LOCAL NEWS

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Cleveland Women Take Back The Night

We must take back the night from the violence of men. Robbery, assault, rape, catcalls and harassment make fear part of our day-to-day lives. Taking back the night means reclaiming our rights-rights which have been taken away from all women-our freedom to decide for ourselves what we want and to control our bodies and our minds. These rights have been denied not only in the streets but in our homes, in our workplaces, in the health care institutions, in prisons and in the distorted images of women in the media. Fear of violence works to keep women at home, and many women are not safe even there. Fear limits our freedom by preventing us from going out where we want, whenever we want, alone or with whom we want.

We ask you to join us on Friday night, August 3rd, in Cleveland's First Annual Take Back the Night.

LETTERS

The What She Wants Collective,

Please use the enclosed to enter my subscription to WSW, with my sincere praise and gratitude for the excellent women's paper you are producing. I am becoming increasingly aware of the primary role of the paper in reaching many women who are otherwise isolated from the women's political and cultural network. Yours is truly one of the women's organizations most worthy of a "salute" from the community..

Dear What She Wants:

Melinda McGeorge

On behalf of the Women's Caucus of the National Lawyers Guild, and the International Socialist Organization, we would like to thank What She Wants for their help in making last Friday night's [March 2] pot luck, film showing and celebration a good event.

We would like to let all WSW readers and supporters who came to know that we had decided in advance that if we made any "profit" off either the film or refreshments, we would give the money for something important. We made $28.35 extra and gave it to the Carole Frye fund. Carole Frye worked for the Essex Wire Corporation in Elwood, Indiana. Beginning in the summer of 1977, Carole Frye and 200 others were involved in a long and bitter strike. During the strike, Carole Frye was shot in the back. A bullet is lodged in her spine; she is paralyzed. She has two children, and cannot work. We felt that this small token would show what we in the women's movement mean by sisterhood and solidarity.

In struggle, Joanne Gall Barbara Winslow

Everyone who planned and contributes to your newspaper is to be commended.

I am currently co-chair of CARAL and appreciate your support of the pro-choice position.

Maryel Vogel Smith

Plans include a parade and rally in downtown Cleveland. This event has been successful in London and more recently in Boston, where thousands of women rallied to make the streets a safer place. We see it as a first step in our commitment to end all types of violence against women.

We need help in the areas of planning, media, outreach, and T-shirts. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 4th. For more information, contact the Coalition to Take Back the Night at 531-9290, 521-2105, 321-6889 or 371-2210.

Sandra Coster Dolores Dempsey Kalhan Barbara Louise

Pat McNeil Sandy Pope Mickie Prokop Gale Stone

Vigil for Safe Energy

Every Friday since mid-September, 1978, a group of concerned people has maintained a quiet Vigil for Safe Energy. We appeal for a halt to nuclear power plants, for increased development of alternative renewable energy sources, and for conservation. This public education campaign is carried out in a onehour session of holding signs and giving out printed material. We are on the sidewalk at the northwest

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corner of Public Square in downtown Cleveland, in front of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company Building, on Fridays between noon and 1:00 p.m.

The vigil's steering committee chooses a different message for each week's leaflet. We focus on a wide variety of issues related to nuclear power-costs, jobs, safety, transportation and disposal of radioactive materials, conservation, health hazards, weaponry and legislation on these issues. The vigil literature has also given publicity to local related events. Actions at the Perry Plant, the teach-in at Lakeland Community College, and the Memorial for Karen Silkwood were announced through Friday leaflets.

Sponsor of the vigil is the Cleveland Area American Friends Service Committee. Several other

Gail Powers and Carol Epstein:

I am writing to thank you for your participation in the intersession program at Cleveland Heights High School (as members of the What She Wants Collective]. The effort you made was really appreciated. If you had an extremely small class, the effort is appreciated all the more. I'm sure that the few you spoke with found it a very informative session, and gained much more than they would have with a larger class. Again a very sincere thank you.

Beth Finley Intersession Chairperson

local groups take active part, including the Western Reserve Alliance, North Shore Alert!, Clergy and Laity Concerned, and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. In addition, much helpful material has come from such sources as the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Cousteau Society and the writings of pediatrician Dr. Helen Caldicott.

Anyone who shares the concern for safe energy, a concern for the future of all our children, is invited to join the vigil. Contact Isabel Bliss, AFSC, at 884-2695, or Suzanne Watson at 771-4815.

-Isabel Bliss

Toney Case Acquittal

On March 5, Tom Baumgartner, a former University of Akron student, was acquitted of the charge of raping Rhonda Toney (see WSW, December, 1978). Toney was raped in her dorm room last September and died six days later of a heart attack. She had a history of serious heart problems.

The original charges against Baumgartner included manslaughter, but the grand jury indicted him only on the charge of rape.

The jury acquitted Baumgartner, despite the fact that there were signs of a struggle during the alleged rape. Their verdict was based largely on the facts that Toney did not scream out during the incident, and that Baumgartner had given her his name and address, which the jury believed a rapist seldom does.

Con-Con Here?

Forces in the Ohio State Legislature are now close to presenting a State Charter Amendment for a Constitutional Convention. Some 26 out of 34 needed states have already passed such an amendment. There are no federal guidelines or instructions in the Federal Constitution, and the widespread conviction by prominent and knowledgeable politicians, public figures and legal scholars is that the rights currently protected by our national constitution are threatened with abridgement under the guise of ensuring a balanced budget.

Write to your state legislators urging them to vote against any State Charter Amendment for a U.S. Constitutional Convention.

ADC Surplus: Whose?

Because of underspending for welfare, Ohio has accumulated a surplus of $63.9 million in Aid to Dependent Children, General Relief and Medicaid. Welfare Rights Organizations and advocates hope the General Assembly will use this surplus to increase ADC and General Relief grants from the current 61 percent of the Standard of Need set in 1974 to at least 100 percent of the 1967 levels. These increases in ADC and GR grants could come out of existing surpluses at no cost to Ohio and would restore lost federal dollars.

Ninety percent of the people who depend on ADC are women and their dependent children. The present grant for a family of 1 adult, 2 children (the average size of an ADC family), is $235 per month. The minimum standard necessary for health and decency, set by Ohio's own Department of Health and Welfare, is $384 per month. If Ohio legislators can raise their own salaries 28, percent, they must bring welfare recipients to at least the minimum standard of health and decency.

The budget will be in the House Finance Committee through April. Anyone who wishes to share their concern for the health, welfare and dignity of the 34,363 women and their children in Cuyahoga County who depend on ADC as their source of income, should write their state representative at the Ohio House of Representatives, Columbus, Ohio 43210. If you do not know who your state legislators are, call PR 1-4250.

Page 2/What She Wants/April, 1979