In December, 2006 Heart Phoenix, the Chair of the Peace Alliance organization in Gainesville served as host to members of the National Peace Alliance, the group pushing Congress to establish a National Department of Peace. While in the Gainesville area, the members sat down with WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend to talk about their personal and professional effort to teach non-violent solutions to domestic and international conflicts. Guests included Phoenix as well as the Executive Director of the National Peace Alliance, Dot Maver; the group’s campaign coordinator, Lynn McMullen as well as the Founder of the National Peace Alliance and best-selling author, Marianne Williamson. The following audio segment is a special broadcast that aired in December of 2006on WUFT from the various interviews with the women listed above.
Director of Programs & Outreach for the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding Jeffrey Weisberg
A Cleveland, Ohio hospital reports another student wounded in an Ohio high school shooting has died, bringing the death toll to three. The Gainesville community continues to discuss the racially-charged You Tube postings by two high school students. In Ocala, parents are calling for better supervision of students on school buses after one girl was beaten unconscious on her first day riding the bus.
The late River Phoenix (photo courtesy of Heart Phoenix)
These are just some of the recent stories of teens making headlines. Florida’s 89.1, WUFT-FM’s Donna Green-Townsend talked with the Director of Programs and Outreach at the new River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, Jeffrey Weisberg about how the center is trying to engage the community for peaceful solutions to conflict:
Part 1
The Marion County school board voted last night to expel students involved in beating another student unconscious on a school bus a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, in Alachua County, school officials are still dealing with the aftermath of the racially charged “You Tube” videos posted by two Gainesville High School Students which have brought threats against the families of the students. At the University of Florida, school administrators put together a taskforce to deal with recent hazing allegations at a UF fraternity. In Ohio, 3 students have died as a result of a school shooting in Cleveland. All of these events have prompted the new “River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding” to get public discussion going on the issue of violence and potential solutions. In part 2 of her interview, Florida’s 89.1, WUFT-FM’s Donna Green-Townsend continues her discussion with the center’s director of programs and outreach, Jeff Weisberg.
