Anti-war Demonstrators speak for peace

Anti-war demonstrators held peace events in downtown Evansville and at Purdue and Ball State universities the day after Congress voted to give President Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq.\nAbout 100 people took part in a march Friday on Ball State's campus in Muncie, with signs reading "Speak for peace, stand for truth" and similar sentiments.\n"They don't have enough of a reason (for war with Iraq), if there is such a thing as a good reason to go to war," Ball State student Jonathan Nolte said. "The only thing war brings about is more violence."\nAbout 30 people carried anti-war signs outside the Evansville federal building before four people were arrested after a three-hour sit-in at the regional office of Sen. Evan Bayh, a co-sponsor of the Senate's Iraq resolution.\nThe four members of the June 1st Peace Coalition told Bayh's regional director, Andrew S. Cullen, that they would not leave the senator's office until Bayh admitted that he erred in his support of the resolution.\nCullen handed the group a statement sent to them from Bayh's Washington office.\n"Nobody wants to contemplate the use of force -- including me -- but I have reluctantly concluded that this bipartisan resolution offers the best hope of maintaining peace," the statement said.\nBayh and Sen. Richard Lugar joined seven of the state's 10 U.S. House members in supporting the Iraq resolution.\nFederal marshals told the protesters they were welcome to stay in the office until the building closed at 5 p.m. When they did not leave, Evansville police arrested them on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass.\nThe four were all released from jail after posting $100 bond each, a jail official said.\nA few dozen protesters held a peace vigil at Purdue's Memorial Mall.\nSteve Cain, a pastor at United Methodist Church's Wesley Foundation in West Lafayette, said Thursday's congressional votes left him discouraged.\n"To me, it shows that the United States has not yet perceived the administrative duping that's going on," Cain said.\nPurdue student Fahmi Fadzil of Malaysia said he participated in the vigil as a way to act on his principles and to exercise a freedom he would not have in his homeland.\n"I believe that people should stand up for what they believe in, especially people in a place like America," he said. "Because back where I'm from, people who do these kind of things, they usually get imprisoned without trial."\nPurdue senior Quinn Miller was one of the few passers-by who stopped long enough at the vigil to challenge the position of the demonstrators.\nHe said he believed the demonstrators were well meaning but misguided.\n"They probably have some good intentions," he said. "But in my opinion, I don't think they're fully aware of Iraq's intentions and what needs to happen there"