of
> the most intense discussions took place. About 30 speakers came to the
> microphone in an hour-long debate that resulted in voting to remove 
> some of
> the Iraq resolution's most controversial clauses.
>
>
> "I think this has more to do with politics than it is about caring for 
> the
> National Guard. I think there are people against this war and against 
> this
> administration," said Vietnam veteran Lucien Hinkle, 62, a construction
> manager and farmer who spoke against the resolution.
>
>
> James Bennett, 38, an Army National Guard staff sergeant who returned 
> to
> the state last week from a year-long tour in Iraq, said Vermont 
> soldiers
> are needed there.
>
>
> "We are as much a part of the mission as anyone else, and we should 
> stick
> with it," he said
>
>
> Jeanne French Mattson, 68, disagreed, arguing that Guard units were 
> needed
> to protect U.S. borders. "I don't want to wake up some morning and 
> look out
> my window and see mushroom clouds," the retired secretary said. "I 
> want my
> National Guard here in this country."
>
>
> Federal control over the deployment of the Guard was challenged in the
> 1980s, when the governors of California, Maine and other states tried 
> to
> resist sending troops to conflicts in Latin America. But Congress and 
> the
> Supreme Court reinforced the president's authority to deploy the 
> Guard. In
> Iraq, Guard and reserve units make up about 40 percent of U.S. forces.
>
>
>                    © 2005 The Washington Post Company
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliogrpaher and Professor of Library Administration
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801

tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 6769 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050303/2144901b/attachment.bin