One thousand people. That's how many Minister Ray Scott wants to come out to a planned mass gathering at Central Church of Christ on March 8.

"Can we do it?" he asked the crowd, his enthusiastic voice echoing in the sanctuary.

"Yes," came the response, a little flat.

"Some of you didn't say that like you mean it," Scott said. He asked again.

This time, the crowd thundered back: "Yes!"

And so begins the next phase of what Scott and others hope will be a full-fledged movement to change the way the public defender is chosen in Monroe County.

It's clear the 50-plus people who came to the Central Church of Christ on February 28 were still upset about the way Tim Donaher, the county's new public defender, was appointed. A coalition of community and religious leaders, along with the County Bar Association, wanted a non-political screening panel, but they were ignored by the County Legislature's Republican majority. When protestors showed up at the meeting where Donaher was appointed, they were met with a large police presence and many were shut out of the meeting.

"That's not America, is it?" Minister Franklin Florence asked the church crowd last week.

"No!" a now-primed audience responded.

The leaders of the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Monroe County Public Defender's Office said don't want to focus on the anger, however. Their goal, they said, is reconciliation. They plan to "publicly extend the olive branch," to county legislators, Scott said, in the hope of working together to develop a lasting, non-political selection process. The coalition wants change and its members know they are going to have to work for it.

Large-scale grassroots organizing is the crux of the coalition's plans.

Halfway through the February 28 meeting, the crowd split into groups, each with a specific charge. Some will help with transportation - getting people to meetings. Others will be "foot soldiers," responsible for getting flyers, literature, and other information out to individuals and to gathering places. One group, led by activist Gloria Winston, will be responsible for writing essays and submitting them to local publications. And another, led by Sister Beth LaValley of the Sisters of St. Joseph, will be responsible for reaching out to suburban residents.

The public defender selection process may have appeared as a city issue, but it's really about rights, LaValley said. Those rights - access to competent, effective legal representation - should be of equal concern in all communities across Monroe County, she said. That's why she and other coalition members believe they need to build support in the suburbs.

"The bottom line is, we have a Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Supreme Court decisions, and fundamental principles of justice in this country. That may not be enough for people to see this as their issue also, but it should," said Bob Bonn, a Brighton resident and member of LaValley's group, during an interview before the February 28 meeting. Bonn served on the 1977 selection committee that recommended former Public Defender Ed Nowak to the Legislature.

And if the legislators need a little convincing, that's what the March 8 mass gathering is for.

It's not a protest, said coalition member James Norman. "It's going to be an educational session." Many people, he said, are still unaware of the issue.

The gathering is about numbers: to show legislators that people care deeply about the public defender issue and other issues in the community - selection of a new Monroe Community College president is given as an example by coalition leaders. They want to show that there is no shortage of people willing to go to the Legislature and peacefully show their disapproval over a process or decision.

The March 8 meeting is also to put the powers that be on notice that the public won't tolerate closed-door decision-making, Scott said, and that they are watching other issues where process is a concern. It's a message that organizers want to resonate.

"We're not just going to stop," Scott said.