CPJ member Dan O'Rourke submitted the following letter to the Buffalo News, which was published in the March 4, 2008 issue:

Dear Editor,

Congratulations to the Buffalo News (2/25/08) and to Charity Vogel  for her courage in spotlighting the horrors female inmates suffer in our prisons.

I hope the Buffalo News will continue to shed light on the treatment  of the incarcerated. I once worked in prisons and know the difficult job correction officers have, but I also know that they, like all  with controlling authority over others, are tempted to abuse that  authority. Like some educators, clergy, psychologists and doctors,  some guards delude themselves into believing they can misuse those in  their care for their own purpose and pleasure.  In a horrible  perversion, they can debase and abuse those they are meant to protect  and help.

Senator Hubert Humphrey once said that the quality of a society "is  measured by how it treats those in the dawn of life, in the dusk of  life, and most importantly in the shadow of life.” These women are in  the shadows of life. What does their treatment say about the quality  of our society?

 Daniel O’Rourke
8002 Frisbee Road
Casadaga, NY 14718
595-2704

- Every Weds. evening, 4:00 pm - War Resisters League holds a weekly anti-war and counter recruitment picket at the Armed Forces Recruitment Center Downtown Buffalo, in the square near the library – need support.  (Mostly on Wednesdays, but the day is subject to change.)  It is almost always at 4:00 pm. To confirm contact Louis at louis@pce.net or 716-881-3546

DFCPJ has supported the work of Dr. Tom Potts, a dentist who has volunteered for many years to help the poor in Chiapas, Mexico.  In October 2006, he and Dr. Bill Jungles gave a presentation at a DFCPJ meeting about the dental clinic in Chiapas.   The following was received from Dr. Potts on December 22, 2007:

Chiapas Dental Clinic Update

The Latin American Solidarity Committee (a task force of the Western New York Peace Center) has been operating a dental clinic in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico for the last 20 years.  In the beginning the clinic served primarily emergency needs, with the majority of services oriented toward the treatment of infections and extractions.  Subsequently, we have enlarged our services and now deliver a full complement of restorative services (fillings).

This year about 75% of our services have been oriented toward saving teeth rather  than extractions.  This represents a major change in the nature of the services and an improvement in our ability to deliver a higher quality of health to this impoverished community.  This year also was the first time that we have provided for root canal treatments, and this was only possible because of the X-ray machine installed in 2005 by one of your members (Bill Stock).

A Mexican dentist is at the clinic on Saturdays throughout the year, while I am there for five days a week usually for the months of November and February.  However, this year we plan to start helping a clinic in El Sauce, Nicaragua in February, and for that reason I'll only be in Chiapas for a week.

The clinic in Nicaragua is currently only doing extractions, so we hope to accomplish some improvements in the equipment and services there as well.  This work is only possible because of the generous donations to the Dental Clinic Project by many individuals and groups like the Dunkirk-Fredonia Peace and Justice Center.   Thanks again for your generous help!

Elia Mihou, Executive Director of the Western New York Peace Center since August, was featured in the Tuesday November 20 issue of the Buffalo News.   For the next few days, it can be read at no charge by going to http://buffalonews.com and clicking on the Archives link. 

Three truckloads of materials and $500 were donated during the CPJ's July 2007 Nicarauguan Appeal.   Each year, CPJ organizes a collection to help the impoverished people of the Central American country.  This effort is led by Ann Marie Zon, a Catholic social worker who spends several months each year at a mission in Nicaragua.  Thanks to all who donated!

CPJ is donating $140 to Rural Ministry in honor of the organization's 40th anniversary.    

Headquartered in Dunkirk, Rural Ministry has provided the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter to the less fortunate and those in crisis situations.  Some have lost jobs, some face personal crises, some have come to harvest crops but do not find work, some are subjects of abuse, neglect, government reductions, or deteriorating health.   See http://www.ccrm.netsync.net/ for more information

Each year, DFCPJ collects items and funds to help the poor in Nicaragua, coordinating with the leadership of Ann Marie Zon, a Catholic social worker who works several months of the year at a mission in Nicaraugua.  (DFCPJ will again have  a drive this July.)  The following is from a recent note Ann Marie wrote to DFCPJ, thanking the group for its help:

My Dear-Most Faithful Friends,

You are so very much a part of Nicaragua and our efforts for the people there.  To be honest, you are most important to our projects - our work. 

We put the sum total of the funds you collected into digging wells - getting water for mission settlements that do not have the luxury of having water close at hand.

You can't even come close to imagining what this has done for the three areas - for all those people.  For them, it is like being given a gift that never ends.  We are presently installing the pumps so the projects are complete!

Thank you again and again.  We can only ask Our Lord, who used water in so many of His miracles, to bless each and all of you for every drop you've offered to  others.

--Ann Marie Zon

At its May 28 meeting, CPJ decided to contribute $100 to Church World Service for its effort to help those suffering from the genocidal crisis in Darfur, Sudan. 

Recently, CPJ donated $100 to the Agnes Safe House in Jamestown, which provides a safe haven for women who are affected by violence.

In conjunction with their recent week-long effort to raise awareness about the crisis in Darfur, students at SUNY Fredonia raised funds to benefit Doctors Without Borders.  In March, CPJ donated $25 to this cause. 

On Sunday January 28, Daniel O'Rourke was the guest speaker at the service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Northern Chautauqua in Fredonia.  The title of Dan's presentation was "Peace is Relationships," a variation on Louise Diamond's insight that peace is connections.  Among others, Dan cites Eckhart Tolle, the author of The Power of Now, who said that if the present collective madness continues, it is unlikely that our planet will survive another hundred years. >> Read the entire text of Dan's speech, "Peace is Relationships".

At the January 11, 2007 CPJ meeting, members voted to donate $50 to Iraq Veterans Against the War, and $100 to the scholarship fund of the Dunkirk-Fredonia branch of the NAACP, in commemoration of Martin Luther King's birthday.

The following Letter to the Editor, written by CPJ member Dan O'Rourke, was published in the January 6, 2007 issue of the Buffalo News (title was provided by the News):

"Bush must not rush into a war with Iran"
Dear Editor:
President Bush is proud of his reputation as a decider. What then has taken him so long to decide on “a new way forward” in Iraq?  Part of the delay probably is that many of his generals have opposed his escalation of troops levels. But I have another concern.  Does the President intend to take the spotlight off his politically unpopular troop surge with an announcement of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program?  Such a decision would be disastrous.  It would unite the Muslim world even more fiercely against us. Admittedly Iran’s President Ahmadinejad deliberately provokes us.  He calls for the destruction of Israel.  He sponsors conferences for Holocaust deniers.  He flaunts the United Nations.  But patience not a military strike is America’s best policy. Ahmadinejad’s party has already lost support in local elections. Students have jeered him publicly. Iran’s state-run television has reported this. The Iranian people recognize his extremism.  He will self-destruct.  We do not have to destroy him militarily.

Daniel O’Rourke

CPJ member Nancy Stock attended the October 10 Phyllis Bennis lecture co-sponsored by the Western New York Peace Center held at the University of Buffalo.  (See the "Previous Events" section of the DFCPJ website for more information.)  Nancy wrote the following after hearing Ms. Bennis:

Expressing concerns about the actions of the current U.S. administration, CPJ members Jean Haynes, Joe Jarvis, Marty Sanden, and Jonathan Woolson produced the following statement that was published in the October 3 issue of the Dunkirk Observer and the October 5 issue of the Buffalo News. 

The Dunkirk-Fredonia Center for Peace and Justice raises concerns about the recent actions taken by the Executive Branch of our U.S. Government:

The Executive Branch has claimed the right to prosecute any member of the press who reveals any classified government information ("White House Trains Efforts on Media Leaks", The Washington Post, 3-5-06).

Without adequate explanation, the Executive Branch chose to re-classify more than 55,000 government documents that were previously declassified and available to the public ("U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review", The New York Times, 2-21-06).

The U.S. press has both the First Amendment right and the democratic responsibility to provide the citizens of our country with information about the choices that our government makes in our name. When the American press cannot (or fears to) inform us, we lose our right to know what choices our leaders are making, endangering the foundation of our free and open society. Once our rights to government information are lost, will there ever be any incentive for our current (or future) government to restore those rights, weakening its own power?

Since 2001, President Bush has vetoed only one bill (federal funding for stem cell research, vetoed on July 20, 2006). Rather using his veto on other bills with which he does not agree, President Bush has attached more than 800 "signing statements" to bills passed by Congress, invalidating their intent. Recently, The Boston Globe reported "among the laws Bush has challenged are a torture ban, oversight provisions in the USA Patriot Act, [...] whistleblower protections for executive branch employees, safeguards against
political interference in federally funded scientific research, and numerous other statutory restrictions or requirements on his powers."  ("ABA urges halt to `signing statements'", The Boston Globe, 8-9-06).

A "signing statement" is a proclamation written by the President and attached to a new law explaining how the executive branch will interpret and enforce it. Under the U.S. Constitution's "checks and balances", the President may either veto or sign a bill into law. Our Constitution does not allow the President to reverse the intent of bills signed into law with the equivalent of a line-item veto. Presidential line-item vetoes were ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998 (Clinton v. City of New York).

On August 8, 2006, the American Bar Association (ABA) issued their report saying in part, "...the American Bar Association opposes, as contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers, the issuance of presidential signing statements that claim the authority or state the intention to disregard or decline to enforce all or part of a law the President has signed, or to interpret such a law in a manner inconsistent with the clear intent of Congress".

We ask our fellow citizens to consider whether or not actions taken by our federal government support the rule of law, protect fundamental principles of democracy, and uphold the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

Jean Haynes, Brocton, NY
Joe Jarvis, Fredonia, NY
Marty Sanden, Dunkirk, NY
Jonathan Woolson, Fredonia, NY
for the Dunkirk-Fredonia Center for Peace and Justice