The Republican from Springfield, Massachusetts (2024)

February 22, 1991

Publication:

The Republicani

Location:

Springfield, Massachusetts

Issue Date:

Friday, February 22, 1991

Page:

6

Extracted Article Text (OCR)

6 UNION NEWS RIDAY EBRUARY 22 1991 pgsVozinM Ss Milt Birthday celebration awaits Marine The family and friends of Marine Lance Cpl John Haire of Springfield were wishing him a and speedy home from the Persian Gulf for his 20th birthday yesterday He is the son of JoAnn Haire and the grandson of Alice Moore and Trina Repola all of Springfield The family said they plan to in when the cor poral returns home VW auxiliary adopts soldiers Barcomb Trowbridge Ladies Auxiliary of West Vet erans of oreign Wars Post 6714 has adopted the soldiers serving in the Persian Gulf according to Rita Shea publicity chairman for the group The auxiliary even included Agawam soldiers when they mailed Day and Easter cards to the troops Shea said Along with hanging yellow ribbons to honor the soldiers a char ter has been posted in the lobby of the VW with a list and photos of all West Springfield men and women serving in the Middle East Additional photos and names of those not yet included may be mailed to the post home on Riverdale Street Shea said The auxiliary is working on plans to host a breakfast for all of the families Jean Burns will serve as chairman of that event Auxiliary members headed by Annie Granger are also knitting head bands for the troops in the desert to wear under their helmets for warmth during the nights that have become damp and cold according to Shea The auxiliary and the post recently participated in two ceremo nies the town has held to honor the soldiers Marine gets promoted on desert duty Marine elix Vachon Jr of Agawam was promoted to cor poral recently while serving in Operation Desert Storm with the A Company of the 25th Marines a reserve unit from Westover Air orce Base The son of Jerry and Jane Dennis of Coronet Circle in the eed ing Hills section is a 1986 graduate of Agawam High School His unit was sent to the gulf late last year His mother is one of the organizers of the a Bow Send a effort that is sending care packages to individual soldiers from this area who are sta tioned in Saudi Arabia Public forum planned at high school A forum on issues related to the war in the Persian Gulf will be held Tuesday at 7 pm at the Granby Conn High School commons room Three guest speakers including Stephen Sossaman Vietnam vet eran and Westfield State College professor Karen Pfeifer eco nomics professor at Smith College and Mohammed Jiyad ive College lecturer and Iraqi native will discuss their views of the war and take questions from the audience The forum will also address ways in which people can show sup port to soldiers their families and veterans of past wars Greenfield fam ily tapings expanded Officials of Community Television Station an nounced this week they will expand a program to make video tapes of families and relatives of GIs serving in the Persian Gulf The new effort is expanded to include anyone in ranklin County with people serving overseas according to Ron Godfrey who noted the hope now is to set up taping of up to four families or groups at one session The program was previously limited to only Greenfield resi dents Godfrey can be contacted at 774 6479 Yellow bow effort tops 10000 Bergeron Company Realtors of East Longmeadow this week topped the 10000 mark in its effort to give out yellow bows in sup port of troops in the gulf The bows have been given to people who donate items to be shipped to the soldiers in Saudi Arabia The realty office is serving as a drop off center for the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross The firm recently de livered its seventh truckload of donations to Westover Air orce Base according to Marybeth Bergeron Anti war march set for Saturday Billing themselves as successors to Martin Luther King Jr and Mahatma Gandhi opponents of the war in the Persian Gulf will march from Hampshire College to Westover Air orce Base Sa turday The marchers led by a contingent of students from the ive College area will meet at the Hampshire College bus stop at 9 am Saturday They hope to arrive at the James Street entrance to the base by 1 pm are planning this march because we do not want another Hi roshima in the Middle East We want peaceful negotiations and a cease fire We are following in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi" organizer iona Hollins said Those interested in more information on the march should call Hollins at 549 4600 ext 242 or Hattie Nestel at 367 9604 Service member information The Defense Department has established 24 hour telephone numbers for relatives and friends of service members to obtain general information concerning casualties in the Persian Gulf war The numbers by service are: Army (general information) 1 800 626 1440 Air orce (general information) 1 800 253 9276 Navy (immediate family members) 1 800 255 3808 Navy (general information) 1 800 732 1206 Marine Corps (immediate family members) 1 800 523 2694 Coast Guard (immediate family mem bers) 1 800 367 8724 To send mail to the troops participating in Operation Desert Storm there are two addresses depending on the branch of service or the Army Air orce and Marines mail can be sent to Any Service Person APO NY 09848 0006 or the Navy and Coast Guard the address is Any Service Person PO NY 09868 0006 (Hems for this column may be sent to The Union News 1860Main St Springfield MA 01 102) 1' 4 Pro war group shuns olive branch orum finds no common ground with activists outside Westover By MICHAEL BONIN 2 CHICOPEE A group of citi zens called last night for an eas ing of tensions between anti war activists and supporters of the US Persian Gulf policy but the largest pro policy group re fused to accept the olive branch Citizens for Unified Action a local group trying to smooth re lations between the two camps of activists who rally outside the gates of Westover Air orce Base held a forum last night titled Gulf Warll Chicopee Seeks Common Anti war activists came but Show of Support the larg est pro policy group did not accept an invitation to attend In an interview yesterday press secretary Matthew Pioggia said a representative was sched uled to attend the forum but was called away on a personal matter we really see why we should go They know our posi tion and we know their position It just would have been a big screaming he said Lisa Baskin an anti war organizer with the American riends Service Committee who spoke to the 50 member audience at St Parish Hall said she was disappointed but not sur prised by the SOS decision Baskin said that she and other activists have tried to arrange a private luncheon with pro policy demonstrators unaffiliated with SOS we could break bread together and seek some common She said policy supporters pledged to attend the event and then never showed up think it very she said we come to gether and just discuss our views and learn from each other I had hoped we could come here tonight i A and put the flags aside and leave the signs sentiments were echoed at the forum by Susan Sa vini who said hoped we could have some sort of dialogue here tonight between these two groups which we have to interact with in our neighborhoods on a daily basis There is a war going on here between two groups of peo ple who simply commu nicate with each Savini commended Baskin for attending and described SOS as a group seem to make up its own mind and seem to avoid an opportunity for con Last week SOS organizers backtracked from a pledge to avoid Westover during a Saturday anti war rally In a surprise move a convoy of cars and trucks paraded back and forth on James Street jeering the nearby anti war activists Baskin described the counter demonstration as disres pectful frightening and potential ly She noted that anti war activists requested and re ceived a police escort from the base past the ranks of pro policy demonstrators i Pioggia said yesterday have claimed the base as ours and we will be there whenever we have to Mayor Joseph Chessey'Jr assured residents that city police would maintain order at the base He said he lamented that the city has spent over $47000 on police protection at Westover demon strations but it was the price of of Baskin also said Saddam Hus acceptance of the Soviet proposal was It is an absolute indication of a ureal chance for peace I urge the United States government to treat this with the utmost seriousness and sincerity I hope they War helps to bolster president By TOM BADEN and MILES BENSON Newhouse News Service WASHINGTON As President Bush focuses on bringing an end to the Persian Gulf War he enjoys two advantages he have when the fighting began over whelming support at home and unquestioned status as a world leader abroad Those two assets will make it easier for Bush as he weighs whether to push ahead with a ground offensive or pursue a So viet peace plan designed to obtain Saddam withdrawal from Kuwait Soviet officials said last night that Iraq had agreed on the basic provisions of a plan for unconditio nal withdrawal that also would preserve government Earlier in the day Bush adminis tration officials said they saw little choice but to proceed with the war The 36 days of the Persian Gulf war have seen approval ratings soar to an all time high in the mid 80 percent range equal ing the support for President ranklin Roosevelt after Pearl Harbor the hostilities started the American public was very squeamish about this said Democratic pollster Tom Kiley was at best a 50 50 proposition How has Bush done it? certainly used the presidency as a bully pulpit to the extent that his predecessors said William Galston a for mer adviser to Democratic presi dential candidate Walter Mondale he has shown is an intuitive feeling for how public opinion has developed in response to or instance Galston said Bush waited to solicit congressional support for a war until he could persuasively argue that all diplo matic avenues had been closed similarly the president can now use defiant radio broad cast early yesterday as grounds for abandoning Soviet peace efforts and launching a ground war biggest ally in all of this is none other than Saddam said Democrat ic pollster Paul Maslin is a bogeyman like no other bo By the same token so great is public confidence in hand ling of the war that he could accept a peace agreement and convince Americans that it was a wise choice will see that we have accomplished our foremost purposes of getting Saddam out of Kuwait and that it was the limit of our authority" said Robert Mcarlane President former national security adviser A Los Angeles Times poll taken earlier this week indicated that while Americans remain reluctant to launch a ground attack they would rally around Bush if he ordered it Public opinion experts stressed however that support for the war and for Bush could erode if huge casualties developed we VIIL i WaMm 'rV 1 We A Wr 2 kTv 1 1 Mj I Associated Press photo A LITTLE NEEDLING Members of Company in the Royal Scots Guards receive injections Wednesday as they prepare for a possible ground war against Iraqi troops The inoculations are de signed to help protect the ground soldiers from chemical attack 7 Westover protesters Activists decry racism WMass groups get new reports By CYNTHIA SIMISON A local anti war group and an anti racism organization joined together yesterday in decrying a recent act of vandalism reported by an Arab American storeowner Representatives of the groups said they have received a half dozen additional reports of both anti Arab and anti Semitic inci dents in recent weeks 5 The Western Massachusetts branch of the National Coalition to Stop US Intervention in the Middle East and the Area Anti Racism Project an arm of the Valley Coalition for Social Jus tice said they are sponsoring a of concern and solida rity with Jewish and Arab peo 1 Declarations of the statement are being circulated among other peace groups and on area college campuses said Nick Camerota of Chicopee a spokesman for the anti war group He also said the two groups are calling on area clergy to become involved in a movement to speak out against anti Arab and anti Se mitic acts arraigned i By PAMELA METAXAS CHICOPEE Seven anti war protesters arrested during a dem onstration at Westover Air orce Base last weekend were arraigned yesterday in Chicopee District Court on charges of disturbing the peace Judge Alphonse Turcotte con tinued the cases to June for pre trial conferences The seven were among 31 dem onstrators arrested Saturday after trying to block the gates at West over ourteen demonstrators appeared in court Tuesday and the remaining were scheduled for yesterday and today Arraigned yesterday were: Jane rances Morrissey 49 of 22 Activity remains WESTOVER AIR ORCE BASE The lull in military air lift activity for Operation Desert Storm here continued yesterday with only five aircraft departing by 5 pm and three more pro jected to leave overnight On Wednesday the base saw seven arrivals and nine depar tures marking another at the Chicopee base which is the main east bound staging area to the Middle East Maj Richard Dyer base public affairs officer said departures saw 77 passengers leave aboard five 5A Galaxy Telephone rates cut for WASHINGTON (AP) reduced rates on telephone calls from Saudi Arabia yesterday and the government said it would try to protect service families from losing phone service when they cannot pay the bill for gulf calls The ederal Communications Commission said it had taken Chicopee Sheldon St Springfield continued to June 4 Jennifer Griffiths 19 of 601 Hampshire College Amherst June 28 Brian Schultz 35 of 35 Triangle St Amherst June 25 Lorena Lobs ky 23 of Thompson Road Col rain June 24 Bruce Stanford Watson 27 of 65 Thompson Road Colrain June 18 and Mary Bray Schatzkamer 73 of 518 Clark House Amherst to June 24 A 16 year old female juvenile whose name was not released be cause she is a minor was arraigned on delinquency charges and her case was continued to June 25 for a pre trial conference Police have arrested nearly 200 as a result of demonstrations at Westover since October slow at Westover and on 130 Hercules trans ports Seventeen of the soldiers headed out on a flight to Dover Air orce Base in Delaware while the remaining troops were headed destinations Dyer said Dyer had no information avail able on where the soldiers were from The statistics showed that 10 passengers left the base on flights along with 289 tons of cargo There were no figures compiled regarding yes cargo tonnage calls to Saudi Arabia steps to get rates reduced: said it is reducing rates by about 30 percent on calls to the United States including Hawaii but not Alaska made on the com USADirect service and billed to an creditcard The action comes in the wake of a call Wednesday by Hampden County commissioners for ethnic tolerance in the midst of a wave of anti Iraq sentiment due to the war in the Persian Gulf Commissioner Richard Thomas did not disclose the location of the vandalized shop but said a hate note with racial and ethnic slurs against Arabs was found by police Camerota also declined to detail any of the incidents about which his group and the anti racism pro ject have been notified He said they included hateful kinds of indicating that were responsible for the in the Persian Gulf are deeply concerned about the collateral damage that has occurred on our own shores as a result of the Persian Gulf crisis We believe that directing blame for this conflict at Jewish or Arab people is both unfair and said Camerota maintain anti Semitic and anti Arab racism are moral evils which must be vigorously he said The National Coalition was founded by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and includ es more than 100 peace groups trade unions religious and minori ty rights organizations among its membership Camerota said many of the members have been active nationally the 1 legal front to safeguard the rights of Arab Sandra Torrence of Springfield coordinator of the Area Anti Rac ism Project said she believes the ethnic based incidents make it that all people of good will bend every effort to combat anti Semitism and anti I Arab racism along with all other manifestations of racial hatred" She said the project is conduct ing a community outreach cam paign and will be sponsoring a se ries of projects including teach ins and film showings soon in an effort to improve race relations Torrence said the group plans to launch a petition drive as part of a lobbying effort for stronger legis I lative measures against racially motivated acts of violence I.

About The Republican Archive

Pages Available:

1,200,369

Years Available:

1911-2018