Kathleen McCowin spent Friday night and Saturday morning in jail. Her attorney, Rafael Trujillo, negotiated her release on Saturday afternoon. Trujillo has spoken with the SF District Attorney and informed McCowin that no charges will be brought against her. She has released the following statement: I am Kathleen McCowin, President of Soccer Parents and Coaches for Grass Fields in Golden Gate Park. We believe that playing on artificial turf and ground-up tire waste infill poses a serious risk to the health of our children. This is the core reason why last week I stood down approaching construction vehicles, held my ground while having my outstretched palm hit multiple times by a charging pickup truck, stood fast while being verbally threatened with being run over, and ultimately went to jail. This industrial waste material containing multiple carcinogens has not been tested in animals. This means its first real testing has been on our children. For me personally, this “testing” was on my daughter Liz while playing soccer in high school on the Crocker Amazon fields. NBC Network News has recently reported a cancer cluster in young soccer goalies playing on this toxic waste material. Dr. David R Brown, the former CDC toxicologist who authored a 2007 report calling for appropriate studies of this material, has stated he is not surprised. Our concern is that these goalies, with their much higher exposure to the toxic crumb, are tragically the canaries in the toxic turf mine shaft. It is likely a much larger number of players will suffer from cancer in the future. My organization is considering our options going forward to protect our children. If you are interested in participating, please contact me through SF Ocean Edge. (You can contact McCowin through [email protected] . She will be setting up a direct link soon.) Election Results We regret very much that the election results point to a NO on H and YES ON I decision. As of this date, the results were about 54% NO on H and 46% Yes on H. The Coalition to Protect Golden Gate Park had a campaign fund of about $70,000; the developers had $900,000 and access to unlimited funds. Without more funding, it was difficult to fight the misrepresentations that were presented in this campaign. (For just one example, watch A Little Bathroom Humor at slideshare.net/SFOceanEdge/a-little-bathroom-humor-a-tale-of-the-beach-chalet-athletic-fields-restrooms ) No new protests or demonstrations are planned by the Coalition to Protect Golden Gate Park at this time. CPGGP is resting up and thinking about next steps. Keep posted by signing on to SFOceanEdge Facebook , sfoceanedge.org or protectggp.org . Meanwhile, our thanks to everyone for all of your hard work in: spreading the word for the last six years; writing letters to commissions and politicians; writing letters to newspapers testifying at hearings, in the face of non-responsive and even occasionally disrespectful politicians; getting Proposition H on the ballot; writing intelligent and persuasive ballot arguments; campaigning hard to let people know the threat to Golden Gate Park and what they are going to lose with Proposition I; coming out to demonstrate and to support Kathleen! You are an amazing group! $$$$$$ HELP US TO RETIRE OUR CAMPAIGN DEBT! Yes, we do have campaign debt! Please donate to help reduce this debt ! Any amount will help. Go to protectggp.wordpress/ and click on Donate. DO IT TODAY!
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 12:03:45 +0000