The Kosovo Crisis: no easy solutions to troubling dilemmas
To the old woman shot in Kosovo just before Easter
Departure statement: U.S. religious leaders to Belgrade
If a cluster bomb could talk — Norman Solomon

Support Stanislaus County libraries! Vote YES on MEASURE B

TRAGEDY:

Littleton
Tragedy
A turning point?

30th annual Juneteenth honors end to slavery

A short story about debt relief

Gun enforcement laws urgently required

FAIR's radio program pulled from Pacifica's KPFK

Youth "just want a place to hang out"

LIVING LIGHTLY:

Mud Pies and Purple Onions

Recipe: Not your normal rice

New underground movement

Social justice and building your home from natural materials: a lecture

Recycling progress in Modesto: slow and steady

Farmers Market features culinary delights

EARTHWORDS — Jim Higgs

By INDIRA CLARK

Peace Camp in the high Sierra each June offers a wonderful blend of friendship, fun, delight in nature, and thoughtful reflection. This year's Peace Camp promises another thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining retreat weekend. It will still be spring in the mountains, when peace-minded families and individuals gather again for this inspiring annual event.

To stimulate thought this summer, June 25-27, media critic Norman Solomon will be the camp's main speaker.

Norman Solomon is a social observer and activist, critic and guide. He will bring to this year's Peace Camp his gentle friendliness, playful wit, and passion for honesty and truth. He will also share a wealth of helpful suggestions on how we can more intelligently read or view the media and join in the effort to effect reform. Stanislaus Connections frequently frequently runs Solomon's tart media critiques, so many people know his name. Now you can meet the person. (Read his latest critique on page 7.)

Other camp activities include:

FRIDAY: After dinner and mixers, a campfire program starts as the sun goes down, sparking camaraderie through stories and song, music led by Scott Gifford Following campfire, Tim Smart will lead a moonwalk under pine trees silvered by the gibbous moon.

SATURDAY: Guest speaker Norman Solomon’s presentation will highlight what concerned citizens need to know in sorting truth from bias out of the news.

Ron Gowans will lead an all-day Saturday hike. Shorter hikes will be offered Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning.

Saturday nights sports the talent show, and Judy and Don Kropp, noted dancers and instructors, are back leading folk dancing.

SUNDAY: Lori Freitas heads up children's activities, and a discussion of Kosovo is in the works. Youth program with Monique Kamille.

1999 Camp Committee: Indira Clark, Jim and Lenore Dupré, Deborah Roberts, and Tim Smart. Cook: Deborah Roberts.

ACTION: Sierra beauty, clear mountain air, radiant night skies, relaxed conversations, a rousing sing-a-long, a stimulating discussion about the media—Peace Camp offers it all. Please see registration form on this page.

By SHELLY SCRIBNER

Merced-Somoto Sister City is planning a delegation to Nicaragua at the end of July. One focus will be to bring books in Spanish for the library in Somoto. We always try to bring school supplies as paper, crayons, pencils, scissors, and sports equipment. If you would like to donate any of the above, please contact Shelly Scribner at 521-6304 or Betty Stewart at 722-0401.

By DAN ONORATO

You can't miss our annual July 4th Connections Fundraiser this year. First, because we're marking our tenth anniversary. In our kaleidoscopic world in which people move often and commitments change quickly, our stay-power is worth celebrating. Second, and more poignant, this is our last celebration at Charles Milligan's wonderful riverside paradise because Charles is selling his home. So, regulars and first timers alike, mark your calendars for our last great bash at 1741 West Hatch between Carpenter and Crows Landing Roads.

It will be the down-home pre-millennial party of parties, starting on Sunday, the Fourth at 4 p.m. Enjoy the company of kindred spirits and slow down to mid-summer pace. Cool off in Charles' tropical pool, and partake adventurously in the always surprising array of delicious potluck food.

Then indulge your fancy at Magister Ludi David Rockwell's fun-filled auction. Enchanted by his chatter, be reckless. Wildly outbid your rivals on such delights as teleport transportation to Tierra del Fuego with hardy accommodations among the penguins, or "Sit Down and See" window cleaning provided by Modesto's own Clear Windows Clean Souls. Or open your wallet for a leaping parachute drop from a 1920's two seater on to the crown of the Brenden Theatres' space tower.

As the evening fills with stars, watch the city's sky explode with bursts of color or light some fireworks yourself on site. Then grab a partner and let the music lift your feet. Samba, swivel, or just plain boogaloo.

The party's for all and families with children are welcome. A $25 donation for Connections is asked at the door (or what you can afford). Bring a potluck dish to share, beverage of your choice (we'll provide some drinks), your checkbook for the auction, and a lively spirit ready to party.

Support Stanislaus County libraries! Vote YES on MEASURE B

It's amazing to me that most of the people I've talked to this month don't know about the county-wide library vote. We are having a special election Tuesday, June 8. Measure B is the only thing on the ballot.

We have to vote this year to renew the one-eighth of a cent sales tax, which we are already paying.

The original measure had a five year "sunset" date which expires in July 2000. We must vote again for another five year period. It takes a two-thirds vote to pass it.

In all the hullabaloo about cutting taxes, I have never heard anyone suggest that we ought not to support libraries.

Last month's Connections compared our services now with those four years ago, and the improvement is dramatic. Open hours are nearly triple what they used to be (quadruple in some cities). Three new library facilities have opened We have a new adult literacy program. Best of all, there are 18 story times every week where before, pitifully, we had none. If you don't do it for yourself, do it for the children who are our future.

Yet , I know that a two-thirds vote is extremely hard to get. So get out there and vote! Or get an absentee ballot if you must! Continue our excellent County library system. Be warned! There have been almost no other funding sources since Proposition 13 drastically froze property taxes.

By PHYLLIS HARVEY

Over the many years I claimed Martha Webber as my good friend, the most outstanding impression she gave was always to take a positive look at life. She upheld the good in everyone and everything.

In her 25 years as Administrative Assistant for the Church of the Brethren on Sierra Drive in Modesto, many challenges also presented opportunities in dealing with the High School youth who might drop into the office. Once, observing two youth outside with a knife drawn, Martha marched out to them and said, "Give me that knife. You don't want to hurt yourselves." In wonderment, they did so.

Many people have benefited from knowing Martha, whether it was while she worked at Modesto Irrigation district, Sierra Vista Children's Center, or at City and Doctors' Medical Centers. Her words of wisdom spoken in Sunday School class or in friendly conversations still echo her keen enthusiasm for living a positive uplifting life.

She shared her beliefs and her support with her church and her community through Habitat for Humanity, Interfaith Ministries, and the Modesto Peace/Life Center. Her many friends, and her family share wonderful memories of her life well lived.

By FRED HERMAN

Because it's in the news and what so many of my cyber-correspondents care about today, I put some thoughts together about the Colorado school massacre, a hugely over-covered event with roots that are complex but hardly mysterious.

The easy availability of guns is a key, to be sure, but the Second Amendment was around a half century ago with no epidemic of kids wasting their peers during WW2 - even before courts ruled that The Second does NOT allow all to bear arms. Blend in easy access to R-rated movies which make up in gore and amorality what they lack in human values or the "good taste" of our day. Sprinkle in video games which are mere training exercises for blowing adversaries away. But you have a First Amendment too. We cannot eliminate those, but we can self-police...

A bit deeper is the fact that religion has not kept up with the times. It no longer explains the world satisfactorily. A deity invented when the universe stretched from Turkey to Egypt and not across billions of galaxies fails to deal with driveby shootings of who you feel "dissed" you. Few youngsters still take eternal punishments seriously. Then too, self-styled Christians are killing doctors and bombing clinics, and no few ministers/priests suggest that this is doing their deity's work. Vietnam institutionalized violence as well.

Listening to kids? I'm open to dissent, but I think we have more ears today - if not counselors, social programs for the purpose - than a half century ago. More parents work, yes. You need no Marxist to link that phenomenon to capitalist greed that requires two working parents. Absent parents seem to be listened to less. I suspect they say still less because they feel guilty, want to be Good Guys, and feel it interferes with developing little psyches to act "directively."

Kids know adults lie to them - from "one whiff of pot will make you a junkie for life" to "work hard and society will let you live well." Why not in other areas?

Jug someone? Charlton Heston and the grandpa who supplied the guns in Jonesboro are walking free. Why? Sue the manufacturer of the weapons used? Why not?

Finally there's press overkill. The endless rehashes, from the "live" coverage of Day One to the endless introspective hour-long essays that purport to explain "why" it all happened, with no shred of any new fact. O.J., Princess Di, Bill and Monica caused similar breastbeating. Clearly this material is filler, the 10 minutes of pap that separate the five minutes of commercials, promos and PSAs.

By ANN BRIARCLIFF

A woman in our neighborhood died last night. Eviscerated.

Her attacker was shot by police. A second woman was spared.

Awakened by the commotion of gunshots, lights and sirens, neighbors met in the intersection to watch the knife-wielding man being taken to the ambulance. He died, too.

A profound sense of heaviness grasped the neighbors as they tried to accept the trauma, to grasp the gravity of the tragedy that lead to two deaths, to continue with their lives. Neighbors recounted arguments and incidents. Some thought drugs had to be involved.

The neighborhood watch coordinator feels responsible. Not enough time to care about his charges. Not enough time to protect those who live nearby. Not enough time to insure that no child would be hurt by police bullets fired into a bedroom wall.

Danger comes from anywhere, anytime.

The police and paramedics' professionalism was unquestionable. In spite of terrible odds, the man was given CPR and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Some think the man did not deserve CPR. Some think he did not deserve to be shot. Some think he got what was coming to him. He killed one woman and came close to killing a second.

One woman was killed. By a housemate. Someone she knew. The second woman, girlfriend to the man who died, escaped with her life. After being held at knifepoint in the front yard, she broke away from the man when the police arrived, and they shot him.

Who called police? No one knows. Not even, and especially not the police, will say.

The hospital staff knew the story too. It had a name for the man, other than his given name — a hospital name. It's a place where paramedics' ambulances disgorge stories and bodies, sometimes in that order.

Not this time. The body came with a story. Bloody clothes. Holes everywhere. A beating heart that pumped out all its fluid.

Enough of the last few minutes of these two people's lives is known. The danger had to be predictable to someone. The neighborhood watch coordinator resigned, and then resolved to unite the neighborhood.

Maybe there is more to the story than a berserk man. We'll never know.

The tragedy at Littleton, Colorado, was still fresh in the news when I was awakened by the sounds of gun-fire in the street outside my home. When I was living on the West side of town, I would have thought nothing of it – happens all the time. But the neighborhood I live in is so smugly self-assured that one would suspect everyone living here of driving Volvos.

So at two o’clock Saturday morning I was wearing a bathrobe and hanging out at the corner counting police cruisers. Total of eight, including one unmarked car. One unidentified emergency vehicle at the other end of the street, lights flashing in the dark. Two ambulances at the intersection, neither one in any hurry. Yellow crime-scene tape closed off the street for the length of 5 houses, just on the other side of the intersection.

In the morning, the yellow tape had extended its claim on our neighborhood. The tape now wrapped itself around a tree at the corner of our next-door neighbor’s garage, paused to encircle the tree in their front yard, and then stretched across the street to a tree almost in line with the corner of our own house before snaking back to finish sealing off the entire intersection.

The image in my mind was of a spider spinning its web of yellow crime-scene tape, weaving and weaving, coming ever closer to home. I could only wonder how long it would be before my own house became wrapped in its cocoon of post-trauma numbness.

Meanwhile, the rest of the nation was trying to make sense out of what had happened at Columbine High School, or at Groveland, CA, where three women visiting Yosemite were last seen alive.

These incidents are flukes. Freak, random acts of violence that have nothing in common. Except for a disturbing trend to become every-day occurrences. The listing of these events would take too long, take too many tears.

As a nation, as a society, our reaction to these tragedies is predictable — and wrong.

Regarding the Sund/Pelosso murders, one woman stated that she now was having to reevaluate her position on allowing her daughters to go anywhere alone. In Denver, Charleton Heston stated that it is wrong to blame gun owners for shooting deaths. And the day after our neighbor was killed by the man to whom she had rented a room, someone tucked onto our front door handle a brochure advertising a church known nationally for pandering to the especially fearful.

Today, we are in the midst of a major building boom. We have presently maxed-out our ability to build more prisons, and yet we continue to pass more bond measures to underwrite the building of yet more prisons. The only other building trend coming even close to this prison-mania is the move to build more and more gated communities.

This year, for the first time, the Chamber of Commerce of a major Western city asked the NRA to not come to town for their annual convention. Needless to say, the NRA wasn’t listening. (I must admit to having this fantasy of a twinkie-crazed postal worker bringing his/her Uzi to an NRA convention.)

Once more, America is debating the issue of gun control and the relevance of the NRA. I find myself doing a great deal of introspection on the issues raised here, and I wonder: is America at a turning point — or are we just tumbling in free-fall?

By JO CLARE HARTSIG

Sports fans who are also pacifists (yes, it happens!) often feel conflicted as the crowd rises to sing our national anthem before an athletic event. The feelings occur before Little League games and NBA playoffs, collegiate soccer matches and track events. Many of us stand there and tune out "The Star Spangled Banner," trying not to think about the militaristic red glare of rockets and bursting bombs and the flag that flutters on. This is only one spectator' s view. What if the person who is singing the pre-game anthem is a pacifist?

No doubt there were those in the bleachers at the San Jose Arena last December wondering the same thing as legendary peace activist Joan Baez, microphone in hand, took center court right before the San Jose Lasers' first game of the season. To see Joan Baez at a women' s basketball game was not too much of a stretch for those who know of her past four decades of working and singing on behalf of social change. She has lent her talents to the struggle against the war in Vietnam, years of marches and protests during the civil rights era, Amnesty International' s worldwide campaigns for human rights, and many, many women' s causes. Would the woman who led the singing of "We Shall Overcome" during the 1963 March on Washington sing with the same kind of conviction about the staying power of the American flag during a military battle?

She lifted the microphone and to the assembled 8,000 she began,

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain

After the initial surprise, people smiled, enjoying this singing poem about the beauty and blessings of our nation. The words of this song capture an image of America that is every bit as much our heritage as the events detailed in the "Star Spangled Banner." The smiles broadened further when Baez sang,

And crown thy good with sisterhood

The final words to the song were drown out by the roaring approval of the crowd, at least half of whom were women.

When contacted about singing the national anthem before the Lasers' season-opener, Baez told the team's organization she would be happy to sing, but it would be "America the Beautiful." The tune to this hymn, very appropriate for a women's sporting event, is "MATERNA." The original words were written just over 100 years ago by Katherine Lee Bates, during a journey through the purple majesty of Colorado's Rocky Mountains.

Joan Baez' simple, eloquent act of raising consciousness and encouraging people to actually listen to the music before the ball is kicked, dropped, dribbled, or served, can be done anywhere, any time a game is about to be played. For our readers who sing, here is a lovely version of "America the Beautiful" updated in 1993 by Sr. Miriam Therese Winter:

Play ball!!

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

It was exactly one year following the end of the Civil War and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation that southern slaves learned of their freedom. That day was June 19, now celebrated each year as Juneteenth.

Modesto's Juneteenth Celebration will mark its 30th year from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Mellis Park on Martin Luther King Drive with free entertainment, food and information booths, a "secret sauce" barbecue and some good old-fashioned socializing. The celebration is free and open to all.

Featured entertainment will include the Modesto Marauders (youth all-star cheer-dance competition team), rhythm and blues and rap groups, drill team steppers, gospel singers and other local performers.

ACTION: Join the fun and learn the history. For more information call 527-1914.

By JOE MORGAN

(submitted by Thomas Hampson)

Father Steve Worsley, pastor of a small Catholic Church in Ahoskie, NC, recently told me a wonderful story about debt relief.

Religious groups across the US are encouraging our government and international lending agencies to forgive the debt of some countries that are so burdened with paying the debt, and the interest on that debt, that it puts in jeopardy the very possibility of their ever getting out of poverty.*

In the spirit of debt forgiveness the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, N.C. recently announced that it would forgive the debts owed the financial lending office of the diocese by a number of the poorest Catholic parishes. One of those parishes is a ethnically changing congregation in Ahoskie, N.C., where the traditionally poor farmer population is rapidly including poorer Latino farmworkers and day laborers.

This was wonderful news to the congregation, that has been barely able to make the annual interest payments on a building loan taken out years ago. But in a parish council meeting, they began to try and understand the implications of their having been forgiven the debt.

When they finished their deliberations, they had come to the conclusion that while they were heartily grateful for the debt cancellation, and while they understood that their own financial situation was strained -in relation to other Catholic congregations, there were congregations on a global scale that were struggling far more than they.

So they made a decision. The decided that they would continue to pay an amount equal to the annual interest they had been paying all along on the loan, and that they would forward that amount to struggling churches in an area in Africa, where mission activity was supported by the diocese.

I think that sometimes, when we forgive our debtors, we strangely enable a freedom to act that unleashes untold benefits --in kind of a chain reaction of "forgiving." It’s always easier to forgive others when we ourselves have been forgiven.

Who will forgive us? And what is there to forgive?

* The effort to forgive developing nations their international debt is called Jubilee 2000 which "calls upon the leaders of the richest countries, the commercial banks, the international Monetary Fund, the World Bank, regional development banks and other international financial institutions to write off these debts by the end of the year 2000." (see ____the issue of Connections)

Connections urges readers to sign one of the Jubilee 2000 petitions circulating around the community (there is one at the Peace/Life Center). For information, contact, the Center, 529-5750, or Jubilee 2000,222 East Capitol St., NE, Washington, D.C. 20003-1036; email: coord@j2000usa.org, website: http://www.j2000usa.org

Gun enforcement laws urgently required

Submitted by Phyllis Harvey

Within hours of President Clinton's April 27 news conference in which he unveiled the new Gun Enforcement and Accountability Act — which would dramatically reduce the accessibility of guns to minors — Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott announced that before the end of May he would provide an opportunity for debate on gun control measures on the Senate floor.

While this falls short of actually promising a vote on the President's proposals, many of which were drawn from the Children's Gun Violence Prevention Act, Lott's action is an unprecedented response to a call for legislation that would fundamentally change how guns are handled, owned, marketed and distributed in this country.

Our task in the weeks ahead is clear:

Also, write or call Governor Gray Davis and urge him to support Senate Bill 15, which would ban the sale and manufacture of Saturday Night Specials.

Attention all you political activists: Facts for Voters, a joint publication of the League of Women Voters Modesto and the Modesto Bee, gives the email, fax, and phone numbers of all your local, state, and national representatives in the Stanislaus county area, and is available at the library or by calling the League, 524-1698.

In 1990, handguns were used to murder:

10 people in Australia
13 people in Sweden
27 people in Great Britain
68 people in Canada
87 people in Japan
10,567 people in the United States

FAIR's radio program pulled from Pacifica's KPFK

CounterSpin, the nationally syndicated radio show produced by the media watch group FAIR, was pulled from its scheduled airing on Friday, April 16th by station KPFK, the Los Angeles-based Pacifica network affiliate. Phone calls by CounterSpin to KPFK management were not returned.

FAIR believes the show was suppressed because it featured an interview with recently fired Pacifica network host Larry Bensky [a 1990 Peace Camp Speaker]. Bensky was fired on April 9th following the airing of his network show, Sunday Salon, which featured a segment discussing the dismissal of Nicole Sawaya, the Pacifica affiliate in Berkeley, California.

CounterSpin interviewed Bensky about the Sawaya dismissal and overlying issues of Pacifica accountability. These dismissals resulted in an April 15th demonstration at KPFA which reportedly drew between 700 and 1,000 protesters. (Editions of CounterSpin can be heard on the FAIR web site at: http://www.fair.org/counterspin/index.html. A transcript of the interview with Benksy appears at: http://www.venier.net/savepacifica/0419_counterspin.htm)

A Pacifica representative, invited to appear on a future show to present the network's point of view, declined the invitation.

"As a show concerned with censorship, CounterSpin relies on the atmosphere of openness and critical thinking provided by non-commercial radio," says CounterSpin producer Janine Jackson. "It would be a distressing commentary on the state of free speech at the Pacifica network if CounterSpin was pulled from their airwaves for doing just the kind of work we've always done, raising just the kinds of questions we regularly raise about media."

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

MoBand, Modesto Band of Stanislaus County, over the last few years has become two separate venues, an official summer band concert setting and a large informal teen and youth crowd scene.

The City of Modesto Youth Commission and Community Services and Neighborhood Connections learned through a survey of those youth gathered at Graceada Park in Modesto during the six-week MoBand concert season last summer that the largest number responding "just want a place of their own to hang out."

Plaza Street Faire has been approved by the City of Modesto to meet that expressed need. Beginning Thursday June 17 and continuing each Thursday during the six-week MoBand series youth of all ages are invited to "hang out" at the Plaza Street Faire from 6 to 10 p.m. in the open areas around the Modesto Centre Plaza on K Street in downtown Modesto.

The free admission Street Faire will feature live bands, food booths, arts and crafts, karaoke, and some low cost $1 games and activities, including a velcro wall, sumo wrestling and more.

All area youth are welcome are welcome. The City of Modesto will provide security.

The Thursday night fun will continue with an afterparty at The Beach House on 9th Street near Carver Road in Modesto. A $5 admission will provide opportunities for dancing and other activities between 9 p.m. and midnight.

By MYRTLE OSNER

A recent talk by George Gaekle, "Mr. Train", gave us a realistic and helpful picture of train travel in the U.S. and Canada. He made it sound so glamorous, so fun, so easy on the body.

Of course, we all know it isn't quite that easy, but much has changed from the days when the only way you could get anywhere in California was by automobile. Some of us have wept at the loss of the "red trains" in the Los Angeles area, that commuters and other travelers took in their youth to travel around the basin. The oil industry has been pinpointed as killing that method. Now, light rail is being talked about and even implemented for the very same kinds of routes.

Other future plans may include "bullet trains", that run on high speed corridors. George reminded us that these are extremely expensive, especially since we have no railbeds upon which they can run safely, so it's building from the ground up.

George Gaekle's story is one of strong support for the proliferation of train possibilities. And, the numbers support that hopefulness. Consider the following facts:

• Since the inception of ACE trains, the ones that run over the Altamont from San Joaquin County to San Jose, 80 percent of the daily passengers get off in Silicon Valley. Buses from the businesses there are waiting to pick up those passengers and get them to work on time. Most of them get on at Pleasanton. And, 79 percent of the passengers were formerly driving single occupancy vehicles! How about that for cleaning up the air, taking the pressure off freeways!

• Amtrak's trains up and down the San Joaquin Valley started just a few years ago with one train a day. Just this spring a fifth train was added. Four of those trains go from Bakersfield to Oakland, the fifth from Bakersfield to Sacramento. So now you can get to the state's capitol without getting off and boarding a bus in Stockton. This route has proved wildly successful.

• The San Joaquins are the fourth busiest line in the nation, and that includes the eastern seaboard trains.

When asked about connections to other modes of travel when you get part of the way to where you want to go, the picture isn't quite as pretty, but it's slowly improving. It is possible, for instance, to make the trip to San Francisco and many Bay Area points without a car. If you want to take Amtrak, get off at Richmond and get on BART. Getting to San Mateo County is possible but more difficult. SamTrans is their bus system. You can get to North Bay areas by getting off in Martinez and taking a bus to Santa Rosa; neither of these trips would be easy or fast. Amtrak runs its own bus from the Emeryville station to downtown San Francisco, as it does to Santa Rosa. Other destinations don't mesh so well, timewise.

I plan an Amtrak trip to Portland this summer, but the first leg is all night and in order to get to my first destination, Grants Pass, Oregon, I have to get picked up at Klamath Falls! I also asked about how to get from Seattle to points in Canada, but that is more complicated.