Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance

Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.veterans pentacle rights initiative
Write a letter in support of

Coldwater Spring

Coldwater Spring has been flowing for 10,000 years, experts say, even under the last glacier. The 27 acre Coldwater campus is located atop the Mississippi River gorge, between Minnehaha Regional Park and Fort Snelling State Park, just above the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. Coldwater furnished water to Fort Snelling for a century and still flows at about 100,000 gallons a day.

Please visit the Friends of Coldwater website, and first fully educate yourself regarding the issues surrounding this sacred site!

Recent events:

Several Pagan individuals created a labyrinth at Coldwater Spring. Included are email addresses for officials who are responsible for defilement of the labyrinth. At this time there is another related issue that needs our attention as well. The Department of the Interior is close to releasing their ruling on what will happen with the land around Coldwater Spring. Concerned citizens can advocate for who they would like to own the land.

On July 20, 2007, Pagan individuals involved met with three officials from the National Park Sevice, Superintendent Paul Labovitz, Steve Johnson, Chief of Resource Stewardship, and John Anfinson, Historian National Park Service. At that meeting we discussed the necessity of moving the labyrinth at some point. It was agreed that they would talk to Bob Hansen of U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the interim caretaker of the former Bureau of Mines site, about being able to remove the labyrinth in a sacred manner when the time had come to move it. Also discussed was the idea of moving the labyrinth to another location within the site. They (Pagan individuals involved) were told there would be a community input process where this could be discussed further.

Several phone calls were returned to Bob Hansen, when Bob failed to return the latest one, They thought that the issue of the labyrinth had been put on hold. On the weekend of November 10, 2007, Fish and Wildlife hired someone to drive into the labyrinth, remove the stones and wood, and cart them off to be used for erosion control.

Please let these officials know that this is no way to honor agreements or to treat sacred sites.

WRITE:


Robyn Thorson,
Regional Director for the Midwest Region 1,
Federal Drive
BHW Federal Building
Fort Snelling, Minnesota 55111

Email:      Robyn_Thorson@fws.gov
               Bob Hansen Robert_Hansen@fws.gov


WHO GETS COLDWATER?!

The Department of the Interior will soon decide what government agency will "own" Coldwater Spring.
Please join Friends of Coldwater in advocating for: COLDWATER PARK: A 50-Acre Green Museum

WRITE:

Support the park proposal for the Coldwater property :

~ A 50-acre National Park Service urban wilderness called Coldwater Park, running south along the Mississippi bluff from Minnehaha Regional Park to Fort Snelling State Park. The federal level offers recognition to Native Americans and best available environmental protections.

Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary of the Department of the Interior
webteam@ios.doi.gov
202-208-7351 (email preferred)

And please consider calling or copying your email to:
Congressman Keith Ellison
612-522-1212
http://ellison.house.gov

Senator Amy Klobuchar
612-727-5220
http://klobuchar.senate.gov

Senator Norm Coleman
651-645-0323
http://coleman.senate.gov


Please visit the Friends of Coldwater website, for a sample letter covering the issue, and to fully educate yourself!

Getting Your Voice Heard

The electronic age has certainly made it easier to contact elected officials, but many people find it difficult to actually do it. So, if you want to be heard, but do not quite know where to start, here is some information about who to contact and guidelines about contacting public officials.

Steps to Success

Get to Know the Issue:



  • Remember you don't have to know everything about the issue, but you should minimally know what the issue is, how you feel about it and what action you want taken.

    Find Out Who to Contact:

  • Who you should contact will vary depending on the issue and action you want to see happen.

  • If there is proposed legislation being discussed or coming up for a vote in either the House or Senate. Contacting your Representatives and Senators is the most effective.

  • If there is no specific legislation, informing your elected representatives about issues of important to you as a constituent is still a really good idea. It is a very good way to draw their attention to issues they might otherwise not be aware of.

  • If the issue is not specifically tied to some legislation, but does fall under a standing committee of the House or Senate, communicating with the Committee Chair and members can also be effective.

    Some Specifics about Making Contact:

  • When there is a specific piece of legislation being discussed, or going for a vote before the Senate or Congress, phone calls and emails are tallied (for and against). Both contact methods work very effectively. It is very important to keep in mind, that even a relatively small number of contacts on a lesser known issue may be enough to influence the vote of a Representative or Senator. The reality is there are tons of things they vote on all the time that never get a single call, or email. So, calls or emails from 30 of their constituents or stakeholders in a particular issue, all in one morning may be very impressive.

  • To get your voice heard in this situation, follow the links below to find your elected officials and they'll have a phone number listed there. You can simply call and give your name, and that you are a constituent. Then tell them how you'd like them to vote and on which piece of legislation. Don't worry if you don't have to know the exact name or number of the Bill, they'll know which one, if you just say something like "Please vote yes on the bill to protect the habitat of Flying Monkeys".


  • The email addresses and quick links to email them are available for all members of the Senate and Congress. Keep in mind that, emails are most effective, when they are short (just three or four sentences), clearly state the issue and whether you are for, or against, and, if applicable, specify that you are a constituent or what makes you a "Stakeholder" in the particular issue. Since both constituency and being a stakeholder, may add "weight" to your view point you may want to make an opening statement like, "As a honorably discharged US Navy Veteran and a Pagan, living in your congressional district, I am writing to you regarding ..."

  • Letters are an excellent method of communicating when you are trying to educate or inform in a more in-depth way about a particular issue. Also, they do get attention these days, since so few people actually take time to write letters and mail them, since the advent of email. Letters are especially good when trying to raise the interest or awareness of members of a committee. You can also cc: the letter to your specific elected representatives, or if the letter is from a group, to the representatives of the groups members. It is important if you are using this method to be clear, make sure you state the facts correctly and to stay on topic. We'll be preparing some sample statements/letter on the Pagan Rights Quest issues.

  • What ever communication method you chose you should always include your full name and address and present your thoughts in a respectful, non-hostile manner. Remember, that our goal is to build bridges to better understanding, and these communications may be the very first and most important steps taken to open the door to acceptance and understanding.

    Links :

  • Contact your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/
    At the top of home page is place to enter your State and Zip Code to get contact information for your Representatives.


  • Contact your US Senator at http://www.senate.gov/
    At the top of home page is place to enter your State to get contact information for your Senators.