November 13, 2024
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Antiwar rally to feature Latours

BANGOR – Folk singers Larry and Leslie Latour, along with Judd Esty-Kendall, will open a “Join Hands to End the War. Build the Peace. Rebuild the Economy” rally at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at Paul Bunyan Park on Main Street.

Larry and Leslie combine folk-rock-blues and country from the heart of Maine. They have three CDs of music, two original and one an album of Woody Guthrie-style folk tunes.

Joining this duo will be Esty-Kendall, who plays music under the name of Southpaw Slim and is a legal services lawyer who volunteers for various peace and labor-oriented groups.

Bringing a youthful and melodic style to the rally will be Cora Rose, a singer and songwriter who is a student at College of the Atlantic in Bar Habor. She recorded her first CD, “Ebony,” as a high school sophomore and now uses Nashville, Tenn., as headquarters.

Marsha Lyons, who plays guitar, piano and Celtic harp and sings with Acadia Choral Society, Mount Desert Summer Chorale and St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church, will bring songs from her repertoire as a peace activist and music teacher for more than 30 years.

Ilze Petersons of the Peace & Justice Center said these folk singers will weave their music throughout the rally as speakers argue for the urgency of redirecting money from war-making to human needs at home, and refocusing foreign policy from military domination to diplomacy and cooperation.

Among the featured speakers will be Mary Trotochaud who with her husband, Rick McDowell, moved to Baghdad in 2003 to work with emerging Iraqi civil society organizations and coordinate relief and development projects for the American Friends Service Committee.

Other speakers include labor activist Katrina Bisheimer; Iranian-American history student Hosain Aghamoosa; social worker Doug Crate; Veterans for Peace member Al Larson; and the Rev. David Grainger, pastor of Orono United Methodist Church.

After the rally, a peace walk led by the Veterans for Peace will take participants to a talk by journalist Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now,” at 3 p.m. at Hammond Street Congregational Church, 28 High St.

Goodman’s talk is presented by WERU Community radio station which broadcasts “Democracy Now.

The rally is co-sponsored by Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Veterans for Peace 003 Chapter, Maine People’s Alliance, Orono Peace Group, Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice, Northern Maine Peace & Justice (Aroostook County), Ellsworth Peace & Justice, the Peace & Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ellsworth, Bar Harbor Vigil for Peace, MDI Peace & Justice, Pax Christi Maine, Peace & Justice Group of Waldo County, From Every Village Green, Peace Action Maine, H.O.M.E. Inc., St. Francis Community, the Belfast Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats, Greater Bangor NAACP and Work for Peace, (Washington County).

For information, to co-sponsor or to volunteer, call 942-9343 or visit www.peacectr.org.


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