Good morning and welcome.

Thank you to all of you for offering to participate. My name is Mike Cummings, state coordinator for MS. If this is your first reply from me or anyone about the flag run, I apologize. I just learned yesterday how to access our state database and do mass e-mailings. Some might call me "stone-aged" regarding computers. But now we're rolling!

Today is D-7. The flag hits MS next Tues the 23rd at 11:00. Final route and detailed timeline info is being worked on and I should have it up by Wed PM. The timeline from the website is a good starting point for now. My plan is to follow US 80 for the entire route, detouring as necessary in Meridian, Jackson and Vicksburg. This is our straightest and safest route as we need to stay off the interstate. Plus we want as much "front porch" exposure as possible.

We've got 31.5 hours to run the flag about 160 miles. This is just about 5 miles/hour or 12 minute miles. I'm going to build a detailed timeline based on 10 minute miles in order to have a cushion for unexpected slowdowns. When considering your own personal time/distance, remember that you will be carrying a flag. It's not huge but it will slow you down somewhat.

My general plan is to divide the state into 4 zones: East of Meridian (shortest at ~20 miles), Meridian to Forest (~46 miles), Forest to Jackson (~45 miles), and Jackson to Vicksburg (~45 miles). Within each zone we can then break it down into smaller pieces depending on the number of runners per zone. A rough time for each zone is: AL/MS line at 11:00, Meridian at 14:00, Forest at 22:00, Jackson at 09:00 on the 24th, and Vicksburg at 18:00.

At this point what I'd like each of you to do is think again about how far you can run and at what time of day/night you are available. (Consider also that you may be able to go farther and faster if you do 2 or more short stages rather than one long push.) This will help me once I get a more detailed timeline going. My plan is to have runners staged in groups of 4-5 every hour or two along the route. We'll need to coordinate vehicles to return people back to their own vehicle. Shouldn't be a problem as each group may only be covering 10 miles or so.

Obviously all of this will be flexible as we get more runners. When I first looked yesterday we had 18 runners/volunteers on the website plus others via direct link. This morning that number is over 30. This event will grow exponentially over the next few days as more and more people learn of it through various media and e-mail distribution links. I anticipate we will have large groups running together in the larger towns. Some may only carry the flag a few steps. Others will go long distances. Speeds will vary all along the route. It will all come together and everyone involved with the run will be very proud of themselves and very proud of our flag.

HELP:

What do we need now? SPREAD THE WORD! I've been sending e-mails w/ links to our site to many groups and lists. Contact your family, friends, co-workers, church members, business and professional organizations, law enforcement, fire departments, EMTs, military/guard units, schools, VFW, American Legion, etc., etc.. Urge people to get involved whether as runners, organizers, or just to get folks out to cheer on the runners.

Ask people to sign up to help via the website, www.flagrun2001.org. If you have not, please do so now. This helps me with keeping a database and makes it much easier to respond to all supporters.

Remember too that this is a fundraising event. There are several good organizations taking donations via the website or by mail.

I would also like to get someone to volunteer to be an assistant in each of the four zones. This will help me greatly as the event draws closer every day. There is still a lot to do organization-wise and it will be easier in small chunks. Plus we all know more people in our own area of the state who can help out. Please send me an e-mail if you are interested.

Please feel free to resend this e-mail or copy and paste info from the web site. We want to get all the support we can and show the world that we are in fact Americans United.

Thanks again,

Mike