DAILY UPDATE ON THE RUN FOR FREEDOM
A DAY TO DAY ACCOUNT FROM JIM TOREN
Authorized by Dennis Banks
And from the desk of MOMFEATHR . .
.
Authorized by Dennis Banks
And from the desk of MOMFEATHR . .
.
JUNE 8TH, 1997 ~ DAY
ONE
At 7:00 a.m. on Sunday June 8th, 1997, Twenty-two Runners from all over Turtle Island met in Newport, Kentucky where the commencement ceremony took place. After the opening prayer, Dennis told the Runners what the purpose of the Run was for. He informed them that he had personally spoken with Leonard Peltier and that Leonard would be addressing hem via phone lines at some point along the road.
Once the commencement was over, they ran across the Ohio River to Cincinnati, Ohio where the Run was scheduled to begin. With SIMONE SEMINOLE and RANDY HUFFMAN carrying staffs the Run For Freedom got underway.
By 3:30 p.m. the Runners had reached Avon, Indiana. A total of 135 miles from their starting point! They set up camp at 5:00 p.m. at the NATIONAL GUARD ALPHA BATTERY RECRUITING OFFICE.
According to reports everyone did a Fantastic Job on this great Run!!
Jim's dad, JOHN TOREN, ran 27 miles!
And a Special Note of Congratulations to BILLY BOSWELL, age 10, for
running 4 miles carrying a staff alongside Simone and Randy!!
JUNE 9TH, 1997 ~ DAY
TWO
The Runners arrived in Tuscola, Illinois at 5:00 p.m. where they rested and prepared food for themselves at WALNUT POINT STATE PARK. Everyone enjoyed their evening.
Our main support van dropped the drive shaft, which meant extra work for the Big Guys!!
Two of our young ladies were stopped by the State Police in Indiana. . . . Running too fast girls???? Actually the troopers were just checking on them and we appreciate that! We will not mention the girls' names. If we did, TONYA BOSWELL AND CHANOAH JACKSON would be upset with us.
Two new (young men)Runners from Brussels joined the Run here. One of the
young men is a journalist for their newspaper, EGAN. When the Run ends they
will do an article for their newspaper. They will also visit THE INTERTRIBAL
BISON CO OP and the Black Hills.
JUNE 10TH, 1997 ~ DAY
THREE
The main support van is once again back on the road!!
A special thanks to the wonderful people at the Sunoco Station in Tuscola, Indiana who gave them such great prices when they found out the cause they were working for!!
The Runners started filing into Carlinville, Illinois at about 3:30 p.m. and on into the evening. JIM TOREN had to do his last 14 miles after the support vehicle was back on the road.
The Runners stayed at the BEAVER DAM STATE PARK in Carlinville. The crew was fed by BOB FESTER of Carlinville. . .a special thanks to him!!
SONNY HENSLEY, RANDY HUFFMAN and SIMONE SEMINOLE were interviewed by local news reporters.
And the two young ladies that were stopped yesterday were stopped again today. . .by none other than a local postal worker who wanted to know if they were OK. Thanks to the Creator for people who care enough to at least ask!
All Runners are doing fine and are having a great time!!!
JUNE 11TH, 1997 ~ DAY
4
BOB FESTER, who did the dinner last night also got their breakfast this morning!!
DAN BAYLOG is up at 4 a.m. each morning marking the road for the Runners. He drives back and runs the last 5 miles every day!
Today the city of Hannibal, Missouri closed the bridge and gave our Runners a police escort across the Mississippi River! This was a great thrill to all of us and our staffs and the flag that represents the Basque as well as the Native American flag were also carried!!!
We were interviewed by 3 newspapers!!
JIM TOREN was chased by a Chow today, but MIKE DOUGLAS counted coup on it!!
And guess what. . .our young ladies were stopped again today. . .twice!
The group is staying tonight at the Y.M.C.A. in Hannibal, MO compliments of CHRIS COONS!
Dinner was provided by SUE GREEN and she will also provide breakfast in the morning.
Thanks to all!!!!
JUNE 12TH, 1997 ~ DAY
5
The run from Hannibal, Missouri took us to PARRISH MEMORIAL STATE PARK.
DAN BAYLOG, age 53, ran the staff into camp for the last 8 miles!
TONYA BOSWELL and CHANOAH JACKSON did 10 miles today!! We are very proud of these two young ladies!!
Last night we had a TALKING CIRCLE about indigenous people and their problem around the world. AMOND RUSSELL spoke on BIG MOUNTAIN. The two Runners from Basque explained the problems in Europe.
This morning CHERYL HENSLEY cooked breakfast for all of us. We would like
to offer a big thanks to TREVA BAYLOG and CHERYL HENSLEY who have both been
cooking and caring for all of us when meals were not offered on the road.
. .!
JUNE 13TH, 1997 ~ DAY
SIX
This was an exciting day for all of us. BILL AND SANDY BOSWELL joined us, along with their daughter TIFFANY. TURTLE and SNIKERS also joined the Run just as we reached HASKELL INDIAN UNIVERSITY. When we first reached HASKELL UNIVERSITY it was raining and the streets were flooded. Once the rains passed we started to set up camp. They asked us to stay in the dorm in case another storm came through. RITA, DEBBIE and MARKITA PELTIER (LEONARD'S wife) and JACOB PELTIER (LEONARD'S grandson), supplied us with our evening meal. The next morning they prepared breakfast as well.
I, (JIM TOREN) on the other hand, spent the night with two other Runners,
RITA and TOPAZ at the home of SIMONE SEMINOLE.
JUNE 14TH, 1997 ~ DAY
SEVEN
This was a rest day for the Runners. I went to the airport at 5 a.m. in the morning with TOPAZ and RITA to pick up MARCUS, our AUSTRALIAN Runner. MARCUS has already thrilled all of us with his "DIGGERY DOOH"!!!
At 10:30 a.m. today, we left HASKELL INDIAN UNIVERSITY carrying flags from all over, our pipes and eagle staff to the lawn at LEAVENWORTH FEDERAL PENITENTIARY in KANSAS. It was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment as we stood together for one cause listening to the prayers, drums and song.
It is now 5 p.m. and the protest is over. We are now on our way back to HASKELL INDIAN UNIVERSITY to spend the night. RITA, CHRISSIE and DEVITA WALKER are going to feed us our dinner this evening.
JIM TOREN would like to thank everyone who has helped make this Run possible and for their support. It is hard to remember some of the names, but he would like to say blessings to all and a warm heartfelt thanks.
NOTE FROM MOMFEATHER: Much to my delight I could hear the wonderful
voices of the Runners as they rang out "HI MOMFEATHER from LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS
where this news report was received. Thanks to this wonderful group and all
the work they have done to make this RUN FOR FREEDOM possible.
JUNE 16TH, 1997 ~ DAY
9
After breakfast we left for COLONY, KANSAS where we were hosted by a PAINTED HORSE FARM RANCH. Here KEN, JOYCE and GLORIA HUTTON did a fantastic job of taking care of us. You will always have a special place in our hearts. You could not do enough for us and we will never forget you!! THANKS!!
BILL BOSWELL ran the last mile and 1/4 into camp last night. We had 57 miles to cover yesterday and we ran it in traditional relay style. We had one Runner and Staff on the road at all times! This took 8 hours.
Last night our host bused us to showers and back to camp for dinner. This morning we were treated to breakfast before we started our Run. We covered 100 miles to ELDORADO LAKE STATE PARK. Here, THE FRIENDS OF ELDORADO LAKE hosted us and they catered the meal from a local restaurant.
After dinner we had a TALK CIRCLE with just the young Runners to get their opinion of the Run and what it meant. The only adults at the circle were AMOND RUSSELL, BILL BOSWELL, DAN BAYLOG and JIM TOREN. Afterward they "drummed" until the storm started to move in and then we got ready for bed.
We realized pressure is being put on somewhere because right after GERONIMO PRATT was released, the same day all of us were pulled over for one reason or the other!!
WE BELIEVE THE NEXT PERSON RELEASED WILL BE LEONARD PELTIER!!!!!!!
AHO!
JUNE 17TH, 1997 ~ DAY
10
We left EL DORADO after breakfast and headed for PONCA CITY where we were met by LINDA CAMP ( wife of CARTER CAMP). Carter's son and mother came into town to feed us.
Two of the local boys from the reservation ran the last 3 miles and carried the Staff!
BOOMER CAMP, Carter's son, ran the SWEAT LODGE CEREMONY for the Runners. And DENNIS BANKS spoke at our circle.
Little BILLY BOSWELL ran 7 miles today!!
We got up and left for SHAWNEE. In Shawnee we wait to see if we can have
our ceremony at the OKLAHOMA CITY BOMB SITE. We're not sure yet. . .
JUNE 18TH AND 19TH, 1997 ~ DAYS 11
AND 12
In SHAWNEE we stayed at the POTATAWATAMI POW WOW GROUNDS. Arrangements were mad by one of Oklahoma's Police Officers and we would like to thank him for all his efforts!!
JIM, MRACUS, AMOS, TOPAZ AND LITTLE BILL BOSWELL met up with an old friend, BURT POORE BUFFALO!!
We did a caravan to OKLAHOMA CITY and marched to the BOMB SITE. here we did a special pipe ceremony. The feeling of the group is that our children are our future and the loss here took many of our children under tragic circumstances. Our Runner, MARCUS who is from BOSQUE said he wanted to pray for all the children who have died in tragedy, in OKLAHOMA, in RUBY RIDGE, in WACO, BOSNIA and all the other places in the world.
We left for TULSA CREEK COMMUNITY where the conference will be held. We arrived at 3:30 where we were met by DENNIS BANKS, MJ, ANDY MADER, VERNON FOSTER and about 100 others!!
PRAYERS FOR LEONARD WILL CONTINUE
AND SO WILL THE RUNS UNTIL HE IS SET FREE!!
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