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Hi Friends: This is a report of our visit to Congressman James Walsh yesterday. Prior to our meeting I had been contacted by his Washington Legislative A= ide and Advised of the Congressman=92s position on the research bill. I gathe= red from that conversation that any attempts to change his position would be futile. I was pleasantly surpassed at the manner in which we were received. The meeting took place with the Congressman and myself sitting opposite each other at arms length in the middle of the table rather than the Congressm= an sitting at the head of the table. There were also present two of the Congressman=92s aides, my wife, Peter and Evonne Perrult from the suppor= t group as well as Steve LoCaputo representing his parents. The meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes but it lasted longer than 45 min. The Congressma= n permitted me to make our presentation with out interruption. He then responded with his views. Congressman Walsh as a matter of conscience can not support a bill for PD research that does not contain a provision prohibiting the use of the fu= nds for fetal research. We then had a respectful dialogue as I presented the position developed with PAN and as stated in my position papers The C. cited several examples of his support for medical research and indicated he felt he could support a PD research bill with the fetal cell research prohibition attached. Two of his local aides sat in on the meeti= ng and one had a relative with PD which the C knew about and a member of hi= s Agriculture committee has PD. ( Congressman Joe Skeen) The C. did say he would study the language of the bill when it is proffer= ed to see if he could support it within the parameters of his position. Our (PAN) position and arguments with reference to abortions and the suggestion to argue that issue in its own forum were not the bases of hi= s matter of conscience position. His position is that: a fetes at any point is a human person and his choi= ce of description would be baby rather than fetes. And in that context his responsibility is as a matter of conscience to speak up for those who can= not speak for them selves. I concluded the meeting by reading an e-mail letter that was furnished p= er my request for help by a 38 year old woman. She described how her famil= y had been living the American dream until PD hit the scene. She described = a brilliant son 14 years old whose ambition since the age of 5 was to go= to Harvard Medical School. She has Shy Draggers disease and is substantially disabled. The article goes on to describe the shutting down of her autono= mic system thus affecting her eating, breathing and bowl functions. She concluded her article by suggesting that her goal in life was to h= ang on long enough to see her son graduate from the eighth grade . My wife sa= id there wasn=92t a dry eye in the room including mine. How ironic that I concluded my report with this statement =93 On behalf o= f those who can no longer speak for themselves.=94 Dale Severance Syracuse New York us023948