Vets get a peaceful welcome

[unhappycamper]

Vets get a peaceful welcome
By DONNA WINCHESTER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 6, 2007


ST. PETERSBURG - The last time Veterans for Peace members set foot on a Pinellas County high school campus, uniformed police officers escorted them off the premises.

On Friday, Dixie Hollins High principal Michael Bohnet welcomed them to a table set up for their use in the school cafeteria.

For 30 minutes, two members of the antiwar group handed out literature on career alternatives to the military and talked to kids about scholarship opportunities. They also pointed out some "negative facts" associated with military enlistment.

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"A lot of students here don't think there are peaceful opportunities for solving conflict," said Jay Bartels, a 17-year-old senior in the school's JROTC program. "As long as the veterans don't try to jam anything down my throat, I'm okay with them being here."

His friend, sophomore Thomas Fetterman, 15, said he doesn't agree with everything members of Veterans for Peace say, but he respects them for speaking their minds.

"I'm not going to change their opinion," said Fetterman, who is starting his second year in JROTC. "I don't see a point to people dying in Iraq, but I don't see any way to avoid it."


Rest of article at: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/06/Southpinellas/Vets_get_a_peaceful_w.shtml