for immediate release

CONTACT: Jay Purdy (717) 787-7895
HARRISBURG, Oct. 18 - State Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, today announced the first in a number of changes to his campaign to restore and preserve the 146 Pennsylvania monuments on the Gettysburg battlefield.

After beginning the project three years ago, Readshaw got thousands of e-mails from interested individuals and organizations at his Readshaw@aol.com address, which he paid for personally. The America Online address will continue to be monitored, however Readshaw asks that e-mail for the project now be sent to Gettysburg@pahouse.net. "We're totally satisfied with our AOL address," said Readshaw, "but the computer network in the House Democratic Caucus was recently upgraded, and, for technical reasons, we no longer can access the AOL features that were most useful to us.

"Because so many people have come to know us through the Readshaw@aol.com address, we aren't going to discontinue it. Staff members with AOL accounts on their home computers will monitor the mailbox on their own time and forward mail to Gettysburg@pahouse.net."

The new address routes e-mail into the Democratic Caucus system. America Online was a major sponsor of April's successful Monument Challenge run/walk in Gettysburg to benefit the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project and already committed to assist the April 2001 Monument Challenge.

Other changes in the offing include a total revamp of Readshaw's monument project Web site at www.fourscore.org and a new "Readshaw's Raiders" T-shirt. Work on the Web site, which is donated to the campaign, will be completed next week.

The custom-designed T-shirt is the successor to the decorative Gettysburg 1863 license plate that proved an effective fund-raising tool. The plates attracted tens of thousands of dollars to the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project over the past two years. The shirts are purchased from a supplier with funds raised by the project.

Now that Readshaw's Raiders have secured the $165,000 needed to repair and clean the Pennsylvania monuments, Readshaw is directing his efforts toward raising $413,000 to fund perpetual endowment trusts to finance any future work the monuments require. Readshaw said his troops already have foraged $96,000 toward the goal.