Who else had success in local marches/rallies on Mar. 17?

[meldroc]

Fort Collins had a big success. Our march was part of the St. Patrick's day parade in Old Town. There were hundreds of anti-war activists marching, a lot more than I thought we'd get. I met a lot of new faces, and saw a lot of support from the crowds in the parade. Sure there was the occasional "Support the troops" heckler in the crowd, but there were a lot more supporters flashing peace signs, shouting "IMPEACH!!!" and cheering us. We wrapped things up with a rally with our state majority leader, Ken Gordon, in attendance, along with my very strongly anti-war activist state representative John Kefalas, as well as Bob Bacon.

The local events are at least as important as the national events such as the March on the Pentagon. They're the events where people see their neighbors, their friends, their family marching. That's where they can see it's ordinary folks like them protesting the actions of our government, not just crazy people on TV. There are a lot of people who are afraid to speak out, because so many of the pro-war types have intimidated them. If they see their own neighbors, friends and family out protesting, they may gather the courage to join you.

How did your local marches and rallies go?

[Raven]

1. We got snowed out here in NH but

it's on for the 24th.

[peace13]

2. We had a nice turnout for our prayer vigil on Friday.

It mirrored the event in DC. We had over 50 participants in the Village of Granville. I am not too much into the organized prayer scene so I was pleasantly surprised how uplifting the event was. The closing prayer was so great, so beautifully universal. Saturday we meet at the park and read the names of the soldiers from Ohio who have died and placed a marker flag for each. One hundred forty one brave souls given to this effort. At the end of the gathering we moved the flags to the nearby church, set the flags, added two American flags and a sign that states "Ohio War Dead". This will be displayed for the week. The weather was very cold so our crowd was small.

I am glad to hear that you had a good day as well. I agree that the local arena is where this has to be fought. I tried to get the press to our events. We had the TV station and about two minutes of air time on Friday. The local newspaper photographer showed for that as well. Saturday the reporter showed up after the event was over and had a puzzled look on his face. He said they were looking for something that was 'new'. Needless to say, our discussion did not go well. I think we need to pile 141 young people next weekend and splatter them with ketchup. Just maybe this would get their attention. Oh well, I am going to see the editor tomorrow and let him know my feelings. NGU! Peace to you, Kim

[LSK]

3. we had I think one guy in car say "freedom isnt free" but no other problems

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=437182&mesg_id=437182

[Pyrzqxgl]

4. We had over a thousand march here in San Diego

in spite of competition from the St. Patricks Day parade (which also had an anti-war contingent in it). The Union-Tribune
put news of both marches on the Front page (that never happened in the 60's as I remember). The Times They are a-Changin'.

[goodhue]

5. we had about 4,000 here in Minneapolis this afternoon

pretty good turn out given the cold and grey conditions