The Yellow Rose of Peace Bus has been destroyed by fire.

Bill Perry reports:

The bus in this photo, was totaled by fire, around 9:30 pm, Friday night, 1/11/08. This bus, often mired in controversy since the IVAW “Dirty South” tour that left Philly in June, and had Active Duty BBQ’s @ Ft Meade, Ft Jackson, Camp Lejeune, Ft Benning, and other Southern Military Posts ( Including an IVAW benefit by Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and AudioSlave, in Virginia ) as well as backdrop for many a Demonstration, and Ft Drum, NY, organizing parties, has finally died.

This photo shows the huge “Don’t Attack Iran” and “Impeach Bush” logos, that let everybody on the highway know just how the occupants felt about the state of the state.

Owner~Operator~Driver ( and Veteran ) Jim Goodnow pulled into a South Jersey Truck Stop, to catch a 3 or 4 hour nap. Jim saw, in retrospect, some suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20 minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and back of the bus was engulfed in flames. Mr Goodnow speculates that the cause could have been anything from ARSON, to ATTEMPTED MURDER. He plans to notify the ATF Arson Squad on Saturday morning. Stay tuned….

Report from Joni LeViness:

I just got off the phone with Jim, he’s in good spirits and still hopeful that people will look at this as a chance to become even more involved and he hopes people would realize that as bad as the fire was it was nothing like someone in Iraq having their house bombed or military coming to the parents of a fallen soldier to tell them their son or daughter has been killed.

He and others there are looking into the origin of the fire and for Insurance reasons are reporting to the police….

Jim would like people to remember that this instance should be used to go forward in a positive manner.

Timing is critical to use these instances that might get people down to instead use them as an impetus to move forward. He closed with these words, “The Yellow Rose Loves Ya All Alot!”

I’ll call him again W or Th for further follow up.

Meanwhile they’re sifting through what’s left to determine if the bus itself can be salvaged.

For those interested and able a fund has been set up, it’s Tax Deductible:

Checks can be made out to Veterans For Peace *please spell this out, Chapter 106

indicate in the memo: Bus Fund

Mail to:

Bernie Jezercak
1804 Tree Line Drive
Carrollton, TX 75007

Let’s move forward!