[Peace] media release on Costs of War billboard + Public Square (from Barbara Kessel)

[Stuart Levy]

Passing along this message from Barbara Kessel:


http://www.anti-war.net/pictures/afsc-billboard.jpeg

To all of you who have anticipated the coming of a billboard on the Costs of
War - (and thanks to those who have sent checks), click on the link above
and you will see a photo of the billboard currently positioned across from
AMBUCS PARK and facing east - until June 6 or so. This was not what we asked
for but it was what we got. The best spin on it is that the main audience
for this particular billboard are the people who come in to work here from
the Danville Area or St. Joseph, a more patriotic and pro-war demographic
than resides in C-U. We do not know whether or not we will get another
location, but if we do, it won't be until June.

       On Friday afternoon at 4:45 and 6:45, The Public Square plays on WILL
and this Friday you can hear Jennifer Hixson of Interfaith Alliance give a
three-minute speech announcing the billboard and speaking more about the
issue.
        Below you will find my media release which was sent with photo to
the N-G, WILL and three TV stations.  If anyone out there cares to get this
on to WEFT or WRFU, please feel welcome to do so.


			  MEDIA ADVISORY


    "THE COST OF WAR = 720 MILLION A DAY. How Would You Spend it?"
This is the message of a new billboard that has just gone up across from
AMBUCS Park at 1201 E. University, Urbana and facing East.  The billboard
will be up in this location until early June.

THE UC FRIENDS' QUAKER MEETING and the INTERFAITH ALLIANCE OF
CHAMPAIGN-URBANA initiated a drive for individual donations for the
billboard and since then donations have been pouring in from individuals all
over town, who are concerned about the costs of the war, both financial and
human. In fact, Barbara Kessel of the UC Friends says, "We already have
enough for a second billboard and I am having to turn away donors now."

The American Friends Service Committee of Chicago, producer of the visual
message on the board, points out that this $720 million for one day could
instead be spent to...
Build 6,482 homes for families each day.
Build 84 new elementary schools each day,
Fund 34,904 four-year university scholarships each day,
Provide 423,529 children with health care.

This message coincides with Congressional concern expressed just last week,
over spending "$12 billion per month in the Iraq war." The $720 million per
day figure is based on the research of Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph
Stiglitz of the Kennedy School of Government and includes costs that the
government figure does not take into consideration, such as lifetime
disability and health care costs of returning veterans. Neither of these
figures takes into account the rebuilding of Iraq since the Administration
has taken that off the table.

Conrad Wetzel, of the First Mennonite Church and Inter-Faith alliance says,
"The majority of Americans realize that the war in Iraq has been a major
mistake, that it's very destructive, not only to the people and country of
Iraq, but to our own U.S. families and economic well-being as well.  But a
lot of us don't have a practical way of measuring just how costly this war
continues to be for Americans, in terms of our schools, health care, jobs,
poverty, and over-all economy.  This Cost of War billboard gives Americans,
both those against and those in support of the war, a very practical and
sobering way to think about what a very costly mistake this war has been and
continues to be day after day."

Contact person: Barbara Kessel of UC Friends' Meeting, barkes at gmail.com or
(217) 365-9473