18 APRIL 1991 Vermont group scores President Bush's choice of national health model, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Demands That Snelling Refuse To Meet Schwarzenegger

BURLINGTON -- A group of northern Vermont parents and concerned citizens have asked Governor Snelling to cancel his meeting with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, during his visit to the state, Monday, April 22.

In their letter of April 18 addressed to the Governor, they claim that Schwarzenegger "epitomizes violence as THE solution to violence." Citing the number of violent acts in one hour of his many films, the letter continues that "Schwarzenegger personifies, even glorifies, the grossest brutality and viciousness, surely the most flagrant disavowal of the moral behavior and reason taught in our schools and places of worship."

Quoting the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that all humans are "endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood...," the letter concludes by expressing confidence that the Governor "will respect both your official mandate as well as this expression of our will as citizens and fellow humans by not consenting to meet with the Bush administration's ill choice: Mr. Schwarzennegger" (Letter appended).

The letter is signed by Ellen Kahler, Peace & Justice Coalition; Andy Christiansen, State Representative; Chris Wood, Vermont Resources Cooperative; Mary Beth Casiero, Center for World Education; the Women Helping Battered Women Collective; Peggy Luhrs, Burlington Women's Council; Sandy Baird, lawyer; and Robin Lloyd, publisher, Toward Freedom.