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Dear November Coalition,
Question: You know how some politicians are calling for a fence to be erected around the US because they believe it will keep drugs out? Well, we have a fence around us, but drugs come in. If a prisoner is busted for drug use, he's placed inside a smaller fence, but there are drugs in it as well. So, if a fence can't keep drugs out of a prison, how would one keep drugs out of the United States? The only thing a fence around the US would do is cause the people to realize they're not really in the "land of the free." - Thoms Kerrigan, POW


Subject: Re: Report - Oct 29, 1997
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 00:16:47
From: Magic
I saw the commercial you did on the 11 o'clock news, on channel 4 KOMO. Outstanding! Good Job! Good Pictures! Good Message! I put out several stacks of November coalition "blue tabs" out and will continue to do so. I left them in my car so that when I get a chance to put more out, bingo, I have them. I figured I would target libraries as I know where a lot of them are. Plus, I put some in the student lounge at NSCC and their library. I also have been handing them out to my friends and tenants who are interested.
Dave Edwards, "Doc", was on the show today with Martin Martinez. I closed the show by asking my viewers: 1. Do you think we are winning the war on drugs? 2. Do you think if we continue to do what we are doing for the next 3-4-5-years or more we will win the war on drugs? and 3. Do you think we will ever win the war on drugs?
Magic is the host of "Spirit of the Times, a Seattle cable access talk show. She is also a anti-war activist and ardent supporter.


Howdy,
Here's my $25.00 for a years subscription. I like the focus and editorial direction your publication addresses. Two good thoughts . . . "Where have all the boomers gone?" (Vol. 3) They passed away our rights as Free Me for the privilege of a Me Job and the tyranny of legislating morality. Your focus on the people who are busted and stripped of any human existence is an issue that has hacked me off for decades. In my circle, I find a lot of, "I won't be caught and they will never fire the ovens for me" mentality . . . We are not free. - Mike Wilkinson


Dear November Coalition,
I was lucky to read a copy of the newspaper this past weekend. I highly admire your bravery and the fight you put up against this crazy war on drugs and it's rules. I would like to thank you for looking out for all of us in here and also for making those on the outside aware of this situation.
Norman Rasmijn, POW


Dear November Coalition,
It's about time somebody out there has finally addressed the issue on the war on drugs. I congratulate you. I can't give much support, but I will send $5 to $10 a month. Also, my parents are sending you a membership form. If there is anything I can do on this end, please let me know. Thanks once again for your effort addressing this war.
Ken Andreas, POW


Dear Friends,
I received with interest a copy of the August/September November Coalition newsletter and then last week I received a letter from Tyree Callahan. First let me give you a little praise for having an organization that doesn't pull any punches and goes to the heart of the matter. There are many organizations that take half steps but there should be no compromise as to the bottom line and that is all non violent drug prisoners must be released and the drug war must be ended.
After sitting here for over five years now I have had a while to think things over. The politicians froth at the mouth every two years always asking for harsher retribution. The only thing that will stop them is to vote them out. This is not an easy task and will require a quantum change in consciousness and willingness to act.
I read with interest in the Aug./Sept. issue about the International Drug Peace Rally. It is a great idea. However 500 people is just a bare start. What I have in mind is a stop the war rally, a million person march if you will, on the Mall in Washington D.C. on July 4, 2000. There would be three demands associated with this rally:
1. End the war on drugs immediately;
2. All non-violent drug prisoners must be released;
3. All civil rights of non-violent drug prisoners must be restored.
A million people is enough to make the whole country take notice, even though that would only be a middle step toward our end goal. But a million person march would be a big job and where do we start?
Being in prison I am limited in what I can do. I do have access to a typewriter, but that is about it. I also have a sense of history and that includes the memory of how we stopped the Vietnam War. It is no coincidence, I think, that when the Vietnam War ended, the war on drugs began. In order to stop this war we have to have long term goals and tactics and strategy to bring our goals into reality. While I don't pretend to have all the answers, there are a few things that I think would be effective.
There are two very important populations that have to be brought into unity. One is the families, friends, and prisoners of the drug war. These are the people who should care the most and they are in dispensable to anything that we might think of doing. The second population is the students. Many of them are next on the arrest list and ultimately they have the time to make a difference if they are motivated. To motivate the students, in my opinion, we need to approach the drug war as we approached the Vietnam War - with teach-ins on every campus in America. The two mentioned populations are capable of rousing the much larger population needed for ultimate victory. I have begun and am researching a curriculum for teach-ins.
Another thing that I would like to see is to have a million bumper stickers bloom. They should be like butterflies - beautiful and friendly and also be persuasive. I have ideas for some bumper stickers.
Take care of yourselves and thank you for everything that you are doing.
Sincerely,
Henry Schwan, POW


Subject: Re: Mike Siegel 1-888-on radio and www.talkamerica.com
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997
From: bc616@scn.org (Darral Good)
Nora, great job on the MIKE SIEGEL show yesterday! HE also has a national show at night that can be listened to on www.talkamerica.comor www.krko1380.com They both Have REAL AUDIO capability that allows anyone worldwide to listen in.
It airs here in Mukilteo from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM the last hour is usually OPEN LINE TIME. Try calling in at random though because the call screener will let you listen in on hold if you ask, and see what they are talking about. www.talkamerica.com has radio stations in 50 states. (1-800-298-8255)
The November Coalition's web site ( www.november.org ) should be getting massive hits today and last night because I called on a different show of theirs called the NIGHT SHIFT and gave out the web site and read from the wonderful, albeit heartbreaking newsletter that you sent me! Thank you so much for that! It brought tears to my eyes ( and my neighbors)
So much sadness but also very inspiring and informative! TYREE did one awesome job on the SEATTLE HEMPFEST article (www.seattlehempfest.com )
The article about Mark, who died in prison with liver disease really hit home because I have it too. It's called HEP-C and people better get hip to it right now by calling 1-800-GO-LIVER to find out more about it because over 3 million people have it in America and many don't even know what it is.
I urge all of us to take advantage of talk radio any chance you get! Get a hold of radio stations numbers and memorize them! Search the web for more opportunities! And remember you can call the capitol hill switch board and leave a message for any senator or congressman any where at 1-800-522-6721 PEACE!


Dear Chris,
The N.C. has become a household, or rather, cell-combo of words around this place. The enthusiasm you people have attacked this War on Drugs is to be highly commended. It is obvious that all of you are as much the P.O.W.s we are, for you have lost a loved one because the government has chosen to ignore the truth in lieu of big business.


Dear NC,
I've recently had the pleasure of reading the NC newspaper. I'm afraid to get too excited, but it seems I am anyway. I can't tell you how deeply I appreciate all you are doing to help those of us incarcerated. I am currently serving 10 years. My husband/codefendant (the feds prefer the family plan) is doing 20 years. Thank you again for all you are doing to end this horrible situation. Let us know if there is anything we can do from inside.
Cheryl Renee Wallace, POW


Subject: Website
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 From: tjohn
visited your wall of shame
now I'm angry DAMMIT
all of those good people
ruined and destroyed.
It makes me really SICK!!!!
great site-THANKS--
The government is not OUT of control...
The government is IN control...


Dear Nora,
I had a dream that I met you in San Francisco, at a rally. Perhaps some day I will. Anyway, I woke up thinking I should send the Coalition some money., so I did. Expect a small donation soon. Another advantage of being a "chip chomping chump," a UNIborg.
Appearing in people's dreams is quite a fund raising gimmick - but I hope I don't start seeing Al Gore!
Pat Jordan, POW


Subject: To the Editor,
Date: Sunday From: Der stalag
This note is for all of you, out there, who are not (yet), in here.
How much longer are you going to be willing to pay for the thousands of drug dealers, lazy, no accounts, etc. Etc. ...), Taking up prison and jail space today? Don't you have any idea how much this is costing you? Even if they act to take our shoes away, you will still pay. Even if they take our clothes away, you will still pay. Even when they act to take the grass on our field away, you will still pay. Even when they sound like they are making us miserable (which is what they say you really want), you are still paying.
You pay their gas bills; you pay their schooling; you pay their rents; you pay for the government to re-buy and re-sell their houses; you pay to build the prisons and the jails; you pay the transportation costs back and forth across the country; you pay for the courts; you pay for the mountains of useless paperwork; you pay the inept prosecutors who trump up the charges to put us here so you can pay; you pay for the warden's fancy penny loafers; you pay for the 30 thousand pounds of food that goes out the back door every year; you pay the totally out of pro portion wages they say that they deserve; you pay for the '95 Dodge Dakotas and the jeeps, and the big long phallic symbol Maglites they use to beat our heads in when they read things like this; you pay for all the useless double-manufacture of Unicor products that the Department of Defense keeps in the hundreds of warehouses you pay for, that they say they must make to "keep us busy," so you will think that what you pay for is doing us some good; you pay for the legislators that dream up all these stupid laws-to make you pay; you pay the garbage fees; you pay the costs-and you're not even close to being the boss.
This is what, eventually, you will pay - most dearly for!
Will you ever come to your senses? Will you always be led 'round by your noses by the very people who you've selected to guide you, to implement your wishes (that they've dreamed up for you...)? When, please hear our cries; when will you begin to use your heads??
R.J. Riley, P.O.W.# 59047-065


Subject: Trivia Question
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 09:09:29 -0500
From: adbryan To: DPFT-L@TAMU.EDU
Q. Who has the third largest prison system in the WORLD?
A. Texas
That's a bit scary, cunsid'rin' that us Texans always like to be #1.
I'm not sure where we rank worldwide in the number of executions, but you can bet we're in the top 10.


Good Morning:
I am a Federal Inmate living in a Federal Prison Camp. I have been here for 3 years, after serving 5 years in a FCI in Los Angeles. I have reached the halfway point of a 17 year sentence for a 1st time drug offense. I have seen many Inmates come and go over the past years. Some deserve to be in prison, but many more do not. I have seen the government: Janet Reno and Bill Clinton promise things to inmates and their families, only to back away from that issue when the votes have been tallied. The worst thing is how the families of inmates really lose in this situation, but we all know this. I am 51 years old, and my daughters have families of their own. I have 3 grandchildren, but many of these guys here for a first time drug offense are away from their wives and children for the first time. We all know that there is no rehabilitation, only profits to be made from warehousing human beings. I didn't mean for this to be a letter to the editor. I only wanted you to add my name to your mailing list. I hope that you can change the views of the American people, and show them that it is not the first time drug offender they should fear, but the ones in power in this country.
Uncle Martin, POW


"INMATE TO INMATE"
We're at it again, another year gone and lots more in store for some, and not so many years left for others. The days gone will surely never return, nor will the days your child grew up without you. If you have children, that is. If this year brings you to your last year, then don't forget all you've been through: don't forget the hardship you and your family felt when the prosecutor made you out to be some animal out of a horror movie, trying to take over the neighborhood; don't forget the days when there was no one available to offer you legal assistance, because you were not wealthy enough; or the times you went to the case manager for help, and all he could do is wet your back and tell you it's raining. All those shakedowns that unfolded your clothes and emptied your sugar container two or three times a week, and the cookies they took from you so that they could throw it in the trash. But then again, how can you forget some of these embarrassments and harassment of the great "Prison Industry": the strip searches and the breath tests at 3:00 in the morning, the transfers to other prisons, when you asked more questions than you should.
I've done time with those who have been down a while, and as soon as their number is up, well, then it's a different story: the system's not as bad anymore, back to their old self, and the fight for the rest of us remains for, well, the rest of us.
Yes, it's Christmas once again, my fellow prisoners, and there's nothing more I wish for than for all this bureaucratic nonsense brought forth by this idiotic "War on Drugs" to end, and take with it all the lies that the scheming politicians are feeding to society. There's only one bridge I would like to build into the twenty-first century, and that's the one that ends the mandatory minimums and brings back parole, and the burial of the "War on Drugs".
Jim Nosrati, founder of F.O.A. & POW


From: Kim Tilander
To: moreinfo@november.org
Subject: hello
Date: Monday, November 10, 1997 7:03 AM
I have recently joined The November Coalition in hopes of making my voice heard. My Uncle has spent 12 of the past 16 years incarcerated for drug charges since his leaving the military. I am convinced that it was our country that caused his addiction to these drugs. I understand that The Vietnam War was not kind to a lot of it's veterans. He spent 12 years defending his country to be turned down by them. I would like to make a change in this so-called WAR ON DRUGS. I have heard the November Coalition speak on several times and I am willing to help.

Latest Drug War News

GoodShop: You Shop...We Give!

Shop online at GoodShop.com and a percentage of each purchase will be donated to our cause! More than 600 top stores are participating!

Google
The Internet Our Website