And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Local support for Peltier Defense By Pallavi Agarwal Special to the Kansan mailto: The international headquarters of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee is a two-room office in downtown Lawrence. Peltier's paintings and pictures, which hang on the wall, lighten the austere atmosphere. It's an office, struggling to do more with less. There is no plush carpeting. Stacks of papers lie piled on the floor, and the three full-time staff members slog 60 hours a week without pay. Keith McHenry, who has been at the defense Committee office since last October, is a co-founder of Food Not Bombs, an activist group that has spawned 200 branches in the U.S. Now he helps staff members, Gina Chiala and Pat Benabe, coordinate Peltier's campaign from a couple of computer terminals, faxes and phone lines. This June, the committee is holding one of its biggest conferences in recent years to help pool together the efforts of the different domestic and international support groups connected with the campaign. The conference, to take place from June 25-27, at the Haskell Indian Nations University, will feature presentations from coordinators and invited speakers on lobbying skills and grass-roots activism. "We are expecting at least 200 people," Chiala said. "Anybody can come." McHenry said that coordinating a campaign that scale was not easy. The committe often is faced with funding problems and lack of unity within its various branches. "Many of our support groups are started by one person," he said. "Some dissolve, some remain." Drawing public opinion for Peltier is a key issue with the committee, and McHenry hopes that Peltier's forthcoming book, to be released on June 26, will help increase his support base. "It is a very philisophical book," said Harvey Arden, Washington-based writer, who is editing Peltier's first book, Prison Writings: My life is a Sun Dance. The project, which started two years ago, is a compilation of some of Peltier's best letters, speeches and articles. "He is a wonderful writer," said Arden. "He sees his life as unimportant. There is nothing about his marriages and children, although he talks about his grandchildren." Harvey said that the project started slowly because of prison visitation restrictions and their struggle to find a publisher who was willing to release the book. The book is being released by St. Martin's Press. It is priced at $22.95 and will have German, French and possible Italian editions. RELATED Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774 Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
