Contact:	LPNY Chair John Clifton at mrjclifton@yahoo.com or 718-276-4630 x114
	or convention organizer Bonnie Scott at rabbit@cownow.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Syracuse, NY 4/15/05—John Taylor Gatto, famed proponent of homeschooling and staunch advocate for the separation of school and state, will be conducting a "free to the public" afternoon address at three o'clock at the Libertarian Party of New York's annual convention in Syracuse on Saturday, April 23. Mr. Gatto is a former New York State Teacher of the Year and author of books such as The Underground History of U.S. Public Education. His address will include updates on developments in legislation and trends impacting homeschoolers throughout New York State.

His talk will be followed by an evening presentation by Vin Suprynowicz, nationally syndicated Libertarian columnist and assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Nevada. Suprynowicz will discuss his new book, The Black Arrow, and outline the erosion of human freedom, choice and privacy that has accelerated since 9/11 and the passage on the Patriot Act. His speech will conclude an exciting weekend where LPNY honors its activists and supporters, and launches plans for building the party throughout the 2005-2006 election cycle.

Prior to the Gatto speech, a panel discussion of the upstate economy will be held at 1:30pm, featuring Mark Bitz of Plainville Turkey Farms; Dr. Jennifer Daniels, a former LP/Green Candidate for Mayor of Syracuse; Earl Callahan, an advocate for growing Industrial Hemp in New York; and Matthew Maguire of the Business Council of New York State. The panel discussion, like the Gatto speech, is free and open to the public.

Other convention highlights will include: keynote speaker and leading "tax honesty" advocate Robert Schulz of the We the People Congress and Foundation, on their Right to Petition lawsuit; and luncheon speaker Libertarian attorney James Ostrowski, author of Political Class Dismissed and organizer of the Free Buffalo movement.

The Libertarian Party of NY is holding its annual statewide convention on April 23th at the Holiday Inn at Carrier Circle (ten minutes from the airport, off I-90) in Syracuse, NY. Further information can be found at http://ny.lp.org/official/convention, or by calling 516-767-4688.