Naked City

In the Feb. 18 story "New Austin 'Spokes' Speak Out Against Tasers," activist Debbie Russell was quoted as saying she left the group Austin Against War because, "After dying over and over again, [AAW has] been existing in this sort of zombie state for over a year now. People stack meetings by bringing 10 people from their group to vote on a certain action. And people get discouraged because their voices aren't being heard." The Chronicle received the following response from AAW spokesman Will Martin, albeit too late to get into that article: "Austin Against War has been persistent in organizing many local antiwar events. We have always accepted the input of others, and made sure no one is left out of the planning process. Austin Spokes and AAW are two groups that are for the same causes, but the only thing the two organizations seem to be lacking is unity."