Texas Veteran and Peace Activist Murdered

Texas loses an anti war peace activist...



(from Dallasnews )
A peace activist from Denton has been found dead in Flower Mound with a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said Friday.

The victim was identified as David Honish, 52, by the Tarrant County medical examiner's office. A police officer on routine patrol found Mr. Honish dead in his white Ford F-150 pickup truck around 11 p.m. Thursday. The engine was still running.

Police investigators said they do not believe Mr. Honish took his own life.

Mr. Honish identified himself as being a member of a local chapter of Vietnam Veterans against the War, an organization "committed to the struggle for peace and for social justice for all people" and that opposes "senseless military adventures."

In October, Mr. Honish was among about 40 people who took part in a demonstration against torture and the war in Iraq outside the office of U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess in Lewisville. They were part of the local version of "The World Can't Wait" campaign, a North American movement protesting the policies of the Bush administration.

Highway 377 at FM 1171 was closed in both directions early Friday during the police investigation.

Honish was active in several Texas organizations- He has been a member of Veterans for Peace since its inception in 1985. He was also affiliated with the Peace Action Denton group and Vietnam Veterans against the War.

Honish was on the front page of the Sunday Denton paper awhile back.
(Hugo Zoom)

Honish was also an ex-officer in the Denton Co. Libertarian party who became dissatisfied with their lack of action concerning the Iraq war.

I also found his name affiliated with this veteran's anti-war publication: Military Project.org. He was a frequent contributor. I found a lot I like about this man and his efforts to stop the patriot act, the abuse of government powers and the Iraq war. Like myself, he didn't consider himself a pacifist simply because was against the war in Iraq. Here's a great article he wrote, that was posted both on the GI Special newsletter and on the Peace Action Denton website:

GI Special and Peace Action Denton)



May 30, 2006 By David Honish, Veterans For Peace

I thought that Memorial Day in Denton [Texas] should mean something more than just a temporary forest of flags sprouting in the downtown business district, so I did something about it.

A few days before the holiday, I emailed another Veterans For Peace guy here in town, with a copy to the local VFP chapter president about 30 miles down the road in Carrollton. I asked if they were interested in doing something public to show the flag a bit on Memorial Day?

I suggested that we stand by the freeway to be seen by as many people as possible. I was pleasantly surprised when the one or two guys I expected to show up turned out to be a dozen men, women, and children willing to spend a couple hours in the steamy Texas sun to share our message.

We had a couple of large VFP banners showing the logo and the website address. There were assorted signs, and maybe half a dozen US flags. I even turned my flag right side up on the pole for the first time in four years. I would be soliciting donations on this day, so I did not need the distraction of my inverted flag as a guaranteed conversation starter.

Thousands of cars and hundreds of semi trucks passed by as we stood between the freeway and the frontage road. Not exactly a scientific poll, but about four of every five truckers blasted their air horns and gave us a thumbs up or peace sign with their fingers.

This was in response to signs stating BRING THEM HOME NOW! and 2464 KIA FOR A LIE. I think that blue collar support for this administration is evaporating. This should not surprise anyone. As in Viet Nam, Iraq is a war being fought by the poor and middle class.

I was about 100 yards away from the rest of our group. I stood on the frontage road stoplight with a ‘tip jar’ labeled VETERANS FOR PEACE.org. I was not pushy about it, just standing on the curb with the jar for any who cared to donate. The most common remark from donors was “thank you for doing this.” One elderly man refueling at the service station on the opposite side of the frontage road walked across three lanes of traffic to donate and tell me “thank you folks for saying what needs to be said.”

Another young couple dug for all the spare change between them as he told me, “I just got out of the Army. I was stop lossed for six months beyond my ETS date. I was over there, in Baghdad. It’s messed up dude! I’m glad that you are out here doing this!”

Most, but not all, were pleasant. A couple of Hummers full of yuppies deliberately avoided eye contact. Maybe they were embarrassed by the presence of somebody showing concern for somebody other than themself?

One lady in particular amused me as she slowly rolled by me saying repeatedly “that’s shameful.” I responded, “Yes mam, it certainly is shameful the way that this administration is destroying The Constitution that I took an oath to protect and defend.” Another Texas big hair lady said, “I thought y’all being veterans would support the war?” She was told, “No mam, we support The Constitution!”

Some people may have mistakenly assumed that membership in Veterans For Peace means that a person is a pacifist? Maybe the maroon Chevy Suburban driver thought this? They failed to make me flinch when they swerved to the very edge of the gutter, passing within inches of me. If I had more time to react to them, they would have lost some paint.
I guess that the tire sidewall damage from scuffing against the curb I was standing on, and driving a bus with a 42 gallon gas tank that only gets 12 mpg will have to be punishment enough for them?

President Bush’s approval rating is currently 29%, and in free fall. I think that before the end of his term, he will break Richard Nixon’s record for the lowest approval rating ever for any sitting president.

My perspective is that of a resident of one of the reddest parts of a so called red state. What I see and hear should frighten George Bush.

Most folks that I come in contact with seem fed up with a needless war based upon a lie.
People are alarmed by the massive erosion of our First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment Rights by the patriot act. Felony wiretapping by the NSA being ignored by the Justice Department is a matter of concern. And of course, the oil corporations are the ONLY segment of the economy not being crippled by $3/gallon gasoline prices.

Well don’t just talk about it America.

Get off your butts and into the streets to do something about it! Call and write your representatives so often that they know your phone number and address from memory. Write letters to your local papers, so that others in your communities know that they are not alone in their disgust with the current government.

The only way that the government shills for the oil corporations will stop killing our children for their profits, is if we refuse to allow it any longer.

David Honish
Chapter 106 North Texas Veterans For Peace

On the GI Special newsletter, after the above, there was also this funny little anecdote:

FUCK YOU OFFICER BONINE!
Clearly he failed to consider the attitude of a Viet Nam era veteran who lived through the excesses of the Nixon administration if he thinks I’m intimidated by a mall cop?

From: David Honish, Veterans For PeaceTo: GI Special
Sent: May 30, 2006
Subject: Mistaken for a pacifist twice in two days?

Instead of parking close to the mall today, I parked at the far edge of the parking lot at Golden Triangle Mall here in Denton. Backed into the parking space so I was tail facing the six lanes of Loop 288.

Stuck my BRING THEM HOME NOW! and the 2464 KIA FOR A LIE signs in the back window facing traffic.

After an hour in the mall, I returned to find a meaningless mall cop parking ticket threatening to have me towed in the future for any additional violations of “mall policy against soliciting.”
Really?

That would be a very expensive mistake for them.

They better read up on the state towing laws before they do anything silly.

I circled 80% of the mall building before I found the mall cop’s parked Suzuki to return the ticket to under his windshield wiper blade. Clearly he failed to consider the attitude of a Viet Nam era veteran who lived through the excesses of the Nixon administration if he thinks I’m intimidated by a mall cop?

In the first place, I could hardly be accused of soliciting, since I was neither asking for money, or so much as a petition signature.

The back of his ticket was marked, FUCK YOU OFFICER BONINE!

I’ll make you look silly in court, and cost you a pile of money with a First Amendment suit.

I thought that was reasonably polite under the circumstances?
After all, I did not address it as FUCK YOU MALL COP WEENIE.

Honish was DEDICATED to fighting for what he believed in as an American. He protested loudly and often about the matters that he thought were important enough to stand up for- the Iraq war, the Patriot Act, nuclear waste, more comprehensive 9-11 investigations and supporting the framework of the constitution.

Here's yet another article about Honish's participation in a MLK event in 2004.
Veteran, MLK Marcher Protests Patriot Act

He will be missed. His example should remind us all that blogging just isn't enough. We have to get out there and be heard and seen on the streets, in the newspapers, and through organizations that will have a more direct effect on our countrymen and our country.