Cooperation
Times
Volume 15, No. 4 ~
Sept.-Oct. 2001
"PAY
IT FORWARD" Youth Retreat - September 8-9
"Pay It Forward" is the theme of a retreat for junior and senior high school students hosted by Grace Episcopal Cathedral, 701 SW 8th Ave., September 8-9.
The retreat will begin at 1:00 pm Saturday with pizza and a showing of the movie "Pay It Forward" starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment.
The movie is the tale of 11-year-old Trevor who has had to cope with some harsh realities in his life. His cynical view of the world is challenged by a seventh grade teacher who challenges his students to "Think of an idea to change the world and put it into action."
The boy’s energetic response is something he calls "pay it forward." This involves doing unsolicited good deeds for three people and asking each of them not to pay him back, but to "pay it forward" by doing something for three more people. Retreat activities will include opportunities to put the ideas suggested by the movie into action.
On Saturday evening, participants will visit the Topeka Rescue Mission where they will offer a program consisting of songs, skits, and games for guests of the women and family center of the facility. The theme of the program will be "responsibility," which is the September "City of Character" theme.
Students will return to the Cathedral for fellowship, worship and relaxation before spending the night at the Cathedral. On Sunday morning, participants will help the congregation’s outreach committee prepare a pancake breakfast with proceeds going to the Topeka Rescue Mission.
The retreat is free and open to all junior and senior high school students (grades six through twelve.) Registration, including contact information, permission statements and a completed health questionnaire must be completed before students may join the other attendees. Staff will be available Saturday by 12:30 p.m. to talk with parents and to provide forms.
Further information can be requested by email at TeachGrace@aol.com or by calling Michael Massey (368-8134) or Kathy Slawson (232-8713).
(Michael Massey and Kathy Slawson are the team teachers for the Junior and Senior High class at Grace Episcopal Cathedral. Kathy is the Administrative Assistant for the Kansas Public Health Association and Michael works in SRS's Training and Technical Assistance Unit.)
To
Promote the General Welfare: Energy profits, People respond
At this writing, it seems that all is quiet on the utility rate front. Things have calmed down since the grand larceny of last winter. If we believe for an instant that our utility rates will not be manipulated by the petroleum industry again, we need to do some serious reevaluation. The public gouging that occurred last winter can be inflicted upon us again at any time. The Washington administration policy, led by two oil men, is so very transparent that we have only ourselves to blame if we are taken advantage of again.
A variety of sources reveal record profits. The excessive profits of Enron, a Houston based company whose executives gave generously to the Bush campaign, were featured in a San Francisco Chronicle article: "What can be seen is that Enron’s wholesale services division, which includes energy trading and services, saw its quarterly revenue almost quadruple to $39.2 billion. Profit before taxes nearly tripled, rising to $777 million." [David Lazarus, 1-23-01]
From headlines in the Great Falls Tribune, "Energy West Sees Profits Nearly Triple," the region’s skyrocketing electricity prices have helped Great Falls–based Energy West Inc. nearly triple its profits the first nine months of its 2001 fiscal year, and its stock is trading at a 52-week high. It reported a $2.2 million or 270 percent increase in profits during the nine-month period that ended March 31, earned largely on wholesales sales of electricity and propane." [Mike Dennison, 6-14-01]
And from the Bay area Mercury News: "Energy Company Profits Soaring." "Power companies rocketed past other U.S. industries last year, boosted by profits from soaring electricity prices that left California utilities nearly broke and consumers bracing for higher bills. In a year that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall nearly five percent, power companies reported returns to investors approaching 60 percent."
There is, however, a whole other element of "legal" embezzlement called stock options. An LA Times article stated that certain executives "exercised options and sold stock for huge gains at two, three and even 10 times the level of prior years." Here are some energy executives who have recently cashed out large numbers of options:
Kenneth Lay, chairman of Enron, netted $123 million in option transactions in 2000, triple his 1999 level and almost 10 times his 1998 net.
Jeffrey K. Skilling, chief executive of Enron, filed regulatory documents May 16 announcing his intention to sell 140,000 shares of Enron stock for $7.98 million. In 2000, he netted more than $62 million in similar transactions.
Robert D. Doty Jr., chief financial officer of Dynegy, exercised options at $1.47 a share to purchase 40,000 shares of the company’s stock Oct. 4. He then sold the shares for $54.66 each, netting $2.13 million.
Lou Pai, chairman and chief executive of Enron Energy Services, filed regulatory documents May 18 and May 29 announcing his intention to sell 390,000 shares of Enron stock for $21.17 million.
David Arledge, a director of El Paso Corp., sold company stock for $23.28 million March 6 and 7.
Harvey Padewer, president of Duke Energy Corp.’s Energy Services division, sold Duke stock for $12.26 million in February, netting $2.99 million. ["Energy Execs Gain Millions in Stock Sales," Jerry Hirsch, The Los Angeles Times, 6-13-01]
And then there’s our own Western Resources and David Wittig, who are again appealing to the Kansas Corporation Commission for more money. Aren’t we glad they didn’t by the KC Royals a few years ago? That doggone team just hasn’t produced the kind of profit this management would have expected, and then wonder what they would have charged us energy users to make up the losses?
There is no need to list all the print media that published similar stories of obscene profit taking at the public trough—the point is made. We were taken for a ride by an industry that provides power. What is most unconscionable is that this exploitation of the public results in our ability to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And when that isn’t possible, then our heath becomes an issue. And whenever public health is involved, deregulation must never, ever be allowed. Don’t forget that the preamble of the Constitution states that our government was founded "...to promote the general welfare..." What a stark and dark contrast is our present government to the group who wrote that document.
We have the ability to reduce our energy consumption in a number of ways. It’s called conservation, Mr. Cheney. Obviously, car pooling or reducing our driving is going to be helpful. But in terms of our homes, there are a variety of ways to reduce energy use.
The greatest choice is available to people who are building a home, because they can begin—literally from the ground up—making energy efficient choices. Two structural systems that are significant energy savers are the SIPS (Structural Insulated Panel Systems) and the concrete/Styrofoam system. The more conventional wood frame home can be constructed with 2"x6" studs and cellulose insulation. Your attic space can be insulated with cellulose and the roof designed to include several inches of insulation at the point where the roof meets the walls.
Choose a design that will place the garage on the north or northwest corner of your home to buffer the home from winter winds.
A south facing home is positioned to capture the most sunlight, but whatever direction your existing home faces, a lot can be accomplished by a variety of measures. Each energy efficient choice saves energy, and all together, the savings accumulate.
Windows are very important. Several companies make energy efficient windows in double—and triple—panes. Do some research and learn which company will meet your needs and which companies have the most efficient windows.
Awnings on the south and west eliminate unwanted summer heat. Check with local awning companies to be certain the size you want is appropriate for this latitude.
Sun rooms can be constructed in new or existing homes that will serve as solar heat sinks in order to collect warmth in the winter that can be distributed throughout the house as the sun goes down, saving some furnace time.
The value of trees can’t be measured. The shade that deciduous trees provide in the summer will work best if they are south and west of the home. In winder, coniferous trees will help protect the home from winter winds if they are grown on the north and northwest.
The color of roofing material can make a difference in reflecting, or not, summer heat. Light colors are better.
The size of your heating and air conditioning equipment should meet the needs of your home, and not be determined by speculation on the part of the heating company. Check with an energy rater in the area or with Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program on the internet at <www.Energystar.gov>. The energy raters are listed on this site.
The Energy Star site has a enormous amount of information about appliances that are rated for energy savings. Whenever an appliance wears out make sure you know the energy efficiency of products before you buy them, and purchase Energy Star designated items.
Solar clothes dryers are very energy efficient—probably the most energy efficient of all "appliances". They carry an additional benefit—that wonderful fragrance of clothes dried in the sun. There are some housing developments that prohibit clothes lines. Shame on them!
The smallest item that can help you save energy is the compact fluorescent bulb. These, happily, are available in many stores now and although they initially cost more, they will save you money in the estimated burning time of seven years.
There is much more to this story: the drilling of oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge with a projected six months worth of oil, while simultaneously providing the petroleum industry with an estimated government take of $23 billion. Remember that only 3% of our electricity comes from oil. This is such a transparent collusion between the energy industry and the administration. Details were written in a story entitled The Bush Payback: It’s Never Been Easier to "Follow the Money." Author Mark Weisbrot reported on the secret meeting(s) Cheney has had with a group of oil magnets he calls the Energy Developmental Task Force, now dubbed the "Alaska jihad." Cheney refuses to reveal the names of these executives and as a result the Congresses' General Accounting Office is considering legal action. [Center for Economic and Policy Research, 5-22-01]
There is one last—and perhaps the greatest—measure of conservation for which we are responsible and which we must never forget and never ignore. It happens at the voting booth every two years.
Meanwhile, contact the CENTER (785-232-4388 or TopekaCPJ@aol.com) for more energy efficient information; and please indicate whether you may be interested in the formation of an action task force on energy issues and conservation.
Note: All material quoted in this article was taken from articles posted on the web site <www.commondreams.org>.
(Judy Scherff is an ecologist working in the Division of the Environment at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.)
When he first staged a protest against the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia, Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois was joined by 10 friends and colleagues. Last year at the ninth annual SOA rally, I was among 70 Kansans from Concordia, Lawrence, Newton, and Topeka who were with the 10,000 protestors from the United States and Canada, assembled at the gates of Ft. Benning to demand the closure of the SOA.
A recipient of the Purple Heart as a Naval officer in Vietnam, what is Fr. Roy Bourgeois doing outside Ft. Benning?
Founded by the U.S. Army in 1946 to train Latin American soldiers to defend against "instability" in their countries, the SOA moved from Panama to Ft. Benning in 1984. It carried with it its nickname, "School of the Assassins." Among its notorious graduates are former Panamanian General Manuel Noriega, now serving a 40 year prison sentence in Florida for drug dealing, and Roberto D'Aubuisson, the military mind behind the assassination of El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and the torture and killings of hundreds of others by death squads. Thanks to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and the United Nations Truth Commission, Fr. Bourgeois informs us, there is documented proof that at least one of every 100 SOA graduates has returned home "not to promote democracy, but to rape, kill, torture, and participate in massacres."
SOA graduates cited for recent human rights atrocities continues to mount throughout Latin America:
GUATEMALA: SOA graduate and D-2 intelligence chief Byron Lima Estrada was found guilty in June 2001 for the brutal 1998 assassination of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi. Gerardi was bludgeoned to death two days after he released a report linking the Guatemalan army to most of the atrocities committed during that country's civil war. The year 2000 saw a genocide case filed in Spanish court against former Guatemalan dictator and SOA graduate General Efrain Rios Montt who governed Guatemala at the height of a counter-insurgency campaign that wiped hundreds of Mayan villages off the map and left thousands dead.
COLUMBIA: SOA graduates Major David Hernandez Rojas and Captain Diego Fino Rodriguez are being prosecuted in civilian courts for the 1999 murders of Antigua peace commissioner Alex Lopera; SOA graduate and intelligence chief Colonel Jorge Plazas Acevedo is being tried for the 1998 kidnapping and murder of Jewish business leader Benjamin Khoudari; SOA graduate Colonel Jesus Maria Clavijo is currently under investigation for collusion with paramilitary forces in 160 social cleansing murders from 1995-1998.
How can our American tax dollars continue to support U.S. military training of Latin American personnel which has led to atrocities throughout Latin America? And consider that after these atrocities U.S. military personnel themselves (including my sister who retired from Army Intelligence in 2000) have been asked to risk their lives to bring these very assassins and drug dealers we trained to justice! These reprehensible violations of human rights must be stopped now!
From November 16 to 18 I will again participate in the vigil and rally outside the gate at Ft. Benning. As a part of her preparation for Confirmation, my 13-year-old daughter will cross the line with me on Sunday, November 18.
Topekans planning to go to Ft. Benning this November are encouraged to participate in nonviolence training on Saturday, October 6, at Southern Hills Mennonite Church, 511 SE 37th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Please bring a dish for the potluck.) Contact Mary Sheldon at 231-1010 x1910. We hope for a large witness in Georgia from our area. PAZ.
(Mary Sheldon, a long time CENTER supporter and Central America activist, is an Associate Professor of English at Washburn University. During the summers of 1984, 1985 and 1987 she worked as a volunteer in a Guatemalan orphanage.)
What
of Wisdom Did I Know (A Eulogy to Gov. Joan Finney)
by
Ragen Murray
Of common heritage was I born,
And
in a common manner found I,
An
uncommon life.
With
ancestors Irish, Scotch, and English
did
I walk the footpaths of
Pioneers.
Pioneers
not of the earth,
but
of the body politic.
Footpaths
of forefathers not mine
found
I,
And
on these paths placed I,
My
feet.
Native
Americans, African Americans, Hispanics,
Asians,
Homosexuals...
Footsteps
of peoples invisible
found
I.
Together,
We Dreamed!
In
Kansas barber shops, beauty parlors, coffee clutches, spit and whittle groups...
In
churches, synagogues, mosques,
Hidden
kindred people did I find.
Together,
We took their aspirations, their
children,
their future,
From
those prairie hidden places.
And
with one, yet separate dome-covered-voice
spoke
We...
We
Participated!
In
government, wisdom is found by walking the footpaths of others,
with
a quiet mind, on open heart, and the ability to listen,
to
the Peoples' aspirations.
(Ragen Murray, a long time CENTER supporter, read this eulogy of Gov. Joan Finney, his aunt, at her funeral on August 1. Ragen is a power plant mechanic at Western Resources.)
Salvadoran
Peacemaker
by Ken Cott
On September 29, the Topeka Alliance on Central America will host a 6:30 p.m. rice and beans dinner and talk on El Salvador in the Fellowship Hall at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1275 SW Boswell. The guest speaker will be Manuel Alvarenga, a long-time Salvadoran peace and justice activist. He will discuss his work in El Salvador and current conditions in the country, which is still struggling to recover from two devastating earthquakes in January and February. Alvarenga is touring the U.S. as an International Peacemaker of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
(Ken Cott, a Latin America specialist and activist, is Professor of History at Washburn University.)