CPJ had planned to donate a peace pole to the city of Dunkirk.  The placement of the pole in Dunkirk's Memorial Park elicitied controversy.  When offered a different location for the pole, CPJ declined.  The following is CPJ's response, published in the Dunkirk Observer on October 5, 2010.

The Peace Pole A Response from CPJ 

The Dunkirk-Fredonia Center for Peace and Justice  (CPJ) would like to thank the Common Council and the representatives of the various veterans’ groups for all the time and effort they gave to seeking a resolution to the recent and unfortunate controversy concerning the peace pole. We would also like to thank Mayor Richard Frey for his initial acceptance of the peace pole for the City of Dunkirk. As others have pointed out it is ironic that a simple statement advocating: “May Peace Prevail On Earth” should have occasioned such suspicions, misrepresentations and controversy. CPJ would like to clear up these misconceptions and to clarify its role.  First, its offer of the peace pole to the City of Dunkirk was never intended as an affront to our veterans.  On the contrary, it presumed that the brave veterans who fought and died in service to our country did so that peace might prevail -- and that future wars might be averted.  CPJ itself has a number of veterans among its members.  In no way did CPJ see the peace pole as disrespecting veterans and their sacrifices. 

It is worth noting that among the 200,000 peace poles in the world, in the United States there are also peace poles in veteran memorials. A few examples are Veteran’s Memorial Park in Pensacola, Florida, Veteran’s Park in Hortonville, Wisconsin, and Veteran’s Park in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Even more striking a peace pole stands in the Prayer Room at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Indeed, there is nothing anti-veteran about peace poles. 

Another response, sad in these days of cooperation and sharing among municipalities, is the territorial reaction of some in Dunkirk who have accused CPJ of being outsiders.  Approximately 20% of the individuals on CPJ’s mailing list live in Dunkirk. 

Criticism that surfaced in the peace pole controversy is that CPJ is a political organization.  While individuals in our group have certainly voiced criticism concerning some decisions of Republican and Democratic administrations. CPJ itself has never endorsed any political candidate or party in any election. It is an organization committed to peace and justice. The members of CPJ include clergy, veterans, educators, social and health care workers, environmentalists, and other concerned citizens.  CPJ’s website clearly states, “The Center for Peace and Justice provides persons in the Dunkirk, Fredonia and surrounding area the opportunity to learn about, and act constructively on, a variety of issues, both local and global, related to peace, human rights and social justice.” 

CPJ collects materials and donations for the poor in Nicaragua and supports organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Katrina Relief, Haitian Relief, and Church World Service in Darfur. Locally, it has participated with the Dunkirk-Fredonia Clergy Association in a number of inter-faith services.  CPJ has supported the work of the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry, the Agnes Safe House, Dunkirk-Fredonia NAACP scholarships, the Holocaust Memorial Committee, and disaster relief efforts for Cattaraugus Creek flood victims. CPJ has also provided scholarships to Dunkirk and Fredonia high school graduates who are committed to peace and social justice issues.

It is unfortunate that the Common Council did not promptly reply when Mayor Frey informed them of the peace pole offer. An open dialogue at that point could have avoided much of the controversy that followed. CPJ’s subsequent offer to reposition the pole was intended to help the Mayor resolve this controversy.

CPJ declined the Common Council’s decision to move the peace pole from Memorial Park to a site just west of the city’s water filtration plant because that location was “out of sight and out of mind.” CPJ found that site unacceptable and therefore requested the pole be returned, since no other locations were offered by the Common Council and the Mayor.  

For the Dunkirk-Fredonia, Center for Peace and Justice: Rev. Rodney Houck, Dr. Thomas Morrissey, Mr. Daniel O’Rourke, Mr. Marty Sanden, and Mrs. Rose Sebouhian. October 04, 2010 

CPJ member Daniel O'Rourke submits a regular column for the Dunkirk Observer.  His latest, "'Bring 'Em Home' - but then what?," was published on June 10, 2010.  Dan's other writings can be seen in Daniel O'Rourke's columns, found under CPJ News/Opinions at the left side of the screen.

"War Is Not the Answer" signs from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) are available from Caitlin O'Reilly.  The FCNL asks for a $5.00 donation to defray the shipping costs of the signs.  Caitlin will be happy to deliver.  To see a photo of the sign, visit http://www.fcnl.org/forms/forms.php?type=wina.  Caitlin's contact information is 716.366.2074 or cait.riley.music@gmail.com.

For upcoming Western New York Peace Center events (based in Buffalo), see: 

http://wnypeace.org/join/events.php

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. 

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. 

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.

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