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Men’s Basketball loses three ii
■ see page 4
Features
Jump Little Children pour their hearts
■ see page 3
Volume 37 Issue 5
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
Peace activists organize counter rally
Peace rally organizers concerned about pro-war sentiments of ‘Support Our Soldiers' rally
Dearborn McCorkle
News Editor
Local peace activists reacted to the
perceived pro-war sentiments of the
“Support Our Soldiers” rally by
organizing their own “Support Our
Soldiers - Bring Them Home” peace
rally.
“I felt someone needed to step
forward and expose the sham of ,
neutrality concerning that event
(SOS rally),” said Cecil Bothwell,
managing editor of The Mountain
Xpress and organizer of the peace
rally.
Hundreds of local residents turned
up for the peace rally, which took
place in Pack Square just an hour
after the “Support Our Soldiers”
(SOS) rally began in the City
County Plaza.
“Other SOS rallies around the
country have been distinctly pro
war, and the fact that they are ‘spon
taneously’ occurring elsewhere sug
gests some measure of information
sharing between organizers,” said
Bothwell.
“I am under the impression that it
(was) a concerted effort to divert
the public’s attention from the war,
which most American’s oppose if
we don’t have U.N. support, and
finesse the issue by insisting that
now we must quit opposing the war
and back the effort for the good of
cur troops. So I decided to do what
ever I could do to offer a correc-
Approximately 1,000 people at
tended the rally, accor^iing to
Bothwell.
The peace rally kicked-off at 2
p.m. with Bothwell speaking to the
crowd about why he organized the
Originally, Bothwell aimed to have
The Mountain Xpress join other
media outlets, such as the Asheville
Citizen-Times (AC-T) and WLOS,
Iwo children hold a “Kids For Peace” sign while listening to rally
speakers.
DEARBORN MCCORKLE/NEWS EDITOR
Professor Elmoiz E. Abnunura holds a sign reading “No War For
Oil” at the peace rally March 1. His son stands beside him carrying
a white dove.
“I am under the impression that it (was) a
concerted ejfort to divert the public's atten
tion from the war, which most American’s
oppose if we don't have U.N. support, and
finesse the issue by insisting that now we
must quit opposing the war and back the
ejfort for the good of the troops.”
Cecil Bothwell,
Managing Editor of ^The Mountain Xpress’
in supporting the SOS rally, but
felt the event leaned more towards
a pro-war stance, according to
Bothwell.
“I first learned of the SOS rally
from an editorial by AC-T editor
Bob Gabordi,” said Bothwell. “He
described the event as non-political
and suggested that all local media
outlets should get together behind
the rally.
“I checked into the event further
and the tone of the advertising and
background of the speakers was dis
tinctly pro-war.”
In order for the SOS rally to be
non-political, it needed speakers
representing a variety of viewpoints
and issues, according to Bothwell.
“I wrote to Gabordi, as well as to
WLOS,WCQS and the organizers
of the SOS event, to state my inter
est in having Mountain Xpress sup
port the event,” said Bothwell.
“(I) also pointed out that the event
appeared to be pro-war and that
some sort of balance should be in
jected,” said Bothwell.
“I offered to address their rally on
veterans affairs, or help them find
others who could help broaden the
message. Gabordi replied by saying
that he had nothing to do with
picking speakers. The others did
not reply.”
The Asheville Citizen-Times did
not sponsor or endorse the SOS
rally, rather provided meeting space
for the SOS planning committee
and coverage before and during the
event, according to Asheville Citi-
zen-Times Editor Robert Gabordi.
“Whenever there is any kind of
community effort, we want to be a
partner in that,” said Gabordi.
“Essentially, in the end, all we did
was open our building to them for
a series of meetings they held here.
We tried to, both in our coverage in
advance and in the coverage the day
of, to be as balanced as we could,
but we were in no way a sponsor of
anything.
See RALLY Page 10
‘Support our Soldiers’ rally packs downtown
Exercising the right to peaceably
assemble, an estimated 1,500 gath
ered at the City County Plaza in
downtown Asheville for the Sup
port Our Soldiers (S.O.S.) rally
March 1.
“The purpose of S.O.S., as stated
in the title, was to support our
soldiers,” said Bill Fishburne, co-
chairman of the S.O.S. committee.
“We wanted to let the soldiers
know that we appreciate their sacri
ficial service. It’s a sacrificial service
(out of) the love of this country. We
wanted to be there for them when
they’re gone by supporting their
families and providing moral sup
port.”
Located only a few hundred yards
from the anti-war protest at the
Vance Monument, the S.O.S. rally
featured an array of American flags,
speakers and performers, according
to The Asheville Citizen-Times.
“Support our Soldiers” i
MAX TAINTOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
:s waved flags, sang and listened to gospel music March 1.
Formed by a group of private citi
zens, the S.O.S. committee felt the
need to support the soldiers after
witnessing the abuse many endured
when returning from Vietnam, ex
plained Fishburne.
The S.O.S. committee organized
the rally in five weeks with the help
of many volunteers and private
donations.
“I’m here to support the soldiers
of course, because I want them to
come home,” said James Raiford, a
UNCA alumnus, who also attended
both the S.O.S. rally and the anti
war protest. “I think most every
body is in agreement with wanting
to support the troops, but that’s
where the agreement ends. I am
anti-war, but I also come from a
military family. So, I’m very much
aware of the situation soldiers are in
right now.”
S.O.S. organizers emphasized the
rally’s purpose centered on sup
porting the soldiers and that the
event did not have a political state
ment, either for or against the po
tential war, according to Fishburne.
“We wanted to raise the
community’s awareness that these
are our boys and girls that are over
there, serving their country,” said
Fishburne.
“I know it sounds simple and that
people are looking for a pro-war
motive, but it’s simply not there.
You’re not going to find it, because
Despite the organizers’ intentions,
S.O.S. rally participants still voiced
opinions concerning the potential
war with Iraq.
Most signs favored the Bush
administration’s current policy to
wards Iraq, with posters reading
“Forget France, France forgot us”
and “Wake up U.S.A., radicals are
encouraging Saddam.”
March 6, 2003
Are anti-war
protesters
Un-American?
“I believe it is un-Ameri-
can for people to not sup
port their fellow troops
while in battle.”
Randy Padgett,
sophomore drama major
“Just because you are
anti-war doesn't mean
you're any less of a citi
zen.”
Stephanie Jones,
undeclared freshman
“I think that we should
go to war and I think that
the anti-war activists are
un-American because
they need to support our
country and what our
troops and president
want us to do.”
Jason Modell,
senior business major
“I don’t think ifs un-
American for anti-war
protest, if nothing else,
it’s a wake-up call for the
government to under
stand that we’re not all
behind this.”
Thomas Transue,
Senior Business Major
Serving UNCA Since 1982
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