CAMILO MEJIA - 1st IRAQ ARMY WAR RESISTER
May 4th Appearance to be Honored by Mayor Rotkin

"By putting my weapons down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being" was the declaration of Camilo Mejia, Iraq war veteran who filed
for, and was denied, a Conscientious Objector discharge. The Iraq war's first military resister, who went AWOL and later turned himself in
to face a year in the stockade, will tell his story and be honored Wednesday May 4th, 7pm, at the Santa Cruz Veteran's Hall, 846 Front St.,
Santa Cruz.

"For his courageous stand" Mayor Mike Rotkin is proclaiming May 4, 2005 as "Camilo Mejia Day in the City of Santa Cruz" and will present a
proclamation to Mejia at the event.

Aimee Allison, honorably discharged as a Conscientious Objector from her Army combat medic duties during the Gulf War, will moderate the evening program. Ms. Allison is a Stanford University graduate and candidate for the Oakland City Council.

The event is sponsored by the GI Rights Hotline & Draft Alternatives program of the Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV) and the Bill Motto
Post 5888, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Event underwriters are: The Bill Motto Post 5888 and the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition. Co-sponsors include: Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF), Free Radio Santa Cruz, the Watsonville Brown Berets, UCSC Students Against War (SAW), Harbor High Students for Peace
& Justice, the Youth Coalition of Santa Cruz, Radio Station KPFA, the national Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO), and Global Exchange.

Immediate wireless Spanish translation will be available.

Tickets:
RCNV, 515 Broadway, 831/423-1626; $6-15 sliding scale; $1 scholarship tickets available for students and people with limited funds.

The RCNV GI Rights Hotline & Draft Alternatives Program provides information and counseling for enlisted military seeking discharge and for young people, and their families, who are concerned about Selective Service registration and a potential draft. For information contact the
program's 7-day-a-week hotline 831/359-0202 or www.rcnv.org/rcnv/co.htm

Additional information about Camilo Mejia:

* Camilo Mejia campaign: www.freecamilo.org/

* Amnesty International, Mejia Prisoner of War:
www.refuseandresist.org/war/art.php

* Code Pink, Mejia Goes to Prison:
www.refuseandresist.org/war/art.php

* Mother's Appeal (Veterans for Peace):
www.veteransforpeace.org/Camilio_Mejia_mother_060704.htm