Bloomington Normal Citizens for Peace and Justice
Minutes of the May, 2006 meeting     May 7, 4:00 pm  at the UU Church

Co chair Bob Broad called the meeting to order with a review of the agenda.  Minutes were approved as read with a motion by Gary Gletty seconded by Bill Gnagey.

Rachael Hile-Broad from the Peace and Justice Kids proposed a party and meeting on June 4 which the adult group would co-sponsor.  They also proposed that we begin planning a special meeting, not at our regular meeting time, when Jamal Nassar would speak and which the two groups would co-sponsor.  Consensus was that this would be a good plan for later in the summer.  Carroll Cox will contact Nassar and find a date.

Our next meeting will be Sunday, June 4 and the next Board Meeting will be on July 2 after the regular July meeting.

A review of recent actions was conducted as reference for coming actions.  
April 17 Tax Day:   We had 300 flyers printed and ran out of them at each station.  So next year, we should plan to pass our 800.  All agreed that this was a worthwhile activity, that the flyer was great and that the legal info sheet was helpful.
April 21- 22 Sustainable Fair:  We sold some items, talked to some people, passed out some literature.  Because the brochure has a complete listing of the organizations present, a discussion of networking with these organizations ensued.  The consensus was that we should attempt through invitations and publicity to re-open this networking effort.  A question of whether or not we should have had our banner at the immigrant reform demonstrations was discussed with no decision made.
Township Meetings:  We were two votes shy of having an anti-war referendum on the ballot in  Normal Township.  Next year, we need to plan farther ahead.

Since we have had some successes recently, it was decided to have a celebration of our organization on October 7.  The UU church is reserved, but we may consider other venues.  We will also use this occasion to attract more University students to our group.  Please bring ideas to the next meeting on means of doing this.

Jack Slowriver (jslowriver@afsc) from the American Friends Service Committee Chicago office has contacted us about having the Eyes Wide Open Illinois to B/N as an activity sponsored by us.  Consensus was that this would be a good idea.  Jan will ask Barbara Cox and Rebecca Gearhart to chair the activity, Carroll Cox will help.  Bob Broad and the Gnageys volunteered to help during the activity.

A sign up sheet for Dr. Gill’s campaign canvas was passed around.

It was decided by consensus that we need to get more T shirts to sell.  Jan has found a supplier – Print Plus Sportswear on Oakland (www.youneedshirts.com).  Jan was asked to research to be certain that the shirts themselves were not made in sweat shops.  She was authorized to purchase at least 50 and to get the best deal possible with this stipulation.

A report from the Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice (www.ILCPJ.org):  There are 80 groups now listed as members.  They are sending representatives to other state coalitions.  They have a presidential impeachment resolution circulating and it is on their web site.  We don’t yet know the cost of the dues for membership and we need to appoint a voting member from our group to the Coalition.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:50