World News Daily, October 14, 2000. Western Edition
[Reported by Jin Lan] To celebrate the proclamation for the week of October 16-22 as Falun Dafa Week by the mayor of San Jose, Ron Gonzales, more than a hundred Bay Area Falun Gong practitioners gathered in front of the San Jose City Hall on the 13th for this event. Afterwards they practiced on the grass area in front of City Hall.
Because Ron Gonzales has benefited from Falun Gong, he proclaimed the week of October 16-22 as Falun Dafa Week. Steven Ispas and Zhang Fen hosted the event on the 13th.
Two Western practitioners, who are vice-CEO's of high-tech companies, gave speeches during the celebration ceremony.
One said that one day while he was jogging in a park, he saw a group of people practicing Falun Gong and he joined them. The feeling was great and he has been returning every morning to join the practice. He pointed out that, although he has been practicing for only 7 to 8 weeks, his lifestyle has changed dramatically. First of all, he feels that he has become more relaxed and has been sleeping extremely well. His attention span has increased and he can concentrate better. His neck is no longer restraining him and he is full of energy. He hopes that through this Falun Dafa Week proclamation, not only the citizens of San Jose, but also the citizens of the world will take note of Falun Dafa.
The other said he is a Stanford University graduate with a doctoral degree. He is a well-trained scientist as well as a businessman. Three years ago while taking a walk in a park, he was given a book. One day upon browsing through the book, he found the materials to be very interesting and he started practicing Falun Gong. He pointed out that practicing Falun Dafa is not as easy as it seems, because it involves a lot of high-level knowledge, and it takes some serious dedication to practice it.
Steven Ispas said that the main expectation of this celebration is to bring more attention to the suppression of Falun Gong in China to the people of the world. He pointed out that many practitioners in China are the targets of many unfair slanderous attacks. In just one year, more than 50,000 people have been detained, 5,000 have been sent to labor camps, jail cells, and mental institutions, and over 50 have been tortured to death.
Finally, Steven said that there will be huge activities in San Francisco during the next weekend and he hopes that people will take notice. The celebration on the 13th started around noon and lasted till 12:30 PM. The practitioners practiced on a grassy field east of the City Hall of San Jose after the proclamation.
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