WYTV ABC 33 Television Coverage:
Travel Soldier Exhibit Comes To Newton Falls*
Empty boots fill minds
By JOE GORMAN Tribune Chronicle
NEWTON FALLS - Josetta Harris said she needs reminders
to keep things in her mind. She got 91 of them Saturday of the war in
Iraq.
Harris viewed an exhibit by "Eyes Wide Open Ohio''
at the Newton Falls Veterans Memorial Park of 91 pairs of empty boots,
meant to symbolize the 91 Ohioians who have been killed in the war as
of Friday.
Harris never left her minivan as she looked at the
exhibit as she was starting to pull out of the Giant Eagle next to the
park.
"I guess I never really considered that many boys
from Ohio were killed in this war,'' Harris said. "I'm someone
if I don't have to think about it, I don't deal with it. And this made
me think about it.''
Harry Newman of Newton Falls also walked amongst the
boots, having plenty of reasons to think of Iraq. His grandson, Justin
Newman, is a U.S. Marine who just returned from a tour of duty in a
search and rescue unit.
Newman, who noted that he voted for President Bush's
re-election, said he did not want to say too much publicly about the
war, but he clearly was not happy with it.
"I've been a Republican for a lot of years, but
I have a problem with this war,'' he said. "I think they need to
stop it.''
Michelle Kovac of Newton Falls carried a plastic bag
of groceries as she gazed at the rows of boots.
"I just find it very touching,'' Kovac said. "It's
moving. I keep imagining them in their boots.''
Kovac said she has a cousin serving as a Marine in
Iraq.
"It won't make me change my mind (about the war),
but it does make you more aware that lives are being lost,'' Kovac said.
Harold Lane of Newton Falls just shrugged after he
viewed the boots.
"Sad,'' was the only word he could say.
Belinda Eubank and her 10-year-old son, Zachary, both
of Newton Falls, were also on hand. Belinda Eubank said she follows
the war closely.
"I don't forget,'' she said.
"I listen to news all the time to see what is going on.''
She said she is opposed to the war and
added she fears it is tearing the country apart.
"I just see our country being divided,'' she said.
Maureen Farris of Eyes Wide Open Ohio said the statewide
effort is an offshoot of a national effort to bring the war home by
taking their message to smaller communities across the state.
Also part of the exhibit was a clump of empty shoes
that is meant to symbolize the thousands of Iraqi civilians killed in
the war.
jgorman@tribune-chronicle.com
