Article in the February 19, 2003 Argus Courier
Peace billboards popping up in Petaluma
A national peace organization founded by residents and former residents of Tennessee commune have erected four billboards in Petaluma with the message "Peace is Patriotic."
Linda Speel, a Petaluma resident who works as a nurse in a Terra Linda school, said the group, Peace Roots, raised money locally to pay for the billboards, which cost $175 apiece.
Two of the billboards are on Bodega Avenue, at Cleveland Lane and at Bantam Way, another one is on Lakeville Highway near Casa Grande Road and the fourth is on Petaluma Boulevard South north of the Highway 101 exit.
She would like to put up more of them in other parts of Sonoma County communities, Speel said.
Speel and her husband Richard Speel are both former residents of The Farm, a commune founded in the 1970s by a group of Bay Area people. Speel said former residents and current residents have remained in contact with each other over the years.
After Sept. 11 they formed a peace group to seek nonviolent solutions to the problems in the Middle East. In addition to the billboards, they are also sponsoring a project that sends home-made quilts to children in Afghanistan and other countries.
For more information about the group, look for its Web site: www.peaceroots.org
Photo by Scott Hess of the billboard on eastbound Lakeville Highway just east of Casa Grande
Article in
the January 29, 2003 Argus Courier
See related photos by Scott
Hess
Peace marchers carry signs on ropes
Several people walked down the 100 block of Kentucky Street at noon Friday to express their opposition to a United States military attack on Iraq.
The march, organized by Petalumans Against War, was intended to "bring attention to the upcoming war and send a message to not only the Iraqi people but our own people, our children," said Laure Reichek.
The protesters carried three 20-foot ropes from which were hanging messages of peace and opposition to war. Reichek said she got the idea after seeing preschool children linked together with a rope while walking along a sidewalk with teachers.
"Our idea is to have a group of people walk a different neighborhood in town every week," said Reichek.
The group is also planning a cross-town peace march on Feb. 8. The march will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Walnut Park, then proceed to Lucchesi Park for a rally from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Several people walked down the 100 block of Kentucky Street at noon Friday to express their opposition to a United States military attack on Iraq.
The march, organized by Petalumans Against War, was intended to "bring attention to the upcoming war and send a message to not only the Iraqi people but our own people, our children," said Laure Reichek.
The protesters carried three 20-foot ropes from which were hanging messages of peace and opposition to war. Reichek said she got the idea after seeing preschool children linked together with a rope while walking along a sidewalk with teachers.
"Our idea is to have a group of people walk a different neighborhood in town every week," said Reichek.
The group is also planning a cross-town peace march on Feb. 8. The march will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Walnut Park, then proceed to Lucchesi Park for a rally from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Article in the January 8, 2003 Petaluma Argus-Courier
Petaluma couple organizes group for anti-war efforts
By LOIS PEARLMAN, ARGUS-COURIER STAFF
Not content to just stand on the street corner every Saturday with picket signs, a Petaluma husband and wife have organized a network of local people to undertake a variety of anti-war efforts.
Laure Reichek said the group, called Petalumans Against War (PAW), is an offshoot of a full-page ad that ran in the Argus-Courier in October with the names of 800 Petalumans who oppose a war in Iraq.
"We wanted to gather signatures for a full-page ad to see if other people in Petaluma felt the way we did," Reichek said. "In just eight hours of standing in the street we got 800 names. We decided to stop there, even though 200 more called afterward. So there were a lot of people."
But the Reicheks, Laure and her husband Jesse, gathered more money from petition signers than the cost of the ad, so they decided to use the remainder for more anti-war projects.
Thus was born the loosely-knit alliance which communicates primarily by e-mail and telephone. So far participant have organized 14 separate projects, including bumper stickers, T-shirts, buttons, art exhibits and a poetry reading, plus a local peace march scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 8.
The march will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Walnut Park, then proceed to Lucchesi Park for a rally from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
There are also plans to bring a resolution before the City Council to make Petaluma a civil rights sanctuary "in support of civil rights now threatened by the U.S.A. Patriot Act."
The group also hosts a Web site at www.petalumansagainst war.org
Reichek said PAW's activities will continue "as long as the war goes on."
(Contact Lois Pearlman at lpearlman@arguscourier.com )