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Tallahassee Democrat Finally Reports on TNJP's Eternal Peace Vigil Against Iraq War After Six Years

Submitted by tnjp on July 31, 2007 - 9:11pm.

Finally! After six years the Tally Democrat reports on TNJP's Eternal Peace Vigil Against Iraq War. The vigils in Tallahassee started BEFORE the bombing and invasion of Afghanistan in the early fall of 2001. Our local corporate media gets a clue at last (article below)...

Perennial protesters: Group protests Iraq war twice a week at Capitol By Tabitha Yang July 30, 2007
Tom Baxter, 60, plans to stand outside the Capitol and protest the war until it's over or until he dies, whichever comes first. On Sunday afternoon, he was sitting in a lawn chair near Monroe Street and Apalachee Parkway, holding an anti-war sign and wearing a baseball cap with "Vietnam Veterans Against the War" emblazoned across the front. Over the course of the six years he's been protesting, he said public support for the protesters has risen. He thinks this is because people are not so hopeful about the war's outcome.

"Back in May of '03, people were saying, 'We won! We won!' ” Baxter said. "Nobody says that anymore."...

Baxter comes out to protest nearly every Thursday and Sunday. He and a group of other war protesters take signs with slogans like "Bush lies, 1,000 die," and stake out a spot on the front lawn of the Capitol.

Michael Weddington, 57, is another of the regulars who participates.

"I love my country, and I want it to do the right thing," Weddington said. "When it starts murdering other people, I have to do something, and this is what I'm doing."

The other protesters refer to Weddington affectionately as the "draft dodger," although the real reason why he couldn't serve in Vietnam was because he had bad eyesight.

Others at the Capitol on Sunday included Randall Gann, 56, and Dave Lynn, 55.

"We know we can't stop (the war)," Gann said, "but we can voice our opinion."

Gann was drafted on April Fool's Day of 1969 to serve in Vietnam. Lynn, also a Vietnam veteran, thinks it's important for people to be reminded that the longer the war goes on, the more soldiers die.

"Public awareness is why I'm here," Lynn said. "I'm anti-war - I'm a dove, a hippy, if you want to call it that."

Lynn said experiencing war firsthand is a big part of the reason why he's against it. He fought in Vietnam and saw the troops' efforts come to nothing, and he thinks the same will happen in Iraq.

"However long they stay, it's still gonna be for nothing," Lynn said.