***** Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) October 24, 2003 Friday, Home Final Edition SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 03A LENGTH: 546 words HEADLINE: OHIOANS TO JOIN D.C. MARCH AGAINST WAR; Groups getting set for weekend protest in nation's capital BYLINE: Kathy Lynn Gray, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
BODY: More than 50 Ohio activists will march with tens of thousands of peace proponents in Washington Saturday in the first major protest since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
"It's time to go back on the street and drive home the point that the occupation needs to end, the troops need to come home and we need to figure out a solution on this," said Bill Dobbs, media coordinator for United for Peace and Justice. That group and International ANSWER, the two largest peace coalitions nationwide, are organizing the march.
Speakers include the Rev. Martin Luther King III, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the heads of numerous anti-war groups. Marchers will pass the White House and the Justice Department.
A January anti-war march in Washington drew an estimated 200,000, and one in March drew 300,000.
At least one bus load of people, plus a caravan of vans, will leave at 12:30 a.m. Saturday from Ohio State University's Ohio Union and drive all night to attend the 11 a.m. demonstration, which begins at the Washington Monument. The bus will return early Sunday.
First-time marcher Annie Hollis, an OSU freshman from Whitehall, said she has a moral obligation to go because she is so opposed to the war and its aftermath.
"I don't think the U.S. has any business meddling in other countries' affairs," said Hollis, 17. "The war was illegal and pointless."
Ohio Wesleyan University sophomore Conor McHale's reason for going is political: He hopes the march will crystalize opposition to Bush.
"It's important for others to see that there are others who don't agree with the Bush administration."
Andy Reed, 34, of Worthington, will travel to Washington for his second peace march.
"We should withdraw all troops from Iraq immediately," Reed said. "We've got ourselves stuck over there, and we need to be looking for dramatic solutions because Americans are dying over there."
Columbus organizer Yoshi Furuhashi said students make up about half the group going to Washington and the rest are local activists. Student International Forum and Community Organizing Center are the local sponsors of the rally. Furuhashi said four bus loads of protesters will travel to Washington from Cleveland.
To support the protest, activists here are reviving demonstrations held weekly before the war at North Broadway and High streets.
"I think a vast number of people are interested in the peace movement but just don't know what to do," said Jim Leonard, 55, of Clintonville. "I think being more visible is important."
Leonard has been spreading word of the event through churches and groups and said yesterday he doesn't know if there will be "five or 50 or 500 people" there.
"People know that things are more fragile today than they were on Sept. 12," he said. "People know things are not moving in the right direction. They know it's not going well."
Reed said he believes the peace movement will intensify as the presidential election of November 2004 moves closer.
"Many people have receded back into inaction, but the core of the group and the network is still intact," he said.
"Even conservative people in the peace movement are beginning to realize we haven't been told the straight up-and-down facts."
GRAPHIC: Photo, TIM REVELL DISPATCH,, Andy Reed of Worthington makes signs in his back yard to carry during the, anti-war demonstration Saturday in Washington, D.C. Reed thinks the U.S., military should pull out of Iraq because too many troops are dying.
LOAD-DATE: October 24, 2003 *****
-- Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>