On June 21, the Austin City Council passed the Procurement Code for Humane Workplace Conditions. This code ensures that the City of Austin will not purchase garments for city employees from contractors that engage in illegal and inhumane sweatshop abuses. The organizations that brought the procurement code to the Austin City Council are now asking the Travis County Commissioners to adopt a similar sweatshop-free purchasing policy.
     Over 170 governmental entities in the United States--including cities, counties, and states--have already adopted sweatshop-free procurement policies. These entities recently formed the State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium. The Consortium will contract with a non-profit monitoring group that, beginning in the next fiscal year, will make unannounced factory visits and conduct confidential interviews with workers to ensure compliance with the procurement policies. Each participating governmental entity will contribute 1% of its total garment purchases to pay for the Consortium's independent monitor.
     The United States Department of Labor determines that a company is guilty of committing sweatshop abuse when it violates two or more basic labor laws. Sweatshop abuses include the payment of below-subsistence wages; excessively long working hours; unhealthy and unsafe work environments; child, indentured, or prison labor; disregard for local and international labor laws and workplace regulations; disregard for fundamental women's rights; and repression of workers' rights to assemble and bargain collectively.
     In our work with the City of Austin, we discovered that the City had contracted with a company that had twice been cited for committing sweatshop abuses. The abuses in one garment factory in India included non-payment of workers' wages for forced overtime, supervisors hitting workers in the head or slapping them in the face, male supervisors demanding sexual services from female employees in exchange for job retention, and the beating or firing of employees who spoke out against these abuses.
     In researching Travis County's suppliers, we discovered that on February 23, 2006, a fire in a factory in Bangladesh killed 84 people, mostly girls and young women between the ages of twelve and fifteen, when the factory's emergency door was illegally locked and corridors were blocked. One of Travis County's garment suppliers currently owns this factory's parent company.
     Many of us feel morally obligated to take whatever steps we can to ensure our hard-earned dollars do not support these illegal and inhumane abuses. Because our purchasing power as individual consumers is small it makes it difficult for us to ensure the humane treatment of the women and men who manufacture the garments we purchase, but larger entities like Travis County or the City of Austin have far greater purchasing power and can do far more to protect the dignity and rights of the people who manufacture the garments our tax dollars purchase. City, County, and State procurement policies for humane workplace conditions are very effective steps toward ensuring our dollars do not support sweatshop abuse.
     The Congregational Church of Austin UCC endorsed this campaign and I want to thank you for doing so. I am currently having some e-mail conversations with folks in the UCC to determine how our denomination goes about purchasing all those bright red God is Still Speaking shirts. The UCC has made a number of statements in favor of sweatshop-free purchasing, but I have not yet been able to determine from whom it actually purchases. I'll let you know what I find out.
                                                                                              Tom

"Essential Spirituality" Study Group 
    Monthly discussion of exercises from the book "Essential Spirituality: the 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind" by Roger Walsh. Start at any time, just be prepared to share your experience with the suggested exercises. Meetings are held the last Saturday of each month. Time: 2:30 p.m. Contact Barbara Burnham or Marilyn Vache for location and information about the month's exercises.


Children's Corner with Melissa McFerrin
     The children have been very busy with various art projects over the last several weeks. Stop by the nursery to see all of their latest creations. Play-doh continues to be a big hit and is requested every Sunday. I will be taking pictures of the children over the next few weeks so that we can update our picture wall. We are starting to get a younger crowd in the nursery so our cooking projects are temporarily on hold, look for our next yummy recipe coming soon.

     Congratulations to Matt Futch, son of new member Greg Futch and his wife Margaret. Greg reports that The Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver has many "foci", but Matt's interest is energy, so he took every course he could on that subject--economic angles, technology angles, public policy angles, and so forth. The graduation ceremony was held on June 8 at the campus in Denver. It was a beautiful and inspiring event, and Margaret and Greg attended, along with Matt's bride to be, Cyndi, and many thousands of others. It appeared that about 600 people walked up to receive their graduate recognition. And these were all graduate degrees. The undergraduate ceremony was on another day. The event was held in the hockey stadium, and apparently U. Denver has a very fine hockey team!!! Matt was very happy his folks there, and the weather was beautiful. They also took a short trip into the mountains and generally had a fine time with Matt and Cyndi. Matt is now working as an intern with the Western Governors Association, with an emphasis on his favorite subject, energy.
     Tommy Johnson, son-in-law of John and Eleanor Towery, is recovering from quadruple by-pass surgery at home in Brockton, MA. Tommy and Sally's daughter Tanya is a nurse in the area. She insisted that Tommy go into Boston to have the surgery done--he did, and everything went smoothly. Sally (John and Eleanor's daughter) was delighted have her daughter Pam and her sister Mary Masters come for a week to help out.
     Whit and Betty Bodman have had a summer filled with highs and lows. Betty took the summer off from teaching classes at ACC so she filled the summer with travel that she doesn't usually have the time to do. Their daughter Elizabeth graduated from Occidental College in LA in May. Her major was philosophy with a minor in psychology. Betty "road-tripped" home with her, stopping by Las Vegas and Zion National Park on the way home. Elizabeth promptly took off for New Zealand for her last hurrah before heading off to graduate school at Columbia School of Social Work in the fall. Betty and Whit took a 2 week trip to southern Spain. Whit wanted to see Andalucia which for so long was a region with Islamic rulers. The Alhambra was a real treat and they saw a lot of churches which had been built on top of (destroyed) mosques. Whit was struck by how similar the desert-like landscape felt to the Southwestern US - although the fields were full of olive trees as far as the eye could see. Many of the plants in the urban landscape were very familiar - lots of crepe myrtle, oleander, salvia, roses, begonia to name only a few. Sadly, Whit's mother died in early July. His father had been having some serious health problems, so it was a shock to lose his mother first--although she had been ill, too. In later July, Betty went to North Carolina to take her mother to visit a cousin. After a week in NC, Betty went north to New England to visit friends there. Whit and Betty were back in New England in mid-August for the service of committal for his mom. Peripatetic Whit will be going to Tajikistan to present a paper on Imagination in Jalal al-Din Rumi and St. John of the Cross. For Whit, that is not half as terrifying as knowing that his daughter was driving a truck around New York City to move into her apartment for the fall semester at Columbia School of Social Work. Betty is designing an on-line course for ACC on medical terminology and Whit continues to work on his book. Their son Noah is starting his second year law school at U. of Montana. That is one busy family!
     Rizer Everett has been on the mend. His daughter Dot and granddaughter Kate visited in July. As soon as they arrived, they went at once to the Matt's El Rancho Restaurant on South Lamar at the 250-year-old live oak tree that Melvin Rotsch saved by moving the jog in the highway a few years ago. They visited friends, had good meals, and played several games of three-handed cribbage. Rizer says he spends about three days a week with doctor appointments and about three days a week with visits and dates with his companions. The reports from the doctors are generally favorable, and he is always glad to learn that they invite him back for future appointments. At 91, he eats well, sleeps well, and enjoys the TV programs that show baseball, golf, and tennis tournaments. He has stopped a decades-long habit of writing in his diary, but he is still exchanging e-mails with friends and relatives.
     Vic Appel returned in late July from an eight day visit to his daughter Cheryl in Madison, Wisconsin, where he helped her in interviewing contractors who are to do major upgrades to her house. The 63-year-old house she lives in needs to have the electrical wiring replaced as well as other upgrades to the bathrooms and to the attic. Despite the usual cool summer weather in Wisconsin, a couple of days it was actually hotter in Madison than it was in Austin.
     Pastor Tom is widening his community involvement and appeared on Morning Edition of KUT on Tuesday, July 24, as a spokesperson for Micah 6 urging expansion of the funding for the Farm Bill to enable increased funds becoming available to the many persons in Travis County in need of food stamps.
     Nancy Edison, of Landscape and Love It, reports that our church landscape project has begun. The trees that have been planted are low water use "natives." The anacacho orchid tree is the one nearest to the street and will grow to be about 12 feet tall sporting blooms in the spring. The goldenball lead tree is the one in the tiny triangle near the patio. It can grow to about 20 feet and will have fragrant golden flowers on it from April to October. It does not like to be in a pot and therefore is not purchasable in a larger size. It should grow fairly quickly. The rest of the planting can wait till the brutality of the summer sun has eased.
     The news from England about the Paul/Tapley family is that Lydia and Dean have a new granddaughter so Eunice now has a second great-granddaughter: Eleanor Rose Tapley, daughter of Nathaniel and Zoe arrived on July 28. Eunice, Dean, and Lydia are particularly happy that they are only about twelve miles away, in Redhill. Uncle Joshua, Aunt Martina and cousin Jessica came in early August from Austria to meet the new addition to the family. (FYI--Eunice and her late husband Bob were at the church for many years--Bob was at the Presbyterian Seminary--and their son-in-law Dean and daughter Lydia and two boys were here for a number of visits years ago--most memorably when Dean exchanged pulpits with John Towery the summer of 1982. At that time Joshua and Nathaniel were little boys--now they are dads!)
     Don Miles has been "on the road" for much of the summer. He attended two publishing conventions in New York City, a writers' convention here in Austin and the American Library Association convention in Washington, D.C., during June. In July, he conducted a workshop with teachers and translators on the two Spanish editions of his book in Missouri. Also in July, he participated in a "traveling family reunion" in Mexico City, Puebla and San Miguel de Allende. In August, he made a second trip to San Miguel for an authors' book fair, then drove to Little Rock, Arkansas, for his daughter's retirement ceremony from the Air Force. This month, he will attend the Texas Conference on Hispanic Geology and History, and will be a featured speaker at the Southeast Branch of the Austin Public Library and at the Grand Opening of the new Mexican American Cultural Center in Austin on September 16, which is Mexico's Independence Day.
     Sarah Bentley has been supply preaching at Trinity UCC in Niederwald since March, along with Ernie Dean and Carla Cheatham. They are hoping to get one person to work with them starting in September so maybe Sarah will actually be back at CCA once in a while! Trinity was the first place Sarah ever preached in Texas 20+ years ago and they had not ever heard (or maybe seen!) a woman pastor. Now she's back again and they seem to take it in stride. Sarah's husband Bob Breihan will participate in a research study here in Austin for age-related macular degeneration. He was diagnosed early and they predict good results in halting the progress of this common eyesight problem. Bob is optimistic as always and we welcome prayers for him in this two-year process.
     Paul and Ellen Deisler have had a relatively quiet, stay-at-home summer for, one might say, medical reasons. Shortly before summer began Paul was hauled off to the hospital in the middle of the night with high fever, intense chills and class A shakes. Four days later he was released, a well man, after many tests to find out what it was. it turned out to be a fast-developing bronchial infection. Fortunately, the emergency staff where Paul and Ellen live, and the ambulance, were fast and efficient or worse might have ensued. Paul's medical adventures continued into the summer with a number of tests not worth mentioning and culminated in July with a corneal transplant in his left eye. Paul is still waiting for reasonably good eyesight to return but knows that it will take five or six months for that to happen. By the end of twelve months the sutures can be removed. Patience! He has just now recovered enough eyesight (the right eye isn't perfect but it works) to be able to see and dodge other cars and has begun driving again -- but only to well-known places and not after dark. In a lighter vein, Paul reports that he is now and for the time being a true cosmology buff. A paper he wrote entitled "A Layman Views Our Expanding Universe through the Lens of Hubble's Law" passed peer review and was published in the August issue of The Citizen Scientist, the little known journal of the little known Society of Amateur Scientists. He didn't know he had it in him to do a thing like that and he says. when it comes to cosmology, "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."
     Last month Doyal and Tommie Pinkard enjoyed 10 days in California where the temperature never got above a cool 75. With son Chris, his wife Rizza, and their two grandchildren, Gabriel and Kiana, they enjoyed sightseeing in Chris's new mini-van. They especially enjoyed the Zoo in Oakland while the kids preferred the Children's Museum in San Jose. They picnicked at Half Moon Bay, but only Gabriel was brave enough to enter the water. Doyal and Tommie also celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary in August--congratulations!
     Mel and Pat Oakes had a busy July. They spent a week in Wrentham, MA, with Pat's siblings as they held a service of interment for Pat's parents' ashes at the old family cemetery there. They were home for a few days and then went to Biwabik, Minnesota, for the 17th family reunion. The first reunion was held 35 years ago with fewer than 20 in attendance. This reunion featured a lively week for 65 relatives (13 children under the age of 7)--a great time was had by all. On the 1st of August, Pat went to Iowa to be a part of a tag-team baby-sitting contingent (Gramma Pat, Gramma Rose, and Aunt Sarah) for Emily and Ethan while Beth and Eugene were in China. Beth was performing with the Maia Quartet at the Great Wall Music Festival near Beijing.
     Twenty-one years ago David and Edith Scott and their two children, David 3 1/2, and Susan, 18 months, came to Austin from Glasgow, Scotland, while David senior worked for Motorola for a period of about 6 months. The Scotts became very active in the church for the short time they were here. Young David is now an engineer and was sent to Houston for courses for his company, Baker Hughes. He took the opportunity to come to Austin for a few days and attended church on Aug. 12. He was surprised to find a number of folks who remembered him (he was too young to remember anyone) and he enjoyed hearing the story about how he and Mary Charles Williams found Pat Oakes' diamond which had fallen out of her engagement ring during a photo shoot for the church directory. Susan is all grown up now, too, and is the mother of a daughter with another baby on the way.
     Steven and Jeanine Neuse never have enough time to spend in Texas (they now live in Fayetteville, AR). They did come to Texas this summer, and came to visit three different family groups. They stayed in Ms. Katie's House at the Eden Home to visit with Jeanine's mother who turned 92 on August 16th. Jeanine was able to attend a Care Conference and join her for some other activities. They also managed to have lunch with her cousin and aunt. They came to Austin one day and night to visit with Steven's cousin who lives on Lake Travis. Son Jonathan, D'Lana, and Nathanael came over from San Antonio for the day. They also spent a week-end in San Antonio visiting with Jonathan and family, but still didn't get to touch base with other relatives. Prior to the Texas trip, they were in Germany visiting their other son and went to France on Memorial Day week-end. They visited Versailles, but the most impressive stop was at the Brittany American cemetery. Steven's uncle was buried there during WWII. They got some special escorts since they were family members. The graves all had the U.S. and French flags; Taps was played; they left flowers. They were given the flags and an information folder which they brought to his cousin.
     In mid-August, Lisa Kirch was in Munich, and her daughter Sarah was in California visiting her father who moved there in May. Lisa was to fly home to pick her up and bring her back to Germany. When Sarah was not running around sharing her aunts' vacations (Lake Tahoe and Yosemite), she called Lisa twice a day. Let's hear it for modern technology. Lisa has left Alabama only for six months. She took unpaid leave from the University of Northern Alabama to take up a fellowship as scholar-in-residence at the Deutsches Museum. Her research project involves their "Hall of Honor" of scientists and engineers. Her apartment is at one of the Deutsches Museum's branches in a suburb of Munich. Early on she hadn't developed the energy to walk around the corner of the building of that branch to go look at all the old airplanes on exhibition there. However, she has looked out the window on a couple of weekends to see old biplanes buzzing around. She notes it felt a little like being in a WWI movie. Lisa says, "Please say that anyone who'll be visiting Munich between now and Christmas should feel free to get in touch."
     Brita Jenquin and her family have moved to Maryland to live closer to family. Brita is working from home, Jerry is job hunting, and Konrad, who turned 1 on Aug. 14, is walking all over the place. Their new address is 213 Gray Fox Ct., Edgewater, MD 21037.
     The Bradford/Moore household is very excited that Sarah Moore will be off to college soon. She'll be attending Texas State University, majoring in Animal Sciences. She's interested in working with animals, and may decide to go on to veterinary school. She's been really busy this summer working several jobs including her regular job at Tarrytown Pharmacy, baby-sitting, and contract office work. Travis Moore started high school this fall, but had a much lazier summer than Sarah. He's had a blast hanging out with his friends at Barton Springs Pool, practicing with his rock band (The Friday Nights), taking driver's education classes, and building a roof on his tree house. He's tried getting a job, but not many people want to hire a fourteen-year-old. However, he's finding occasional work mowing lawns, helping people move, and helping Suzanne with her rock hauling for her landscaping projects. Travis's band are to be performing at local clubs in August and September, although dates and times have not yet been decided.
     Longtime church members will remember Dennis and Kazuko Schneider and their daughter Takako who were members of the church some 30 years ago. Takako and Robert Spevak were married on June 23rd at Tokyo Union Church in Tokyo, Japan, and the families celebrated again at another wedding party in Eugene, Oregon, in August.
     On June 5th, George Carruthers and Marilyn Gaddis flew to St. Louis to meet George's Air Force buddy and wife for an eight day trip aboard "R/B River Explorer." They cruised down the Mississippi to the Confluence with the Ohio River. They went up the Ohio River to Paducah, KY, to visit several museums, including the beautiful display of quilts at the Museum of the American Quilter's Society. After passage through several locks, they stopped at Louisville to see Churchhill Downs, the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory, and the Falls of the Ohio. At Aurora, IN, the crew tied the Explorer to several trees and it was possible to go into town to see the buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. An afternoon arrival in Cincinnati made possible a tour of the downtown area before the Captain's Farewell Dinner. In the morning, a bus took the travelers back to St. Louis. It was great way to see Middle America from the water while enjoying interesting lectures, comfortable quarters, and delicious meals! At the end of June, Marilyn and George flew to Boston/Chelsea for a short visit with Marilyn's 94 year old cousin and a wonderful lobster dinner. In the morning, they boarded the Amtrak Downeaster for Portland, Maine to join 66 other Elderhostelers on "The Grand Caribe" for a nine day trip along the Maine Coast. While in Portland, they toured the Art Museum and a special Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit. At Bath, the boat anchored by the Maine Maritime Museum where it was possible to explore the original 19th century shipyard buildings and to see parts of a life-size sculpture of the "Wyoming," the largest wooden sailing vessel ever built. The Farnsworth Museum, Wyeth Center, and Lighthouse Museum in Rockland certainly were interesting. Belfast was the "turn around" point after a town tour and a visit to the quaint seaside village of Bayside. Then there was a brief stop in Castine with its historical markers and maritime training center. They then went on to Port Clyde with a visit to Marshall Point Lighthouse (shown in the movie, "Forrest Gump") then cruising back to Portland; the lobster pots, historic lighthouses, spruce-covered islands and summer homes were of special interest. The captain, lecturer, and tour leaders were all "Mainers" which made the Elderhostel program really special!


News From the Brazos Association
     This month, we celebrate another of our Brazos Association churches as I share with you about the history and current life of St. Peter's United Church of Christ of Coupland. The church traces its earliest baptismal records and its cemetery to 1891, as the Coupland real estate development was being marketed to German immigrants. At the turn of the century (19th to 20th), a migration of Swiss and German families to the area began to strengthen the church population, allowing them to call their first full time minister, Pastor Krebs, in 1905 and build a church. Today, many descendants of the original families are still part of St. Peter's. Services were held in German until the 1920s, when a second service in English was added.
     During World War I and II, the church was under surveillance by the county as a German speaking community and, like many others with German roots, had to curtail the public use of German. Later, a more blessed event happened that reflected the German to English change: in the mid 1950s, Pastor Jewel Johnson, the first non-German speaking minister, was called. Pastor Johnson, currently one of our Association's retired ministers, stayed five years and later returned to serve another 12 years.
     After current Pastor John Sumner and his wife, Irene, came, the church celebrated its 100th anniversary by undertaking a major renovation. Now, the church's sanctuary is a treasure, reflecting the splendid woodworking and carpentry of John Thompson as well as the efforts of many in painting and redoing the walls and a great deal of other work. Another recent landmark event was the trip to the village in Switzerland, Thalheim, that was the origin of the Swiss migration at St. Peter's beginning. Church members visited the original congregation that sent the families who eventually settled in Coupland, and visited with cousins of current St. Peter's families.
     The church now has several areas of mission, activity, and future challenge. St. Peter's has adopted its sixth child from the Family Village Farm in India through the UCC Global Child sponsorship program. A number of church members serve as mentors at the Coupland school. The church family engages in a major effort to distribute food donated from St. Peter's at the Taylor food kitchen two to three times each year. The youth program is now active, with two youth groups and 15 kids going to Slumber Falls Camp this summer. A trip to Alaska is coming this spring with several members and one of their friends from Thalheim, Switzerland committed to go. This fall, a Blessing of the Animals is planned. In the future, the church looks toward the challenge of embracing growth as the Austin area spreads.
     May God bless the people of St. Peter's and all the Brazos Association churches.
Liz Nash, Associate Conference Minister, Brazos Association


Coming Brazos Association and Wider UCC Opportunities
     You are invited to the Brazos Association Fall meeting to be held this coming October 20, a Saturday, at 10 am, in Coupland. We hope many of you will come to share friendship, lunch, and contribute to the life of the Association.
     All women are invited to the Southern Regional UCC Women's Conference, to be held October 26-28, 2007 at the Blowing Rock Conference Center in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Women from the Brazos Association have attended and enjoyed this event before - it promises to be a rich one. Registration deadline is Sept. 14, with late registration ending Oct. 1. For event and registration information, check this website (links at lower right corner): http://www.uccfla.org/templateusers/indexsite.htm


MUSICAL GIFT
     Ernest Meuenchau and Daylia Vaughan are moving to Washington, D.C. for two years and have generously donated their lovely piano to our music program. It is a beautiful Yamaha Disklavier, possessing many wonderful electronic capabilities as well as a fine piano sound. We are delighted to provide a new home for this quality instrument and are looking forward to Daylia and Ernie's return.


Concert at 4 p.m Sunday, September 23, 2007
     Mark this date on your calendars; you won't want to miss this wonderful performance. Four musicians from our church and one connected by family (Stephanie Phillips) will present a concert of original and classical music. Aaron Carter-Cohn has written a new string quartet, and the group will play Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, among other pieces. Please invite your friends and plan to attend this beautiful concert which celebrates the musical gifts of Aaron, Andy Strietelmeier, Robin Rosson, Amy Harris, and Stephanie.
We are so blessed to have such talented musicians in our midst; let's show them our support by providing an enthusiastic audience for them.


SEPTEMBER WORSHIP GIFT
     Jaime Hadley's saxophone quartet will enliven our service September 16 and will play a short concert during Fellowship Hour. Plan to hang around and enjoy some refreshment and live music. What fun!


COFFEE HOUR
     Please sign up in the Fellowship Room to be coffee hour hosts on an upcoming Sunday. The coffee hour time is such a good opportunity to visit old friends and meet visitors. We keep coffee and ginger ale and some punch fixings in the pantry in the kitchen. There are usually paper napkins, and we use coffee mugs and punch cups to avoid wasting natural resources. Your menu can be as simple or complicated as you want. Cookies and/or chips and salsa are just fine! If you have questions, talk to Pat Oakes, Tommie Pinkard, or Lynne Lemley.