August 15, 2018

50 Mile March to End in Springfield

by Eesha Williams
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People will march 50 miles over four days, ending at a rally in Springfield on August 26. The goal is stronger gun control laws. The march starts in Worcester, Massachusetts. "We're taking inspiration from the 54-mile Selma to Montgomery march for civil rights," Zoe Grover told the Valley Post. She is one of the march organizers, and the director of a Massachusetts-based group that has a web site at www.StopHandgunViolence.org. The public is invited to join the march for the final half-mile, or for any part of it.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy wrote in a 2015 article in the New Republic magazine, "Ban guns. All guns. Get rid of guns in homes, and on the streets and, as much as possible, on police." Hunters can use bows and arrows.

In 1996 and 1997, the government of Australia collected about 650,000 privately owned guns. In the years following the mandatory gun buyback program, gun violence and gun suicides plummeted.

According to the U.N. web site, “The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security.” Trump last year announced he would cut the amount of money the USA pays the U.N. annually by 40 percent. In 2016, the USA paid the U.N. about $9 billion. This year, the USA is set to spend about $1.5 trillion on its own military.

In other news from the Valley, on August 10 dozens of workers in Keene and Brattleboro voted to approve a new union contract. They work at Consolidated Communications Corporation. The workers have a web page at:

www.facebook.com/FairnessAtConsolidated

The workers went on strike for four months in 2014. Their employer was then known as Fairpoint Corporation. Workers who join a union in the USA make an average of 27 percent higher wages. That's according to www.bls.gov.

Non-union workers can be fired at any time for no reason. Most union contracts say that workers can only be fired for a good reason. If the boss and the worker disagree, a neutral third party decides.

Millions of workers in the USA are union members, including all the workers at UPS and Stop & Shop.

In other news from the Valley, the Keene public library is expanding. A $5 million construction project is under way. The below photo, taken on August 12, shows part of the project. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click “see full size image.” photo by Eesha Williams

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