thedrifter
06-07-07, 06:33 AM
Mother of fallen Marine sues anti-war group
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jun 6, 2007 21:47:47 EDT
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The mother of a Marine from Memphis killed in Iraq is asking for an injunction against a national women’s peace group to stop it from using her son’s image in its exhibits and memorials.
Elke Morris — the mother of Capt. Robert Secher, 33, who was killed by a sniper in Iraq’s Anbar province last year — received a letter from Codepink several weeks ago saying its members were creating a display that would include names and images of fallen soldiers, including that of her son.
Codepink’s traveling exhibit, which displays more than 130 panels crafted by volunteers, was displayed in the National Civil Rights Museum courtyard last week.
In an e-mail, Codepink representative Terri Rice said the group removed the panel from the display once it learned of Morris’ feelings.
Nevertheless, Morris still is pursuing court action, filing a lawsuit in Shelby County Chancery Court on May 25.
“They’re trying to package this into ... what they said was, ‘We are honoring all the victims of the Iraq war,’” said Morris’ lawyer Bernard Hasenbein. “Capt. Secher was not a victim. Capt. Secher was a casualty of the war.”
Secher’s father, who is divorced from Morris, said his son viewed his military career as a kind of national service Americans have a duty to perform.
“And I happen to be a strong advocate of national service,” said Secher’s father, Pierre, a retired University of Memphis political science professor.
“Everyone 18 to 22 ought to have an opportunity to do something for their country. That’s the lesson I’ve learned and tried to extricate from the misery we’ve gone through.”
Unlike Secher’s mother, however, the mother of Army Staff Sgt. Morgan Kennon, who was killed in Iraq in 2003 riding in a Humvee when his convoy was hit by rocket-propelled grenades, has praised the Codepink memorial. Kennon was a graduate of Central High School in Memphis.
“I think that what they’re doing is wonderful, going all over the country doing this,” said Kennon’s mother Paulette Crawford-Webb. “Putting names and faces on fallen soldiers. It gives us ... it lets the public know.”
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jun 6, 2007 21:47:47 EDT
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The mother of a Marine from Memphis killed in Iraq is asking for an injunction against a national women’s peace group to stop it from using her son’s image in its exhibits and memorials.
Elke Morris — the mother of Capt. Robert Secher, 33, who was killed by a sniper in Iraq’s Anbar province last year — received a letter from Codepink several weeks ago saying its members were creating a display that would include names and images of fallen soldiers, including that of her son.
Codepink’s traveling exhibit, which displays more than 130 panels crafted by volunteers, was displayed in the National Civil Rights Museum courtyard last week.
In an e-mail, Codepink representative Terri Rice said the group removed the panel from the display once it learned of Morris’ feelings.
Nevertheless, Morris still is pursuing court action, filing a lawsuit in Shelby County Chancery Court on May 25.
“They’re trying to package this into ... what they said was, ‘We are honoring all the victims of the Iraq war,’” said Morris’ lawyer Bernard Hasenbein. “Capt. Secher was not a victim. Capt. Secher was a casualty of the war.”
Secher’s father, who is divorced from Morris, said his son viewed his military career as a kind of national service Americans have a duty to perform.
“And I happen to be a strong advocate of national service,” said Secher’s father, Pierre, a retired University of Memphis political science professor.
“Everyone 18 to 22 ought to have an opportunity to do something for their country. That’s the lesson I’ve learned and tried to extricate from the misery we’ve gone through.”
Unlike Secher’s mother, however, the mother of Army Staff Sgt. Morgan Kennon, who was killed in Iraq in 2003 riding in a Humvee when his convoy was hit by rocket-propelled grenades, has praised the Codepink memorial. Kennon was a graduate of Central High School in Memphis.
“I think that what they’re doing is wonderful, going all over the country doing this,” said Kennon’s mother Paulette Crawford-Webb. “Putting names and faces on fallen soldiers. It gives us ... it lets the public know.”
Ellie