(Clearwisdom.net August 16, 2003) Kicked off at the City Hall of San Francisco on August 13, "Car Tour Around the US to Rescue Charles Li" continued to dispatch fliers, collect signatures and clarify the truth to the local officials and the public of whichever city or county we pass through. First, we visited cities of Santa Rosa, Ukiah and Willits locating at north of San Francisco.
At Santa Rosa City Hall, we handed out literature about Charles's illegal detention and forced-fed torture by Jiang's regime as well as materials regarding the worldwide lawsuits against Jiang for his genocide crimes. Upon hearing the facts, they all felt shocked at the inhumane persecution. Afterwards, we went to the county government office and presented these materials to county commissioners. The person-in-charge was very pleased to see us, and she took copies of the literature for each commissioner, the office staff and herself. She encouraged us to continue our effort to have more people pay attention to Charles Li's arrest and participate in the rescue campaign.
On August 14, we came to the cities of Eureka and Crescent, California, and the cities of Grants Pass and Roseburg, Oregon. Many local media including newspapers, radio stations and TV stations interviewed us in depth.
Dafa practitioners being interviewed by The Daily Triplicate Newspaper at Crescent City, California | Practicing Falun Gong exercises in front of the courthouse of Eureka, California |
Five of us held a picture exhibition in front of Eureka County Government Office on the morning of August 14. We also submitted materials about Charles Li's arrest and this rescue effort to county officials, the mayor of Eureka and all the city council members. The major local newspaper, Times Standard, covered the event and interviewed us on the spot.
Later, the car tour team headed toward Crescent City. On the way, Ms. Xuerong Zhang was tele-interviewed by KMUD Radio Station of Arcata City. The interview was broadcasted in Arcata City at 6 p.m. the same day.
When we arrived at Crescent City, a reporter of the local major newspaper, The Daily Triplicate, was already there waiting for us. The reporter interviewed us with great interest and asked us many questions, including the situation of Falun Gong and the persecution in China.
When we collected signatures in Crescent City, a teenager boy signed his name on the petition form after he read the truth-clarification materials. Then he asked for the petition forms to collect signatures for us. He even helped to explain our rescue effort to others and helped us to move display boards. By the time that we had to go, he was very reluctant to let us go.
In the afternoon, our car tour team arrived at Grants Pass of Oregon, we visited Josephine County officials and handed over the information materials of our rescue effort as well as the petition forms for signature.
On the way, our car with a banner attracted a lot of people's attention. At gas stations, we often ran into people who asked us for more information upon seeing our banner, and then they would sign our petition form right away to show their support.
The last stop of our car tour on August 14 was Roseburg, Oregon. Local TV station KEZI interviewed us for about one and half hours with in depth questions. The reporter who interviewed us was supposed to leave at 5 p.m., however, she waited for our arrival. Besides asking questions, she also took footage of our exercise demonstration. She didn't leave until 7:30 p.m. This TV station's program was broadcast to all of Eugene County at ABC's Channel 9.