IAT
NEWSLETTER
September 2005
Dedicated to the memory of Walter "Bud" Pinto and all those who were victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
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"IT'S ABOUT TIME WE BEGIN IT,
TO TURN THE WORLD AROUND . . . "
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ORGANIZATION INFORMATION
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Co-Founder/Former President - Marcelle Orswell
(notmartha2@yahoo.com)
Co-Founder and Secretary -- Theresa Shea (Tree1A@aol.com)
Co-Founder/Webpage Designer-Sandy Clark (tybrenn@comcast.net)
Co-Presidents -- Ann Schnitz (aerie01@comcast.net)
and
Mary Ledford (eagleshorses@yahoo.com)
Web Site -- -- http://home.comcast.net/~tybrenn/iat/
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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
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Dear Friends,
Finally September! Here we are again, getting ready for our annual sojourns to celebrate John's life as the leaves begin to turn and the winds grow crisp. I was in a nostalgic mood this morning, so I looked back at past September newsletters to see what was on our agenda. Of course, 2001 and 2002 were marked by remembrances of September 11th, and those recollections seem to be fading as the years pass, as they inevitably must. Pain lessens, grows less sharp but it never entirely leaves us. And hopefully, there are lessons to be learned there that will serve us well if we pay attention and let them.
Of course, this September, we're still reeling from the natural disasters down in the Gulf. This one becomes personal for me (and for many of you, I'm sure), as I have friends in New Orleans, one in particular who had just moved there in April to begin a new life. Another of our friends was to be joining her there next month, and I believe they've just returned from surveying the wreckage – a lot was damaged, but she was surely luckier than some. She had a family to go to in Memphis, and a car with which to get there. Not everyone was that fortunate. So I'm sure all of you are keeping these folks in your hearts, as they struggle to get their lives back together.
Next week is our annual Peace Cloth fundraising event in Aspen, at the Mountain Chalet on Friday, Oct 7 – I hope that any of you planning to attend will drop by and introduce yourselves. Safe journeys wherever you may travel this October – please do share your adventures with the rest of us.
My heart to yours,
Ann
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
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“In wildness is the preservation of the world.”
~Henry David Thoreau
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FUNDRAISER
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Nothing to report this month
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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***September 30 - October 1, 2005 - Snowmass, CO – The Windstar Foundation -- New Choices for Your Future Symposium”
Guest speakers:
Dr. Jane Goodall ... Jane Goodall Institute <http://www.janegoodall.org>
Thomas Crum ... Aiki Works <http://www.aikiworks.com>
Rodger Schlickeisen ... Defenders of Wildlife <http://www.defenders.org>
George Sterzinger ... Renewable Energy Policy Project<http://www.crest.org>
Michael Reynolds ... Earthship Biotecture <http://www.earthship.org>
Melissa Poe ... Kids F.A.C.E. <http://www.kidsface.org>
For more information, www.wstar.org
October 7, 2005 - Carbondale, CO - Mark Robinson Concert - Steve's Guitars $10 8:30pm www.markrobinsonmusic.com CANCELLED
October 7-9, 2005 - Australia - Higher Ground Australia will be hosting the 2005 JD Tribute weekend in Old Mogo Town, Mogo, near Bateman's Bay, NSW Australia. $60 per person for accommodation and $30 for food.
Janette Frawley <jfrawley@telstra.com> http://www.highergroundaustralia.com
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Aspen in October
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October 6, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Work detail at the John Denver Sanctuary 8:30 am - Noon / Curtis <griffy@guidant.com>
October 6, 2005 - Aspen, CO "Meet and Greet" at the John Denver Sanctuary 3:00 pm / Worship on the Mountain 3:30 pm Pastor Keith Perry / Deb Perry <aspeninoctober@wowway.com>
October 6, 2005 - Aspen, CO - "Friends With You" featuring Mark Cormican and Chris Collins and the Boulder Canyon Band - Aspen Community Church 7:00 pm $10 apokey1@aol.com
October 7, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Sing-along at the Pitkin County Assisted Living Center - World Family of JD Singers / Rehearsal at Wagner Park at 9:00 am <apokey1@aol.com>
October 7, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Mt. Chalet Ballroom - Peace Cloth Event 1:00 pm Chris Collins and the Boulder Canyon Band, Mark Cormican, Ken Dravis and Tim Durnan. Presentation of The Vision Award / Tickets $20 eve@johndenverpeacecloth.com
October 7-8, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Wheeler Opera House / 8th Annual John Denver Tribute Concert / Concert benefits Challenge Aspen. Tickets go on sale July 1st. 7:00 pm Special Guest: Mike Taylor, one of JD's first original band members and co-author of "Rocky Mountain High." www.wheeleroperahouse.com * info@wheeleroperahouse.com
October 8, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Mt. Chalet Ballroom - "Let This Be A Voice" Auction/lunch/concert 10:30 am - 3:30 pm with registration beginning at 10:00 am. Mark Cormican, Keeper Koplinger, Kevin Demolino, Roy Rivers and Jim Salestrom. Christopher Canyon will showcase the new book "Take Me Home, Country Roads." $25 or $15 for just the concert/auction. Check/M.O. payable to Pamela Beasley / 721 Ravencroft Dr. / Garland, TX 75043 (SASE) pamela.beasley@airmail.net or eagleshorses@yahoo.com
October 8, 2005 – Aspen, CO – Windstar Connections Conference – see below for details
October 9, 2005 - Snowmass, CO - A Windstar Celebration! Windstar Foundation - All Windstar members, old and new, are invited to a special day celebrating and thanking you for all you do to support The Windstar Foundation 9:00 am - 4:00 pm * Campfire 6:00 pm / <Apokey1@aol.com>
October 9, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Wheeler Opera House / 8th Annual John Denver Tribute Concert / Concert benefits Challenge Aspen. Tickets go on sale July 1st. 7:00 pm Special Guests: Chad Mitchell Trio in honor of the 40th Anniversary of John joining the trio. www.wheeleroperahouse.com * info@wheeleroperahouse.com
October 10, 2005 - Aspen, CO - "Colors of the Rainbow" presented by Georgiann McDaniel / Mountain Chalet Roof-top Conference Room 9:00 am - Noon $20 / SASE to Georgiann McDaniel / 48 E. Tamarack Circle / Battlement Mesa / Parachute, CO 81635 * Info: RockyMtnHaven1@msn.com
October 10, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Mt. Chalet Ballroom / Mack Bailey in Concert $20 includes Lunch at noon & the concert at 1:00 pm http://www.mackbailey.com
October 10, 2005 - Aspen, CO - "It's Goodbye Again" 5:00 pm Wagner Park on Durant Avenue. <aspeninoctober@wowway.com>
October 10, 2005 - Aspen, CO - Mt. Chalet 7:30 pm – downstairs concert - "New Friends To Find" Steve Brook, Rene Wingelaar and Tim Durnan / John Denver Trivia Contest $12 <jht@spamarrest.com>
October 27, 2005 – Reading, PA – Casa Grande, 5-10 PM Music Extravaganza III: Funk & Folk--Music for the Environment, to benefit Earth Song Environmental Foundation www.earthsongfdn.org for more information
October 28, 2005 - Germany - Kerstin Siewek - Concert for Children with cancer * http://www.kerstinsiewek.de
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Realschule in Gelsenkirchen-Erle 20:00 H / Information under "Next Benefit-Concert"
October 29, 2005 - Annapolis, MD - 5th Annual "Music From the Mountains" - The Hard Travelers and Friends – Chris Nole, Bill Danoff, Mollie Weaver, John Sommers http://www.musicunites.com/Schedule.htm
(thanks to Emily Parris and the Rocky Mountain High newsletter for many of these dates; thanks too, to Karen Tupek for keeping us up to date with Mack Bailey’s schedule, Donna Pinto for information on Chris Westfall’s engagements, and Deb Sanderson for news of events in California)
REMINDER::: The John Denver Memorial Peace Cloth is available for all JD-related events. Please email peaceclothinfo@yahoogroups.com for more information, or see our website at www.johndenverpeacecloth.com
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LETTERS
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Here's what some of our folks are doing to celebrate John's life this October –
Susan Leaver [susanleaver@yahoo.com]
INTERNATIONAL JOHN DENVER MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
In memory of John - our down on the farm weekend, with Fred in Taupo has been postponed till 28-30 October - please join us. For enquiries please contact SusanLeaver@yahoo.com
ALSO
Gisela, our faithful German member, would like to hear from members of the world family. Email address gisivan@hotmail.com.
As well as being a keen fan of John, Gisela loves horses, bike riding, learning Japanese. She is a well traveled lady having spent time in Los Angeles.
Susan Leaver
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From Diane Nilsson [dnilsson@tellink.net]
The New Hampshire Friends of John Denver will be doing our last highway cleanup of the year on Sunday, October 16, in Dublin, beginning at 1 p.m. The colors will be at their peak so it should be a glorious day.
For information contact Diane at dnilsson@tellink.net
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From Judy Therrien [jht@spamarrest.com]
Monday afternoon on 10/10 at 2:00 pm, Singing Skies will present a concert “NEW FRIENDS TO FIND”, downstairs in the Mt. Chalet Ballroom ($12 donation) Performers:
Tim Durnan www.timdurnan.com
Judy Lunn www.judylunn.com
Rene Wingelaar and Arno Cornelissen www.nickels-and-dimes.com
Steve Brook www.stevebrook.com
We hope everyone gets the chance to listen to these great voices and then invites their friends to come with them to the show! Tickets will be sold at the door. Come early for good seats. For info: jht@spamarrest.com (Judy Therrien, Monterey)
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From Deb Sanderson (PixieDmyr@aol.com
Here are the plans for Pacific Grove's event on October 9: John Denver: The Legacy Continues... will be holding the Annual John Denver Memorial Beach Cleanup and Candlelight Tribute at John Denver Beach (Ocean View Blvd., at the turnout between Acropolis and Asilomar) starting at about 10:30 am on Sunday, October 9th. We'll be cleaning the beach there in the area (and up and down the boulevard, if people want the walk), and the Candlelight Tribute will be at the same place, starting at 5:00 pm.
Bring sunscreen, hats, chairs, blankets, food, water, musical instruments and anything else that will make a day at the beach enjoyable, safe and pleasant (rather than an endurance test of sunburn and windburn).
We will be collecting donations for Friends of the Monarchs so they can continue to perform tree maintenance in the Butterfly Grove, as well as for the Red Cross and Salvation Army for Hurricane Katrina/Hurricane Rita/Tsunami relief. These groups need funds, not goods, so we will not be accepting in-kind donations, but rather cash & checks made out to the charities. Also, we may be holding a small auction (only a few items, unlike prior years, and possibly this will be a silent auction) of John Denver-related items, and those proceeds will also go into the donation kitty, to be divided among the groups. For additional information, please contact Debra Sanderson at pixiedmyr@aol.com, or 703-723-6633.
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From Judith Gabriel [judithgabriel@comcast.net]
We have changed our name from The John Denver Memorial Foundation, Inc. to Earth Song Environmental Foundation, Inspired by the Music & Vision of John Denver. We are still a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We've also become a membership foundation as well with yearly dues of $25. For that $25 you receive 2 scholarship raffle tickets with some really great prizes--some local and some not; 5 event raffle tickets, with one of the prizes being an abstract, acrylic sea painting from renowned local artist, Jane Runyeon, and $5 off our event ticket. This totals $20, so that you almost get your membership dues back.
We will be celebrating John this year on October 27, 2005, from 5-10 p.m. at Casa Grande in Wyomissing (Spring Township), PA, with our Music Extravaganza III: Funk & Folk--Music for the Environment, w/Tribute to John Denver. We are including this year music that is a lot different than folk music or John's music; yet some of the music from the 70's that they play is indicative of the era in which John had his brilliant rise to stardom.
Included in the ticket price is an Italian buffet with Chicken Parmesan, pasta, salad, and rolls/butter. Cash bar available. Since it is so close to Halloween, you may dress up, if you like, as something in nature. No masks, please, although face painting and makeup is allowed. Prize for best costumes, and besides our event raffle drawing at the end of the night, we will have silent auction items as well. The scholarship drawing is on Dec. 2, 2005, at Pizza Uno's in Wyomissing.
This year we gave our second $1,000 scholarship to a Berks Co. student, majoring in an earth related science, Hilary Peterson. Hilary has already completed research on micro-organisms in the soil and said she wants to learn enough to help farmers to become good environmentalists as well. We made donations to the Berks Co. Conservancy, the Reading-Berks Food Bank, and WHYY and WITF for their nature programming.
We will continue to work for larger corporate sponsorship until we can have a large concert with name artists. Then we can give back, in John's name, the way he did while keeping his music alive as well. Although less of his music will be played at this year's event, because we are including diverse music styles, we hope that people will learn more about him and us, as we continue to grow.
If you would like to become a member, learn more about us, or buy an event ticket, to www.earthsongfdn.org or email earthsongfdn@comcast.net. Until the end of Oct. you can still access us at www.johndenvermemorialfoundation.com .
Thanks for your past support. I cannot tell you how many people come to me in my business and say, "You know someone put benches up at Hawk Mt. for John Denver." I'm so pleased to say it was us along with other admirers of John who did that.
We celebrated our sixth year of highway cleanup. We still need volunteers for that activity. Also anyone wanting to volunteer to help at the event, please let us know.
Peace,
Judith
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WEBSITES OF INTEREST
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Environmental Working Group
EWG Issues || Site Index
<http://www.ewg.org/issues/siteindex/issues.php?issueid=5005>
(From Tree and Sandy)
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FOR SALE
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Peace Cloth Items!
Don't forget to check out www.johndenverpeacecloth.com (Peace Cloth Store) for exclusive John Denver items. All proceeds benefit The John Denver Memorial Peace Cloth. We now have a shopping cart to make your purchases easier!
Also -- if you shop online, please visit our virtual mall: www.johndenverpeacecloth.onecause.com -- every sale at a store in the mall returns a donation to the Cloth. The Peace Cloth now has eScrip -- please see our website for more information.
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If you're looking for something special for a special someone, come check out what Wildlife Creations
(http://www.geocities.com/wldlifecreation) has to offer!! We have many items relating to John Denver and other items that would make fantastic gifts for people you know and love! Or gift someone who is hard to buy for, something that they will talk about for years! From keychains, snowglobes, t-shirts, potpourri jars and more!!! We're sure you'll find something! And remember, whenever you purchase from Wildlife Creations, you're not only giving a gift to someone you know, but to the Windstar Foundation and also the National Wildlife Federation, in John's memory, for wolf education as all proceeds are given to them. Wildlife Creations is now offering a feature product.
Checkout the website for this month's offering! For more information, you can email us at
wldlifecreation@wildmail.com.
In this healing time...
Thank you for helping to make the world
a better place in which to live,
Diana and Susan
Wildlife Creations
http://www.geocities.com/wldlifecreation
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From Sherry Cook <backhomagain@yahoo.com>
Hello friends!
*UPDATE*
Hello friends!
Just wanted you all to know that my Mary Kay Website is cancelled. I did not get enough business to renew it...it just wasn't worth the money. The two orders I received enabled me to pay half of a sponsorship for a student to attend the Windstar Symposium, for which I was pleased. I just wish it could have been more.
I will still donate a portion of my MK proceeds to Windstar, so please contact me directly through my e-mail from now on (backhomagain@yahoo.com).
Peace and joy,
Sherry :)
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ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
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Wolves Still Being Unfairly Persecuted
Regarding the recent attacks on wolves from Western anti-wolf groups, it is both unwise and irresponsible to turn over wolf "management" (legalized killing and thinning) to any state until the public is more educated about our natural wildlife system and how predators maintain healthy populations of game animals.
The wolf and other natural predators have been persecuted unfairly for far too long, stemming from ancient and ill-informed European superstitions toward wildlife in general. If they saw a wild animal, it was considered "dangerous," and the protocol was to "shoot it." Unfortunately, that mentality still pervades large aspects of our society. Education is critical to stop the destruction of our wildlife and its habitat. Costs for education should be at Uncle Sam's cost since our federal government was responsible for eradicating wolves at taxpayer expense from the lower 48 in the early part of the 1900's.
Some hunters appreciate and understand the role predators play in keeping game populations healthy. Others, mainly throughout the western states, claim that wolves are taking "their" game. Some ranchers complain that wolves are depreciating their livestock. Has either group, hunters or ranchers, considered that big cattle ranching on western lands may be the real problem?
Currently, our native wildlife is being terribly displaced and relegated to the most remote perimeters of the land, partly because of suburban sprawl, but the biggest chunk is due to the 30 million acres of our Western federal lands which are being grazed by a water-thirsty, Eurasian mammal, the cow. A rancher will leave his cattle (a non-native species ill-adapted to the arid western environment) for months on end, often completely unsupervised and unprotected, and then gets angry and acts surprised when natural predators attack. Wolves do not have the capability to think, "Oh, don't touch those animals. They're off limits!"
Most taxpayers do not realize the magnitude in costs financially, habitat loss and wildlife destruction, caused by grazing cattle on our arid, western federal lands. Despite the fact that our lands are literally being legally "mined" by cattle grazing, as one example, elk, will not graze where livestock is grazing.
Cattle ranching in the west produces a mere 3% of our nation's beef. Contrary to its benign image, it is anything but a benign activity! It has been costing us greatly as far as subsidies and special favors to wealthy ranchers, displacing wildlife, literally draining our rivers and streams, fouling up waters with fecal waste, and last but not least, government sponsored (and often inhumane -- steel traps, poison, etc.) killing of tens of thousands of our precious native wildlife -- all at taxpayer expense so the ranchers can continue to enjoy their lifestyle.
Thankfully, and to their credit, some informed ranchers are using non-lethal ways to control predation such as Range Riders (through Predator Conservation Alliance), specially trained dogs such as Great Pyrenees), and even llamas! And guess what -- these methods are working in many states throughout the West!
We can never go back to the Lewis and Clark days, but we there are ways we can co-exist with wildlife and restore our federal lands to their former glory. But it will take compromise, commitment, and time. The free lunch of subsidized grazing is anything but "free" or "low cost," considering the incredible burden and cost to our wildlife and natural habitat. If these federally-managed lands were restored, our precious wolves, bears, and other predators would be able to live without harassment on the land that is theirs, with the dignity they deserve.
For more information www.publiclandsranching.org
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POETRY
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None this month
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NEWSLETTER NEWS
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If you would like to submit articles, news items, stories, poetry, or any other pertinent information to IT'S ABOUT TIME, please e-mail any of the IAT staff. The submission deadline for the next edition is October 19, 2005. Please be sure to include any contact information so that members can e-mail or snail-mail for further details.
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The contents of this newsletter are entirely at the discretion of the "It's About Time" staff. Contributions, as always, are welcomed, although inclusion is not guaranteed. All contributed material may be subject to editing for content and length.
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". . . IT'S ABOUT TIME WE START TO LIVE
IT,
THE FAMILY OF MAN,
IT'S ABOUT TIME
AND IT'S ABOUT CHANGES . . .
AND IT'S ABOUT TIME."
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