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Rallies planned locally

Support-the-troops, peace themes planned

By Matthew Sturdevant Caller-Times
March 19, 2003

As soon as the first bombs drop in Iraq, phone calls will go out to 200 local peace demonstrators who will be asked to assemble anytime day or night in front of the federal courthouse on Shoreline Boulevard.

"As soon as the bombs start dropping, we're going to stop what we're doing and meet at the federal courthouse," said Milena Worsham, a South Texas Alliance for Peace member. Worsham said she will lock the door to her coffee shop, The Lotus Cup on Water Street, when the war begins.

Another peace alliance member, Susan Peeples, is a massage therapist who said she will go to the courthouse at the start of a war even if it means having to ask a client to come back later.

"Most of my clients will understand," Peeples said.

Support-military rally

Separate from the peace assembly is a rally scheduled Saturday to support people serving in the military.

Flags will be waving and bands will fill Sherrill Park with patriotic music Saturday afternoon during a support-our-troops rally. The rally is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Sherrill Park on Shoreline.

A local grocery store employee, Daniel Parker, initiated the military-support rally, and said in February that he believes morale could suffer if Americans are divided about the decision to offer Saddam Hussein an ultimatum.

But Parker and other organizers of the rally say the meeting is not a political statement or a pro-war effort.

"This is a rally to call support for our troops and through that our president, the commander in chief," said Al Cantu, the Corpus Christi Mayor's Committee for Veterans Affairs. "We don't want to get into this, 'You're a war monger,' stuff."
Worsham said the peace rally is also intended to be supportive of people in the military.

Peace Feast

Members of the peace alliance are also planning a potluck Peace Feast at 7:30 p.m. April 4 at The Lotus Cup, 505 S. Water St.

The dinner will be an opportunity for people to come together at a time when, as Worsham said, Americans are becoming xenophobic.

At the support-our-troops rally, Cantu said he expects members from 23 local veteran organizations, all of which he represents to the mayor.

Rocco Montesano will speak at the rally Saturday. Montesano, the executive director for the Lexington Museum on the Bay, said he will talk "about why it's important to support our troops regardless of how you feel about the war."

One of the veterans planning to take part in the support-our-troops rally on Saturday is the quartermaster for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8932 in Flour Bluff, Richard Prewett. Prewett is a retired lieutenant colonel with 28 years in the Army and the Marine Corps. Prewett joined the Marines in 1945 at the age of 15.

Prewett, 73, said anti-war sentiment has been prevalent during all of the conflicts that he is a veteran of, including Korea, Vietnam and World War II.

He said the division in the American public these days is disturbing and more polarized than in some past conflicts.

"We have to support these young people," said Prewett. "I'd go in a minute if I could let an 18-year-old stay home and grow old."

Contact Matthew Sturdevant at 886-3778 or sturdevantm@caller.com

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Kelly, Bill (District 1)
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Garrett, Henry (At Large)
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