| Stonewalk
press coverage
September 11, 2004
The Day My Son Didn't Come Home
The Guardian UK
September 5, 2004
" We Don’t Want Our Loved Ones Who Died In 9/11 Used
As An Excuse To Start War"
The Sunday Herald, Glasgow, Scotland,
UK
August 29, 2004
Message of peace rolls from Boston;
Granite tombstone a civilian memorial
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
August 26, 2004
Peace march comes to Westchester
The Journal News
August 26, 2004
Traveling memorial honors war victims
Greenwich Time
August 25, 2004
From Boston to New York:Pushing for peace
Amity Observer
August 24, 2004
Rally issues call for peace
Stamford Advocate
August 20, 2004
From Boston to New York: A 39-day grind to promote peace
Connecticut Post
August 14, 2004
A Walk for Hope, Peace
Middletown Press
August 12, 2004
Walk for peace can be an uphill struggle
Willimantic Chronicle
August 12, 2004
Reynolds is on a New Adventure
Willimantic Chronicle
August 12, 2004
Peace Stone to Arrive in City Friday
Middletown Press
August 11, 2004
March to Recognize Civilian War Casualties
The Stamford Advocate
August 11, 2004
Woman Honors Her Aunt
Willimantic Chronicle
August 10, 2004
A Symbolic Walk of Remembrance
Willimantic Chronicle
August 10, 2004
Father of 9/11 Victim Pushes On
Willimantic Chronicle
August 9, 2004
Hope for Peace Pulls Volunteers
Hartford Courant - Hartford,
CT
August 8, 2004
Peace Groups to Roll Through Region
Connecticut Post
August 7, 2004
Stonewalk for Peace
Boston Globe
Letter to the Editor responding to "Stonewalk for Peace"
Boston
Globe
(unpublished)
August 6, 2004
Stonewalk honors 9/11 victims
Norwich Bulletin - Norwich,CT
August 5, 2004
War Casualties Remembered
Providence Journal
August 5, 2004
Group pulling 2-ton memorial stone to New York
Wellesley Townsman
August 4, 2004
Stone Honors Civilian Victims of Wars
Hartford Courant
August 3, 2004
9/11 victims' families walk for peace
Milford Daily News - Milford,MA
August 1, 2004
The Toll of War
Middletown Press - Middletown,CT
July 30, 2004
Peace march stops in Natick
Natick Tab - Framingham,MA
July 29, 2004
Secure 'cage' dampens convention protests
Palm Beach Post - Palm Beach,FL
July 28, 2004
Activists begin long walk for peace
The Herald News - Fall
River,MA
July 28, 2004
Peace Group Hauls War Memorial Across State
Boston Channel.com - Boston,MA
July 25, 2004
Protesters demonstrate over Iraq war, host of other issues
Chicago Tribune
Traveling
memorial honors war victims
By Neil Vigdor
Staff Writer
Greenwich Time
August 26, 2004
A caisson carrying a 1,400-pound granite memorial honoring those
killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the ensuing
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq passed through Greenwich yesterday
on its way from Boston to New York City, sites of this summer's
political conventions.
About two dozen anti-war protesters towed the caisson during the
noontime procession, which was organized by September Eleventh Families
For Peaceful Tomorrows and The Peace Abbey, a multifaith retreat
center in Sherborn, Mass. Included among them was at least one 9/11
victim's relative.
The activists received a police escort as they made their way from
Stamford, where the procession started, to Port Chester, N.Y., along
Route 1. The procession drew quizzical looks from motorists and
pedestrians alike, some of whom shouted words of encouragement.
"I hope they realize how destructive war is," said Anne
Harris, a anti-war protester from Old Greenwich who walked beside
the caisson.
Harris is a member of Peace Action of Connecticut, an anti-war group
with chapters throughout the country.
Joshua Allen and Igor Zhukorsky, who are both seniors at Greenwich
High School, also participated in the procession and are members
of Peace Action.
"I've never seen a cause this original before," Zhukorsky
said as the procession made its way from Riverside to Cos Cob. "I
mean, this gets the point across."
Both Zhukorsky and Allen conceded that they would have otherwise
been sleeping, as one onlooker greeted the procession.
"God bless you all," the unidentified bystander said.
"You're doing the right thing."
At Route 1 and Sheephill Road, Mildred and Dominick Cogliandro came
to a standstill in their car, honking their horn in approval.
The Riverside couple's daughter, Lisa Cogliandro, 46, had accompanied
the caisson for much of the month-long procession.
"I was very touched," said Mildred Cogliandro, 80, whose
daughter lives in Ashland, Mass., and is involved with The Peace
Abbey. "I got sort of emotional up there. It's a moving thing."
The wife of a World War II U.S. Navy veteran, Cogliandro described
herself as somewhat torn in her feelings about the war in Iraq.
"All wars are not necessary," Cogliandro said. "That's
my way at looking at it."
The procession is scheduled to continue today from Port Chester
to Mamaroneck, N.Y., with the caisson reaching Manhattan on Saturday.
[return
to top]
Peace
march comes to Westchester
By Hannan Adely
The Journal News
August 26, 2004
An entourage pushing a 1,400-pound granite headstone on a wheeled
cart crossed Route 1 into Port Chester yesterday.
Members of the Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, who are
walking to promote peace, were greeted by two dozen pairs of little
helping hands.
Children from a day camp at nearby Summerfield United Methodist
Church helped push the cart, on top of which the headstone lay flat,
etched with the words "Unknown Civilians Killed in War."
Jonathan Rendon, 9, of Rye Brook, pushed from the side. "I
was thinking," he said, "that it wasn't fair that they
should kill people."
Port Chester was the first Westchester stop for Peaceful Tomorrows,
a peace-advocacy group that started its journey on foot July 23
in Boston.
The group, which represents about 130 Americans who lost family
in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks plans to end its walk in New York
City in time for the Republican National Convention.
Along the way, the walkers have been joined by community groups,
church members and, in some cases, residents who decided to help
out after seeing the march on their local streets.
Yesterday, more than 30 adults and children surrounded the cart,
which also displayed flowers, flags and pictures of Sept. 11 victims.
Pastor Rafael Garcia of Summerfield Church said he was eager to
participate, especially because the theme of the day camp this summer
is peace.
"I believe anything that promotes peace and denounces war and
violence should be welcome and should be endorsed," Garcia
said.
Peaceful Tomorrows hopes the walk will raise awareness of the human
cost of war.
"People have been killed for being in the wrong place at the
wrong time," said Daniel Jones, a member whose brother-in-law,
Bill Kelly Jr., was a victim of the terrorist attack on the World
Trade Center. "That was the experience on Sept. 11. They went
to work or went to breakfast or got on a flight."
"The cost is just too great, and we need to come up with a
better way to resolve our differences," Jones said.
The headstone was loaned by the Peace Abbey in Massachusetts, which
carried it from Boston to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington,
D.C. in 1999. That march inspired Peaceful Tomorrows to do its own
"Stonewalk."
Today, the group will walk from Port Chester to Mamaroneck, where
participants will have a speaking event at Mamaroneck United Methodist
Church, 546 E. Boston Post Road, at 7 p.m.
Two weeks of events in New York City will begin after the group
enters the Bronx tomorrow. Those events include vigils at Union
Square Park and Central Park and speaking events in churches, a
synagogue and a mosque. [return
to top]
From Boston to
New York: Pushing for Peace
Terri Miles, Editor
Amity Observer
August 25, 2004
ORANGE ¯ They came from all walks of life: a social worker,
a college student, a Buddhist, a mother. They all share one common
goal - world peace.
If you ask them what they do [as a livelihood] they might say, "I
push a stone."
The Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Stonewalk stopped in
Orange last Wednesday. It's members entrusted their wagon and message
with the Orange Volunteer Fire Department for one night while they
took a break from their 39-day journey from Boston to New York.
The wagon is patterned after a caisson with rich mahogany stained
wood and brass accents and finishing.
The rear is decorated with a flower arrangement as one might see
at a funeral and small flags from around the world similar to the
United Nations.
A long 2-inch round wooden pole is equipped with eight or nine wooden
handles that the walkers use to push and pull the caisson along
its route. For comfort, each walker has a metal carrier affixed
to the pole near the handle for a bottle of water.
The group's leader is Dan Jones, a Social Worker from the Bronx,
New York who lost his brother-in-law, Billy Kelly in the World Trade
Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Jones described the stone's background and significance for the
Stonewalk.
"This stone was made at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA in
the mid-90s after students visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
in Washington, DC and learned that 80-percent of the casualties
of war are civilians," Jones said. "They thought there
should be a monument in honor of [the civilians].
"In 1999, the folks from the Peace Abbey did the first Stonewalk,
with an identical stone, [this stone stayed in the ground at the
Abbey] from Sherborn to Arlington, VA to try to get it into Arlington
National Cemetery within sight of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,"
he said. "They belong together."
The stone was rejected at Arlington and stayed for a while at Georgetown.
"That one went far, marchers brought it from Dublin to Belfast,
Ireland to recognize all the victims who died there and then from
Liverpool to Coventry, recognizing the people that died in nightly
bombings there," Jones said. "The people of Coventry asked
for it to stay in the bombed out shell of the Coventry Cathedral
where it now stands, emblematic of the civilian toll there."
Peaceful Tomorrows
The idea of Peaceful Tomorrows began in 2001, after the terrorist
attacks.
"Some of us got together on a walk from Washington, DC to New
York after Thanksgiving and into December," Jones said. "That's
when my wife, Colleen and I met others who'd lost loved ones and
we decided that we didn't want to see other people suffer. We didn't
want to see families not being able to protect their children."
The group officially formed in February 2002, getting their name
from a Martin Luther King quotation, "Wars are poor chisels
for carving out peaceful tomorrows."
The people at the Peace Abbey invited the new group to use their
facility as a retreat in the summer of 2002.
"That's when we saw a documentary about their Stonewalk and
it was really compelling," Jones said. "It spoke to my
heart right away, that in 1999,before the terrorist attacks here,
that they recognized the terrible loss people suffer from being
in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Two years later, Jones' and the other members' relatives died as
a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"It was very prophetic, the purpose of that walk was exactly
what our organization's purposes are," Jones said. "We
don't want to see other people suffer as we've suffered. That's
when the seeds for our Stonewalk were planted."
The stone belongs to the Peace Abbey, but lent it to Peaceful Tomorrows
for its Sept. 11 anniversary walk.
If everything goes as planned, the walkers will be at Fordham University
tomorrow. On Saturday, they will make their way to St. Mary's Episcopal
Church in Harlem.
They are being careful not to get the Stonewalk in the middle of
any negative protest where people would get the wrong impression
about the group or their mission.
Who are you?
Jones said as a social worker in the New York school system, he
is lucky to have the time to dedicate to the walk.
He joined the group in Boston on July 28 and plans complete the
walk in New York.
"It's fortunate that I have the whole summer, because I would
hate to leave this now," he said.
Jun is an older Buddhist nun, often mistaken for an old man because
of her shaved head. She is the caretaker of the Grafton Buddhist
Peace Pagoda and often takes part in peace walks across the country.
During the Stonewalk she kept a steady beat on a hand drum that
was made by Alaskan Indians. Its tightly stretched animal skin surface
is adorned with oriental symbols.
"It's very light and easy to carry," Jun said. "I
hit it with a bamboo stick."
Next to her walks a young Japanese man named Kenichi Kato.
A quiet, kind man, Kato is noticed for walking the entire route
barefoot. During the breaks, every 5 to 10 miles, he checks the
blisters on his feet, then shares his homemade rice rolls and miso
with his fellow walkers.
Another noticeable participant is Adele Welte, of Flushing, New
York. An older woman, Adele lost her son, Timothy, 34, a New York
firefighter, at the World Trade Center.
"I deal with my loss by trying to build some sort of a legacy
to his memory," she said. "I joined Peaceful Tomorrows
to counter the use of the World Trade Center and
Sept. 11 as an excuse to kill innocent civilians."
She often can be seen at the head of the line, pulling the caisson
uphill.
Welcoming hills
The loaded caisson, including the stone weighs more than a ton and
the peace walkers have to work hard to get it up and over hills.
But, instead of a burden, they embrace the hills - it gives them
a stronger sense of purpose.
Getting over the hump on Route 1 between West Haven and Orange posed
such a challenge.
"I was glad to see that hill," Jones said. "You don't
want to have an easy walk. We work together to get the job done."
Welte added, "When we struggle up a hill, it shows that nothing
is easy in this world."
Jones said people applaud the procession, and many join in, taking
a handle to pull the caisson or pushing the rear platform.
For these peaceful activists the journey is one of healing and remembrance.
[return
to top]
Rally
issues call for peace
By Brian Lockhart
Staff Writer
Stamford Advocate
August 24, 2004
NORWALK
-- Folk legend and peace advocate Pete Seeger joined his voice last
night with those of a new generation of anti-war activists forged
after Sept. 11, 2001.
"This is what life's all about," Seeger, 85, said in a
hallway of the First Congregational Church on the Green a few minutes
before the September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows rally.
"Retiring and watching the world go to hell is no way to stay
optimistic. Every time I get a crowd singing with me, I get a surge
of optimism."
Seeger, a New York resident, was the guest artist at the event,
which marked the arrival in Norwalk of a traveling memorial stone
sponsored by the families' group.
The granite tablet left the Democratic National Convention in Boston
July 25 and is being pulled in a cart along the road. It should
arrive in New York City Sept. 2 for the Republican National Convention.
It reads: "Unknown Civilians Killed in War."
Civilian casualties constituted 80 percent of the deaths in war
during the 20th century, according to a Stonewalk pamphlet.
"Our losses are very public," said Daniel Jones, a September
11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows member whose brother-in-law,
Bill Kelly Jr., was a victim of the terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center. "(The stone) is a reminder of losses much less
public and much less known to us."
Jones said that after Sept. 11, he and his wife did not want the
United States "using our family's grief" to go to war
in Afghanistan and Iraq. "We know how badly it hurts"
to lose a loved one in the crossfire, he said.
Afterward, Jones and Seeger embraced.
"Keep on," the singer told Jones.
About 200 people gathered in the church last night, listening to
comments from speakers and being led in song by Seeger and Ledell
Mulvaney of the Peacemakers group.
Some, such as Rick Daly, a Vietnam veteran from Stamford, showed
up because they are Seeger fans and did not realize it was a peace
rally.
Daly said he is "not in favor of war" and believes it
is time for American troops to leave Iraq, calling the soldiers'
deaths "senseless."
But Daly had a different view of the war in Afghanistan. "I
don't know what (the peace activists') answer would have been. We
had to send a message to somebody" to discourage future attacks.
Seeger, invited to attend the rally by longtime friend and Weston
resident Bruce Taylor, told the group that mankind has an inclination
for violence, but human brains and society have evolved far enough
that war should be avoidable.
Seeger said he is more optimistic about the fate of the world than
he was after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan during World
War II.
"I say we have a 50-50 chance," Seeger said. "If
we are saved, it's going to be not by any one organization or any
one slogan or government, but by tens of millions of little things
going on. This walk with the big monument stone is just one."
Beverly Eckert, a member of the 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,
has walked with the memorial tablet through Fairfield County. Last
night, she offered the crowd what she viewed as currently the most
practical way to achieve peace.
After losing husband Sean Rooney in the World Trade Center, Eckert
and other families pressed for the formation of the bipartisan Sept.
11 commission, which published its report last month.
Though she said the report was not "the definitive work of
investigation and accountability we had hoped for," Eckert
said its recommendations to restructure America's intelligence agencies
must be adopted to secure the peace.
"There are two wars going on right now that can be attributed
to poor performance, structure and training in the intelligence
community," Eckert said, referring to the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq. "We can avoid war by reforming our government, and
the time to do that is now. . . . I'm appealing to you as voters.
Reach out to Congress, Democrats and Republicans."
In an interview afterward, with Seeger on guitar in the background
leading the group in song, Eckert stood outside on the church steps
and reflected on how different she was from the 85-year-old activist
before her husband's death.
"Totally complacent. Nonpolitical. Trusted my government,"
Eckert said. "Thought war was somebody else's problem."
[return
to top]
From
Boston to New York:
A 39-Day Grind to Promote Peace
By Steven
Scarpa
Connecticut Post
8/20/2004
To the casual observer, the group walking slowly along Route 1 in
Milford and Stratford on Thursday appeared to be a small funeral
procession. In a way, it was.
The walkers, calling their journey the Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful
Tomorrows' Stonewalk, is in the midst of a 39-day trek on foot from
Boston to New York City.
"We want to reforge a different kind of journey between Boston
and New York," said founder Dan Jones, whose brother-in-law,
Billy Kelly, was killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center. He recalled that the flights that destroyed the twin
towers originated in Boston. "[It's a journey] of healing and
remembrance," he said of the Stonewalk.
The walkers are pulling a caisson transporting a 1,400-pound Vermont
granite memorial to civilians killed in war.Jones hopes that the
walk will draw attention to the full costs of war. In the last century,
Jones said, 80 percent of war fatalities were civilians people in
the wrong place at the wrong time.
The march is also a political statement, having departed from the
Democratic National Convention in Boston on its way to the Republican
version in Manhattan on Sept. 2.
Around noon, the cart carrying the flat stone monument slowed to
a crawl on Barnum Avenue in Stratford, with a parade of cars snarled
behind it.
"I have to jump in here. I have to [help push] it on the hills,"
Jones said.The crew of approximately 15 people men and women of
all ages and sizes were straining to move the heavy load up a slight
incline."We are almost there. Come on, keep it going,"
Jones called out. "We are almost at the peak."
An older man wearing yellow monk's robes pounded out a single rhythmic
beat on a small drum. The caisson was adorned with United Nations
and United States flags and flowers.
An older woman saw the group's plight and read their large sign.
"God bless you," she called from her car.
"It is an incredible, evocative and symbolic event for people
to witness. We count on people from the community to help us along,"
Jones said. "It is a painful healing ritual."
The first Stonewalk took place in 1999, three years before the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks.The 1,400-pound stone was carried from Massachusetts
to Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington for possible enshrinement
with the nation's military heroes. But the group's petition was
denied.
"We are calling on all policy makers, the executive branch
and the legislators, to consider the human toll of our policies,"
Jones said. He is mindful of the pain he and his wife, Colleen Kelly,
experienced as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks. It is because of
this that he hopes to spare other people's families from similar
suffering.
"We wanted justice. We don't think going to war is going to
bring us that justice," Jones said.
Adele Welty, of Flushing, N.Y., lost her son, Timothy, a New York
firefighter, at the World Trade Center. Nothing, including the destruction
of Afghanistan and Iraq, will change that, she said. "I did
not want my son used as a reason for going to war to kill more people,"
Welty said.
"They are just like us. We have a tendency to value American
lives or Western lives over people who have darker skin or who live
in far- away lands," she said. "There are people all over
the world suffering the same loss."
The Stonewalk participants were hosted overnight by area families,
and plan to lead a public "Service of Sharing and Reflections"
at 7:30 tonight in the Unitarian Universalist Church, 96 Chapel
St. in Stratford, before continuing their journey. For information,
call Ellen McCarthy at 866-4375.
On Monday, another public service will take place at 7 p.m. in the
First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk at Park and
Lewis streets. Members of Peaceful Tomorrows will speak, and families
of Sept. 11 victims are scheduled to be on hand. A musical program
will include Pete Seeger, Ledell Mulvaney and Bruce Taylor, Call
Barbara Hudgins at 866-6040 for more details. [return
to top]
A Walk for
Hope, Peace
By Amy L. Zitka
Middletown Press Staff
8/14/2004
MIDDLETOWN -- An entourage carrying large cardboard doves on poles
followed a group of people pushing a 1,400-pound stone on a caisson
across the Arrigoni Bridge from Portland on a mission.
Activists, including family members of the Sept. 11 victims, are
on a month-long trek between Boston and New York City known as the
Stonewalk. On Friday, the current leg of their journey brought them
through a section of East Hampton and Portland and to the city’s
South Green.
Escorted in front by city police cars and behind by a fire truck,
approximately 16 people were pushing the granite memorial engraved
with "Unknown Civilians Killed in War." The caisson was
draped with purple and black-striped bunting, adorned with the American
and United Nations flags and a memorial floral arrangement. Residents
and downtown patrons watched as the convoy went south on Main Street
to Old Church Street.
"Sept. 11 irrevocably touched us by terror overseas,"
Mayor Domenique Thornton said. President Jimmy Carter was the first
president to bring a framework of peace, she said. "Each president
who sought to bring an accord to the Middle East has done so."
This has occurred so violence would not spread to the United States,
the mayor said, adding the country has become a place for "people
to escape from foreign wars. The only true escape from war is peace."
The Stonewalk,
sponsored by September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,
is to bring an awareness to all the unknown civilian casualties
of war and terrorism throughout the world. The trek between Boston
and New York links the two main cities involved in the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks; where the planes originated, and where two of them
crashed.
Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization that represents several family
members of the Sept. 11 victims who use their grief as a motivation
for peace.
"It was nice coming into town from the mayor, police and fire
to the cheers of the people on the streets," said Dan Jones,
a Peaceful Tomorrows member. Jones is one of five members from the
group making the entire journey from Boston to New York. "This
walk has been very physically difficult and emotionally difficult,
but it’s also one of strength."
"The connection between Boston and New York was forged tragically,"
he said. "It is a path of healing and peace. I hope the journey
will be remembered between those two cities."
Simsbury resident Gail Adams, of the Connecticut Coalition of Peace
and Justice, was among those who carried the large white cardboard
doves behind the stone. Adams participated in the walk from Portland
to Middletown.
"I want to see a more peaceful world," she said. "I’m
particularly devastated about everybody killed since 9/11."
The walk will continue 10 a.m. today from the South Green on Old
Church Street. It will go south on Route 17 into Durham. [return
to top]
Peace
Stone to Arrive in City Friday
By Szymon Twarog
Middletown Press Staff
8/12/2004
MIDDLETOWN -- A stone symbolizing all the unknown civilian casualties
of war and terrorism will make a stop in the city on Friday during
its trip from Boston to New York.
"In moving this stone, we symbolize our desire to move mountains
for the cause of peace, no matter how difficult," a press release
from September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which is
sponsoring the walk, said. "Together we can move mountains."
The walk is symbolic as it links the two cities involved with the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks: Boston, the city where the planes originated,
and New York, the city where they crashed, according to the press
release.
Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization representing more than 125
family members of the Sept. 11 victims who are using their grief
as motivation for peace.
Dan Jones, a member of Peaceful Tomorrows, heard of the stone when
it originally traveled from Massachusetts to Arlington National
Cemetery, and thought it would be a great idea for his organization.
"A lot of people at Peaceful Tomorrows heard of the stone and
its journey to Arlington and we all thought it was a great idea,"
said Jones. "We forgot about it for a little while, but I brought
it up again because I thought Peaceful Tomorrows should be involved."
Jones is one of five members that will walk with the stone all the
way from Boston to New York and was in Marlborough Wednesday afternoon.
"It’s been just a great experience. It’s been very
emotional," said Jones, "The physical labor involved with
moving the stone is so emotional, knowing we’re doing it for
all those lost."
The group fluctuates in size depending on where they are, but Jones
said the walk has drawn great community support from almost every
area they have visited.
"People just see us, stop to see what’s going on and
then they join us," said Jones. "Today (Wednesday) we
had a couple of people that helped us all day. It’s been a
great group and community effort."
Weather has also been very cooperative, with storms just missing
the group during the hours they walk.
"We’ve been pretty lucky so far," said Jones. "It
looks like it’s gonna rain a little bit now, but were done
walking for the day, so we just missed it. The weather has been
really good to us."
The stone originated from Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Mass. and weighs
more than 1,400 pounds. It is being carried in a special cart and
has the words "unknown civilians killed in war" engraved
on top of it.
The journey of the stone began at the Boston Social Forum on July
25 and it should arrive in New York near the end of the month. Final
plans have still not been made for New York, according to Jones.
When the stone finally reaches New York it will be reunited with
another war memorial that came through Middletown -- the boots exhibit
of Eyes Wide Open.
"When we were in Boston the Eyes Wide Open exhibit was being
put on there and when, we reach New York,the two will be reunited,"
said Jones, "The stone will be there and the boots will be
there, side by side."
In Middletown the stone will be greeted as it crosses the Arrigoni
Bridge from Portland. The stone will then proceed to South Congregational
Church, where Mayor Domenique Thornton will host a special welcoming
ceremony.[return
to top]
Reynolds
is on a New Adventure
Matthew L. Brown
Willimantic Chronicle Staff Writer
8/12/04
COLUMBIA — As an archaeologist living in Albuquerque, N.M.,
David Reynolds spends countless hours sifting through desert sands
in the middle of nowhere searching for buried signs of life. His
occupation is about deriving facts from findings, it’s a bit
of an adventure, but it’s still science, cold and catalogued.
He’s on a different adventure now, a solemn walk from Boston
to Manhattan — including time through eastern Connecticut
— in honor those killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The walk has required him to loosen his grip on the search for scientific
fact and rely more on his own growing understanding of life’s
mysteries. Reynolds’ cousin, Scott Johnson, was only in his
mid-20s when he was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. The financial analyst
had worked in the World Trade Center for less than a year when the
planes struck.
"When he got the job, he didn’t even tell me it was in
the trade center," Reynolds said. The two grew up together
in New Jersey and their families were very close. "He was just
a wonderful human being, one of those people you meet once or twice
in a lifetime." "I was in New Mexico, out of touch with
everybody" when the planes hit, Reynolds said, "but I
did hear eventually."
He returned to the East Coast as soon as he learned what had happened.
"I was just stunned, devastated. For the first few weeks, we
just thought he was missing, but like a lot of families, we had
to admit … we spent a lot of time searching hospitals. None
of us will ever be the same."
Reynolds also noticed physical changes, especially in his father,
who Scott Johnson was named for. "My father looked like he
had been beaten up; peoples’ faces changed." After seeing
the planes hit the towers on television so many times, over and
over again, Reynolds got rid of his television. He only recently
bought a new one.[return
to top]
Walk
for peace can be an uphill struggle
Matthew L. Brown –
Willimantic Chronicle Staff Writer
8/12/04
COLUMBIA — Shoulders low, feet stinging with each slow step,
the procession honoring all unknown civilians killed in war slowly
labored toward New York, still hundreds of miles away. The 20 who
joined "September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows"
and the Peace Abbey Wednesday took their positions alongside a carriage
hauling the 1,400-pound memorial. They did so just as the sun broke
through the clouds, promising a hot, humid day.
The "Stonewalk," as it’s called, met immediately
with a long, steep hill on Route 66 just west of Columbia center.
The carriage, which in total weighs about 5,000 pounds, was adorned
Wednesday with origami paper cranes in honor of those killed in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945.
Jun Yasuda and Kenichi Kato, two Japanese walkers, followed closely
behind the carriage chanting in Japanese, "spirit, come in"
to the slow rhythm of shallow, hand-held drums. Yasuda, a Buddhist
nun, lives in New York and has been on several Stonewalks. She has
walked in honor of those who died in the terror attacks of Sept.
11, 2001, every year for three years.
"I like to support the September 11th families," she said.
Yasuda said the Stonewalk, "gives people freedom from fear,
that’s our practice." Outside the walk, governments "are
creating weapons, it’s angry, but in your mind is freedom
from fear."
As they have done since beginning in Boston and will continue to
do until they finish in New York City, walkers gathered around the
stone for a moment of silent reflection before resuming their journey.[return
to top]
Woman
Honors Her Aunt
Christina Hall
Willimantic Chronicle Staff Writer
August 11, 2004
WILLIMANTIC--
When "Stonewalk" participant Catherine Allison learned
of the terror attacks that September day in 2001, she called her
mother to make sure family members were accounted for and safe.
"I knew I didn’t have any family members in Manhattan,
so I thought everyone was OK," said Allison, a Syracuse, N.Y.,
native and current resident of Brooklyn, N.Y.
She spent
the day at the University of Rochester, where she was a student,
watching the news and the terrible events unfold: the collapse of
the World Trade Center, the crash at the Pentagon and the downed
flight in Pennsylvania. She spent time consoling friends as they
tracked down family members.
But sadly, Allison’s security was soon rocked to its foundation.
Later in the day, when she called her father’s office, a secretary
told her to call him at her uncle’s home in Stoneham, Mass.
After calling her uncle, Blake Allison, she learned her aunt, Anna
Allison, had been on Flight 11, which terrorists steered into 1
World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Anna Allison had been on the
flight to meet a client in California. She had recently started
a consulting firm called A2 Software Solutions.
Now, Catherine Allison is one of four core members of "September
11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows." The group is pulling
a 1,400-pound granite memorial from Boston to New York. Now on her
20th day, she is one of only two Peaceful Tomorrows members making
the entire 42-day trek. She maintains high spirits, despite some
aches and pains.
Tuesday morning, as the group of about 12 people, including members
of Peaceful Tomorrows as well as the Peace Abbey, a Massachusetts-based
group that created the memorial, prepared to begin another leg of
their journey, Allison shrugged off the physical aches, even as
she popped an Advil to relieve a strained tendon. "It just
started bothering me, just a couple of minutes
ago," she said blithely. [return
to top]
March
to recognize civilian war casualties
By Jarrett Murphy
Special Correspondent
The Stamford Advocate
August 11, 2004
A funeral caisson is on its way to Stamford and area towns, not
to honor a noted personage but to remember the civilian victims
of military conflict.
A coalition of peace groups is carting a memorial stone dedicated
to civilian victims of war 230 miles from Boston to New York. The
walkers are due to arrive in Norwalk on Aug. 23, move to Stamford
the next day and head west to Port Chester, N.Y., on Aug. 25.
"Stonewalk" is being organized by Sept. 11 Families for
Peaceful Tomorrows, a group that represents relatives of some victims
of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Local organizers include Peace Action
of Connecticut, Peacemakers of the First Congregational Church in
Norwalk and the Wilton Friends Meeting.
The walk bridges the time between the Democratic National Convention
held in Boston at the end of last month and the Republican convention
in New York that concludes Sept. 2. Organizers are asking participants
to refrain from carrying partisan political signs on the march.
"It goes beyond just Democrat and Republican and really speaks
to our whole political system," said David Potorti of Cary,
N.C., a co-director of Peaceful Tomorrows. His brother, Jim, died
in the north tower of the World Trade Center.
"What we are saying is we have to remember the human cost of
war and terrorism and violence, and we want all politicians of whatever
stripe to keep that in mind," Potorti said.
The Stonewalk coalition claims 80 percent of deaths in war are of
noncombatants. Brad Vadas, whose mother, Connie Taylor of Weston,
intends to march with the stone, might be considered one of them.
Vadas, a 37-year-old Westport man, died in the south tower of the
trade center.
"I think most civilians probably are attacked that way,"
Taylor said. "They have no part in it, really. They just happen
to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Taylor said she is marching because "we should be considering
that when we give the go-ahead to have another war, that it's not
just the military people involved."
The walk's centerpiece is a 2,000-pound slab of granite shaped like
a gravestone on which an engraving reads, "To the Unknown Civilians
Killed in War."
A caisson made of wood, brass and steel, and pulled along by marchers,
carries the memorial. Marchers move the caisson by pushing on rails
branching off a wooden harness in front of the cart.
The stone has covered large distances before. In 1999, Peace Abbey,
the group that crafted the stone, carried it from Boston to Arlington
National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., hoping to place the monument
alongside graves of military casualties.
The request was refused, but the stone was marched again in Ireland
in 2000, honoring the victims of sectarian violence there, and in
Britain in the summer of 2001.
This year's Stonewalk began in Boston on July 29 and is due to end
in New York City on Aug. 31, with daily walks ranging from 2 miles
to 12 miles. The stone will remain in New York for the third anniversary
of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The march hits Norwalk on Aug. 23 after an 8-mile walk from Fairfield.
Folk singer Pete Seeger is scheduled to perform during an evening
program in Norwalk, details of which are to be announced.
Potorti said four organizers are marching with the stone for the
entire route. As the stone passes through cities and towns, local
residents are invited to walk along.
"As they go through towns, they pick up people for maybe a
day or two. Some people have even walked longer than that,"
Potorti said. "The idea is just join when you can and leave
if you have to."
He estimates up to 30 people have helped pull the caisson during
parts of the walk. In addition to pulling the stone and calling
attention to civilian deaths, organizers are asking people who join
the walk to write to their members of Congress asking that they
support the creation of a Department of Peace.
The U.S. military does not publicize estimates of civilian or enemy
deaths in Iraq. In June 2003, The Associated Press estimated that
at least 3,240 civilians died during the U.S. invasion and subsequent
fighting. A private Web site, Iraq Body Count, keeps a running tally
of civilians reported dead in news accounts; it claims at least
11,400 have died to date.
Stonewalk is taking place amid a heightened state of alert for possible
terrorist attacks. Taylor said the atmosphere of threat only amplifies
the walk's message.
"I think we tend not to think of other countries and what they're
going through," she said. "Up to now, we in our country
-- and maybe this is why we don't think of them -- we feel very
safe." [return
to top]
A
Symbolic Walk of Remembrance
Gail Ellen Daly
Willimantic Chronicle Staff Writer
August 10, 2004
HAMPTON — Shirts were soaked with sweat as 12 pairs of legs
walked in unison Monday, keeping pace with fast-paced music that
blared from a cassette. The men and women of "September 11th
Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" were walking the torturous
hills on Route 6 Monday, pulling a 1,400-pound granite memorial
stone.
The stone, engraved with the words "unknown civilians killed
in war," lies flat on a caisson draped in purple and black
funeral bunting. A large floral funeral wreath had been placed behind
the stone. An American flag and a United Nations flag waved in the
slight breeze as the walkers pulled the stone through Hampton, heading
for Chaplin.
The 2004 "Stonewalk," sponsored by Peaceful Tomorrows
in conjunction with the Sherborn, Mass.,-based Peace Abbey, began
in Boston during the Democratic National Convention and will be
in New York when the Republican National Convention convenes later
this month.
Nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, Peaceful Tomorrows was
founded in early 2002 by family members who united to turn their
grief into a quest for peace. Family members of those killed in
the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks are joined by local residents
and members of Peace Abbey as they walk along. The route —
from Boston to New York — is also symbolic of a tragedy that
linked the two cities.
"We rang the church bell as they walked past, then hosted them
at a potluck supper last night," said Paulette Harwood, pastor
of the Brooklyn Federated Church. "It was impromptu."
Walkers spent the night with host families.
Before heading west on the day’s march, Lisa Cogliandro of
the Peace Abbey said the hills they had to climb that day are symbolic
of the hills "many families have had to climb. . "May
the desire to live in peace in our hearts be transferred to our
legs today," she said.[return
to top]
Father
of 9/11 Victim Pushes On
Gail Ellen Daly
Willimantic Chronicle Staff Writer
August 10, 2004
HAMPTON — Although Bob McIlvaine’s orange hat shielded
him from bright sunshine, his face showed fatigue. When the group
stopped to rest, it took several minutes for him to catch his breath
and talk in a normal voice.
Nevertheless, McIlvaine, a member of the September 11th Families
for Peaceful Tomorrows steering committee, kept his spot as one
of the leaders. He was determined to push on.
The Oreland, Pa., resident’s son, Bobby McIlvaine, died at
the World Trade Center. The 26-year-old did not work there —
his presence there was a tragic coincidence. "He was in the
wrong place at the wrong time," said McIlvaine, marching Monday
on Route 6 in Hampton as part of the Stonewalk 2004 event.
Recently hired by Merrill Lynch as assistant vice president of media
relations, the younger McIlvaine was attending a trade show at the
World Trade Center. Bobby McIlvaine, who was living in New York,
was not married, but was planning to propose to his steady girlfriend.
According to Bob McInvaine’s sister Sue Richards, "Bobby
never had a chance to ask her and give her a ring."
On Thursday, Sept. 13 — two days after the buildings’
collapse — rescue workers recovered his body. "It was
a blessing," said McIlvaine, realizing that thousands of families
had no remains they could bury. "But all it did was put us
one rung up in Hell."
Did he feel anger against anyone, or any country, or long for revenge?
"I felt nothing at first and it took about six months for everything
to sink in," he said. "And there were all those memorial
services to attend with thousands of people."
Despite his grief, McIlvaine said he came to the realization "it’s
not right to go to war for revenge," as war brings civilian
casualties. A 1969 graduate of East Stroudsburg State College with
a degree in political science, McIlvaine was a teacher at Crozer/Chester
Hospital near Philadelphia, an acute-care psychiatric facility.
"I was laid off four months after Sept. 11," he said,
"which allowed me to devote a full-time effort toward peace."
He turned his grief into action.[return
to top]
Hope
For Peace Pulls Volunteers
By Robin Stansbury
Hartford Courant Staff Writer
August 9, 2004
DANIELSON -- Bruce Nichols said it was hard to describe what drew
him Sunday to the hilly streets of this northeastern Connecticut
town, where he spent the day sweating to help pull a 5,000-pound
vehicle carrying a granite gravestone in honor of civilian casualties
of war.
The stone will wind its way through the state in the next few weeks,
on its path from Boston to New York City. The journey, called Stonewalk,
is sponsored by the September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
and by The Peace Abbey, a multi-faith retreat center in Sherborn,
Mass., and is meant to encourage world leaders to find alternatives
to war.
"I just had an overwhelming compulsion to come here and move
this stone," Nichols, 57, of Shelton, said. "I very much
want to help people understand that war is not a viable means of
solving problems, and this is a graphic demonstration that we need
to find new ways to relate to one another."
The gravestone, weighing 1,400 pounds, is engraved with the words
"Unknown Civilians Killed in War," and is on a wheeled
caisson, pulled along by as many as 18 people.
Even before the crew left Danielson Sunday morning, organizer and
peace activist Lewis Randa, of The Peace Abbey, proclaimed it would
be "a tough day." Fewer than 10 people were gathered to
start the walk, and the participants faced challenges as they headed
onto busy, hilly Route 6.
But Randa was not worried. The group travels as much as 10 miles
a day, with volunteers joining in to pull the stone for an hour,
a day or as long as they like.
Indeed, just as the group was ready to leave, two needed volunteers
joined the effort, helping to push the stone onto Main Street. From
there, they wound their way onto Route 6 on their way toward Brooklyn.
"When people see us struggling to get up a hill, they pull
their cars over and get out to help us push," Randa said. "They
can't seem to help themselves, and that is the heart and soul of
Stonewalk.
"We are bringing the cemetery experience out to the roadway
for people to participate in," he said. "Stones usually
stay put, but this one goes to the people."
Randa founded Stonewalk in 1999, when he organized a 33-day, 500-mile
walk pulling a 2,000-pound stone to Washington D.C., in the hope
of seeing it placed permanently in Arlington National Cemetery.
That is still the goal of the project, which also has held walks
in Ireland and England.
"We care deeply about civilian deaths, and their losses deserve
to be recognized just like the soldiers in uniform," he said.
Joann Caulder, of Brooklyn, couldn't walk with the group Sunday,
but came to wish them well as they left Danielson. Caulder lost
a cousin in the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Spiritually or physically, we need to encourage peaceful solutions
to our problems," she said.
The walkers hope to reach New York City by Aug. 30. In Connecticut,
the walkers will travel through Killingly, Danielson, Brooklyn,
Hampton, Chaplain, Windham, Willimantic, Columbia, Hebron, Marlborough,
East Hampton, Cobalt, Portland, Middletown, Durham, North Branford,
North Haven, New Haven, West Haven, Orange, Milford, Stratford,
Bridgeport, Fairfield, Norwalk and Stamford. More information is
available at www.stonewalk.org.[return
to top]
Peace
Groups to Roll Through Region
Frank Juliano
Connecticut Post
August 8, 2004
Two peace groups with similar missions plan to stay in Milford and
Stratford later this month on their way to the Republican National
Convention in New York City.
Milford officials have issued a camping permit to DNC2RNC for about
60 marchers to camp Aug. 18 in Eisenhower Park.
Meanwhile, a "core group" of Stonewalk participants will
stay in their recreational vehicle or with families in Stratford,
said Dan Jones, a spokesman for that group.
Both groups left Boston immediately after the Democratic National
Convention and are taking different routes to New York City.
"We expect to meet up with Stonewalk in New Haven, but exactly
how we'll interact hasn't been worked out yet," said DNC2RNC
spokeswoman Rachel Perrotta.
Members of Stonewalk, an offshoot of Peaceful Tomorrows Inc., a
Sherborn, Mass. group, are carrying with them a 1,400 pound granite
tombstone engraved with the words "In Memory of the Unknown
Civilians Killed in War."[return
to top]
Stonewalk
for Peace
By Michael Levenso
Boston
Globe Correspondent
August 7, 2004
CHEPACHET, R.I. -- A crew of people dressed in orange vests and
sneakers pulled a 2,000-pound tombstone Thursday past farmhouses
and trailer parks, a scene of gravity and levity evocative of both
Sisyphus and a New Orleans funeral procession.
Pumping arms and legs, the dozen or so people strained to haul the
load past mailboxes decorated with shamrocks and bald eagles, as
pop and rap music blared across the farmland from speakers mounted
on the back of the wagon bearing the stone.
Here, on Route 102 south, idealism in the form of Stonewalk, a mission
launched by peace activists and family members of the victims of
the Sept. 11 attacks, met the indifferent, bewildered, and occasionally
supportive populace of rural New England.
The Stonewalk marchers have vowed to lug a 6-foot granite slab weighing
a ton some 220 miles, through tiny communities and big cities, from
the Democratic National Convention in Boston to the Republican National
Convention in New York. Thirteen days of pulling had brought them
to Chepachet.
Most porches lining the highway remained empty as the caravan rolled
past, the residents occupied or oblivious to the parade. A few men
in truckers' hats and women clutching their children's hands squinted
and pointed. Drivers sped past, eyes riveted to the road. Some honked
and waved. A police cruiser trailed the band; the officer behind
the wheel said he had no idea why they were marching.
"What are they doing? I saw it rolling in, and I had no idea
what it was. I saw it had Sept. 11 on it," said Steve DiLorenzo,
a 25-year-old excavator watching from the side of the road. "I
think it's a good idea. They're doing something about it. Somebody
needs to do a memorial or something."
For the marchers, some of whom are making the entire trek from July
25 to Sept. 2, while others drop in and out, the journey is a physical,
political, and personal challenge. For them, it's as immediate as
making it up the next hill en route to Manhattan and as ambitious
as changing a nation and a presidential election. It is, the marchers
say, protest, group therapy, and extreme sports rolled into one.
Their message inscribed on the stone's face, "Unknown Civilians
Killed in War," is intended to commemorate innocent victims
of violence, war, and terrorism around the globe. The walkers say
they hope to eventually place the stone next to the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
For townspeople along the way, the impact of the passing stone pullers
has been as varied as the nation's sentiments toward military action
overseas. Some people extend their middle finger or yell, "Go
Bush!" Others offer a place to stay or a hot shower. Some call
the police and complain of trespassers when the wagon stops for
a break.
The walkers count the tiny gestures of support, a wave or a peace
sign, as prayers for peace, signals that the nation is turning slowly
against war.
"Everybody that goes by, looks, and they think about what's
going on," said Eric Wasileski, 32, a former Navy fire controller
who became a pacifist after his destroyer fired Tomahawk missiles
into Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. "You can't move a mountain
at once; you have to take shovelfuls."
Some friends have stopped returning his e-mails, he said. Others
are supportive.
But on the walk "I'm joyful," Wasileski said, "because
I'm doing something that needs to be done. And I feel like humanity
needs service now more than it ever needed it before."
Outside Chepachet, the marchers got an unexpected boost from Pat
and Jay Inman, who came to push for a mile or so with their four
children. "We just believe in thinking twice before going to
war -- or three times or a million times," said Pat Inman.
"So maybe it will help people think about it a little more."
As the wagon pulled into the Free Will Baptist Church for an overnight
stop, a parishioner, 90-year-old George Steere, helped plug the
extension cord for the wagon's sound system into a church wall socket.
Lewis Randa -- director of The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, which is
helping to organize the walk -- pressed a brochure into Steere's
hand. He promised to read it.
"I'm all for peace, believe me," said Steere, a farmer
and World War II veteran. "I don't see any reason for fighting
all the time. You don't get anywhere fighting, because a lot of
innocent people get killed."
But Steere shook his head and said he doesn't believe that the walkers
will do anything to change people's minds about war and violence.
"People have got so many other things to do, they don't even
think about it," he said.
The Stonewalk experience has been intense for Andrea LeBlanc, a
veterinarian from Lee, N.H. As she pushed uphill, her head down,
LeBlanc said she couldn't help but think of her husband, Robert,
a professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire, who
died Sept. 11, 2001, aboard Flight 175, which hit the south tower
of the World Trade Center.
"My husband marched against the Vietnam War, and sometimes
I feel like I wasn't there, so I'm here now -- and I'd think he'd
approve," LeBlanc said. "All of us carry around so much
emotion about all of this, and we try to keep it contained and in
a box and let it out covertly. It feels good just to be able to
push the stone for a reason. It's putting all your effort into it."
Two paces ahead, hands gripping one of the oar handles fixed to
the front of the wagon, Dan Jones -- a social worker from the Bronx
whose brother-in-law, William Kelly, died on Sept. 11, 2001 -- said
he is outraged by the way both political parties have used the terrorist
attacks to justify war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"That's what's most troubling. I feel anger, violation, how
dare you?" Jones said. "We're not out there bloodthirsty,
looking for revenge; nobody should be doing that on our behalf."
His wife, Colleen, is codirector of September 11th Families For
Peaceful Tomorrows, which is also helping to organize the walk.
None of the marchers is sure what to expect in New York: angry protesters,
unsympathetic Republicans, or a joyous welcoming. In some ways,
the destination is not the point for the marchers.
"It's putting your heart, mind, and soul and your body behind
what you believe in," LeBlanc said.[return
to top]
Letter
to the Editor responding to "Stonewalk for Peace"
Boston Globe
(unpublished)
We are writing regarding Michael Levenson’s article about
the Peaceful Tomorrows Stonewalk. ("Stonewalk for Peace,"
August 7, 2004). We appreciate the moments in the piece in which
Mr. Levenson captured the spirit and tone of the walk. There were
several examples of people joining in for a mile or helping us park
for the night. These are emblematic of the general responses we
have been getting.
However, I want to correct some misrepresentations. First and foremost,
Mr. Levenson stated that we are trying to influence an election.
This is patently false. We are challenging all elected officials
to consider the human costs of war when making policy decisions:
the US soldiers dying for an unclear goal as well as the estimated
16,000 civilian casualties in Iraq.
Additionally,
our route seeks to remember, in a way that will bring healing, the
connection between Boston and New York forged on 9/11.
Mr. Levenson spent the better part of two days with Stonewalk. He
saw us struggle up hills, celebrate reaching the top, and he saw
the often tearful ritual of touching the stone while observing a
moment of silence. Members of Peaceful Tomorrows experienced grievous
losses on September 11. This walk, although sometimes punctuated
with endorphin-induced joyous moments, is a reverent vigil for peace.
To characterize the walk as a bunch of orange-vested people in sneakers
on an odd journey minimizes what we are doing.
We lost family members and don’t want people in other countries,
nor military families in this country, to suffer as we have. It
is our belief that if we recognize our suffering and see the suffering
of others, we will be less likely to wage war. Mr. Levenson seemed
to get this when he was moved to help push the caisson up a steep
hill, pushing alongside Andrea LeBlanc who lost her husband on 9/11.
I wish the article more accurately captured his own experiences.
Daniel Jones
Catherine Allison
Coordinators, Peaceful Tomorrows Stonewalk [return
to top]
Stonewalk
Honors 9/11 Victims
By Greg Smith
Norwich Bulletin
August 6, 2004
Stopping to catch her breath roadside in Foster, R.I., Dot Walsh
admitted that lugging a 1,400-pound granite stone is no easy task.
But as members of the Stonewalk make their way down Route 6 into
Killingly today, she expects to gain strength through numbers.
Family members of 9/11 victims and fellow peace supporters are dragging
the granite memorial from Boston to New York in a show of solidarity
with victims of terrorism and war around the world. The stone monument
honors "Unknown Civilians Killed in War."
The walk is sponsored by September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,
a group of 130 family members of 9/11 victims who have joined forces
with The Peace Abbey, a multi-faith retreat center.
Walsh, program coordinator for Massachusetts-based The Peace Abbey,
said it is a non-partisan mission of peace.
"It's inspiring for me to see the people. The support they
give each other," she said of victims' family members who have
come and gone along the walk.
For Dan Jones, a member of Peaceful Tomorrows and part of the small
core group moving the stone, it's a personal journey. He lost his
brother-in-law in the terrorist attacks. For him, the stone symbolizes
"all those that were killed for being in the wrong place at
the wrong time."
"It also helps make the connection with the suffering going
on in other parts of the world," Jones said.
The message is that civilians bear the brunt of casualties in war
and this should be a consideration in future policy making.
Not coincidentally, the walk links the sites of tragedy and of the
Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
Jones said there are only a few core walkers who will attempt the
entire trek. But help from community members along the way is encouraged,
especially on the hills.
The walk is scheduled to wend its way into Killingly Friday and
Brooklyn on Sunday. In Brooklyn, a talk is scheduled for 7 p.m.
at the Unitarian Meetinghouse at the Brooklyn Town Green.
Family members of 9/11 victims will speak and answer questions.
For more information and a complete list of towns the Stonewalk
will visit, go to www.peacefultomorrows.org.[return
to top]
War
Casualties Remembered
Providence Journal
August 5, 2004
PROVIDENCE -- Members of The September 11th Families for Peaceful
Tomorrows are scheduled to be at the Beneficent Congregational Church
tomorrow to mark the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
The organization has members of some 130 families who lost loved
ones in the terrorism attacks three years ago. They are walking
from Boston to New York to highlight the cost of war on civilians
and the connection between the two cities in the Sept. 11 attacks.
They plan to arrive in Manhattan Aug. 29 for the Republican National
Convention.
The organization said that participants are pulling a 1,400- pound
granite memorial to civilians killed in war. The organization said
that the walkers are bearing "witness to the tragic reality
that civilian casualties constituted 80 percent of the deaths in
war in the 20th century and ask that this human toll be a prime
consideration in future policy-making decisions."
The church program begins at 6 p.m. and is one of more than 30 speaking
programs the walkers plan along their route.[return
to top]
Group
pulling 2-ton memorial stone to New York
Laura Crimaldi
Wellesley Townsman
August 5, 2004
A community of strangers bound by an unwavering commitment to peace
braved the blistering heat last week to herald a message of non-violence
in a solemn "Stonewalk."
"Every step is a prayer for peace. Be careful," Sherborn
Peace Abbey Director Lewis Randa told about 20 people as they stepped
off Natick Town Common on Saturday with a 2-ton memorial stone in
tow.
The walk, organized by September Eleventh Families for Peaceful
Tomorrows, began in Boston on July 28 and will hit parts of Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut before reaching its destination in
New York City on Sept. 2.
The symbolic walk honoring unknown civilians killed in war will
recast the Boston-to-New York City route from the terrifying final
passage of the Sept. 11 hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center
to a peaceful and reflective trail, organizers said.
"Those planes left Boston and killed these people in New York
City. Let's reclaim that route," said Daniel Jones, a Bronx
resident who lost his brother-in-law, Bill Kelly Jr., in the World
Trade Center attack.
A charter member of Peaceful Tomorrows, which represents more than
130 family members of 9/11 victims, Jones and his wife Colleen are
fighting to prevent other families from suffering the pain of losing
a loved one under attack.
"We knew if we bombed Afghanistan, we would fail in our attempts
to bring justice and we would kill other civilians and families
would be suffering as we were," he said.
The group officially formed in February 2002 and held its first
retreat at the Sherborn Peace Abbey last year, Jones said.
"We saw an outpouring of compassion and support because our
losses were so public," said Jones, a school social worker.
"We don't know the names of these people dying in other parts
of the world, and if we did, I'd think we'd do a lot more to end
the violence."
A black casing flanked by flags from every nation in the world surrounds
the granite stone which reads "Unknown Civilians Killed In
War."
A copy of "Portraits of Grief," the profiles of the Sept.
11 victims written by the New York Times staff, accompanied the
memorial stone to highlight the public's intimate knowledge of those
who perished during the attacks.
Volunteers wore T-shirts decorated with a picture of the memorial
stone and a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Wars
are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows."
"I've always been interested in a way of non-violence - my
Catholic upbringing, applying the law of St. Francis...'We should
be peacemakers on the Earth.' That's sort of what motivates me to
do this," said Lisa Cogliandro of Ashland during a midday break
on the Natick Town Common. Cogliandro was among 60 volunteers and
supporters who participated in an informal ceremony of prayers and
quiet reflections before the Stonewalk resumed its journey toward
the Peace Abbey.
The walk was intentionally scheduled to take place between the Democratic
National Convention, which ended in Boston last Thursday, and the
Republican National Convention in New York City, which begins at
the end of the month. "We have spent so much of the time reacting
to the wars started by the Bush administration and this is a chance
to get out and educate people," said Terry Rockefeller of Arlington.
Rockefeller lost her sister Laura Rockefeller in the WTC attack.
While on the walk this week and during the last leg of the journey
at the end of the month, Rockefeller hopes to spread the word about
establishing a federal Department of Peace and promoting "true"
cultural change. "
"We really need to pay attention to this - what war is about.
There's a lot of propaganda around this," said Judith Rich
of Natick.[return
to top]
Marchers
Carry Anti-War Message
Steven H. Foskett Jr.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
August 4, 2004
Daniel Jones was working in a school in the Bronx, N.Y., on Sept..
11, 2001, when he found out what had happened at the World Trade
Center.
''I was concerned
about the kids,'' Mr. Jones said.
He said the faculty and administration met to try to figure out
what they should do. One concern, Mr. Jones told an audience at
the Community House last night, was what to do about children who
may have had relatives die in the terrorist attacks.
Then Mr. Jones' wife called, and they talked about their three children.
They talked about how different things would be, raising them in
New York. Mr. Jones' wife then said she had received a call from
her sister in Connecticut, who was concerned about the whereabouts
of their brother.
Mr. Jones eventually learned that his brother-in-law went to a breakfast
conference at the World Trade Center that morning, and had perished
in the attacks.
''Then it became something that had to do with my family,'' Mr.
Jones said.
Mr. Jones and other members of the group he helped start, September
11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, are on their way to New York
from Boston on foot, and they stopped in Uxbridge last night to
raise awareness of what they called the human costs of war. The
group is pushing and pulling a 1,400-pound stone on a caisson.
The group carries a strong anti-war message, particularly in regard
to civilian casualties of war. Mr. Jones said his group was opposed
to the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government
that gave refuge to terrorists, and was opposed to the U.S. invasion
of Iraq.
''We didn't want our tragedy to be used to justify the killing of
other people,'' Mr. Jones said.
He said the point of starting the walk at the Democratic National
Convention last week and ending it at the upcoming Republican National
Convention in New York was to emphasize the fact that Republicans
and Democrats alike Supported recent military actions that the group
opposes.
''Both parties need to pay attention to civilian casualties,'' Mr.
Jones said.
Loretta Filipov of Concord lost her husband, Alexander, in the attacks.
He was a passenger aboard Flight 11, the first to crash into the
World Trade Center.
Ms. Filipov said her husband was a peaceful man, and cared for all
people.
''He would not like what's being done in his name,'' Ms. Filipov
said.
Other speakers took the microphone during the event, and Uxbridge
Resident Howard Fortner presented the group with videotapes of the
town's Sept. 11 memorial ceremonies.
The group arrived in Milford yesterday and walked through Hopedale
and Mendon. Millville was the group's last stop in Massachusetts
before walking Into Rhode Island.[return
to top]
Stone
Honors Civilian Victims of Wars
Josh Kovner, Hartford Courant Staff Writer
August 4, 2004
MIDDLETOWN -- Peace activists pulling a 1,400-pound granite memorial
to civilian casualties of war from Boston to New York City will
cross into Killingly from Rhode Island on Saturday and reach the
Middletown green on Aug. 13.
Stonewalk, as the journey is called, is sponsored by the September
11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and by the Peace Abbey, a multifaith
retreat founded by activist Lewis Randa in Sherborn, Mass.
The slab, engraved with the simple words "Unknown Civilians
Killed in War," is on a wheeled caisson, pulled along by as
many as 18 people. The walkers began the journey July 26 and plan
to reach New York City by Aug. 30. They travel about 10 miles a
day and pause for gatherings large and small along the way. Volunteers
join in and pull the stone for an hour, a day or as long as they
like.
In Middletown, an hourlong ceremony on the South Green downtown
will include music, food and speakers, beginning at 5 p.m. on Aug.
13.
Local organizer Meg Scata, who has been recruiting volunteers to
join the walk in Connecticut, said the point of the journey is not
to espouse one political ideal over another.
Rather, it is to focus attention on the innocent victims of war
and terror all over the world. The scope of the memorial extends
back to World War II and includes attacks in such locales as Bali,
Madrid, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, South Africa and Oklahoma
City, as well as New York City and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11,
2001, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Participants are asked to leave their political signs and slogans
at home.
"Sure it's anti-war, but it's not anti-Bush or promoting one
political platform over the other," said Scata, a Middletown
resident and elementary school librarian in Portland and a member
of the Middletown Alliance for Peace.
"These are peace pilgrims. They are saying there are alternatives
to war and that our elected leaders need to exhaust all options
before they start dropping bombs," Scata said.
The September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, representing
125 family members of 9/11 victims, was nominated for the 2003 Nobel
Peace Prize. The group has reached out to survivors and the families
of terrorism victims all over the world.
In Connecticut, the walkers will travel through Killingly, Danielson,
Brooklyn, Hampton, Chaplain, Windham, Willimantic, Columbia, Hebron,
Marlborough, East Hampton, Cobalt, Portland, Middletown, Durham,
North Branford, North Haven, New Haven, West Haven, Orange, Milford,
Stratford, Bridgeport, Fairfield, Norwalk, and Stamford. More information
is available on the Internet at www.stonewalk.org.
Before crossing the Arrigoni Bridge from Portland, the walkers will
gather at about 4 p.m. on Aug. 13 at St. Mary's Church to pick up
volunteers. On the green in Middletown, Mayor Domenique Thornton
will introduce several speakers. There will be music, and members
of South Church will serve a potluck supper.
Scata has arranged for the core group of the memorial's walkers
to sleep in four private homes while in Middletown. For more information
on how to join the walk, call Scata at 860-347-5488.[return
to top]
9/11
Victims' Families Walk for Peace
By Brian Eastwood
Milford Daily News Staff Writer
August 3, 2004
MILFORD -- A group of relatives of Sept. 11 victims were in Milford
yesterday, the latest stop on their walk from Boston to New York
City.
The group, September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, is
pulling a 2,000-pound granite stone on its walk, an act they hope
raises awareness of all civilians who have died in the world's wars.
Daniel Jones, a charter member of the group, noted that the victims
of Sept. 11, 2001, like his brother-in-law Bill Kelly Jr., were
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"But there are many more deaths that are less public, that
less people know about," said Jones, a resident of the Bronx.
"We don't want to see people hurting as we were hurting."
Jones and four other group members spoke last night at the New England
Sikh Study Circle, a Sikh temple, or gurdwara, on East Main Street.
The temple hosted the group both for a scheduled dinner of traditional
Indian food and an impromptu lunch as the group made its way from
Holliston to Mendon yesterday.
"You are so gracious and so kind and so loving," said
Loretta Filipov, a Concord resident and Peaceful Tomorrows member.
Peaceful Tomorrows was formed in February 2002 and held its first
retreat last year at the Sherborn Peace Abbey. It represents more
than 130 families of Sept. 11 victims.
The group's Stonewalk began in Boston July 28 and is expected to
end Sept. 2 in New York.
The route from Boston to New York has two meanings, Jones said.
The hijacked airplanes that hit the World Trade Center flew from
Boston to New York, and the same cities are hosting the Democratic
and Republican national conventions this summer.
Catherine Allison, whose aunt Anna Allison died Sept. 11, said she
joined the group after she realized that America's response to the
terrorist attacks would cause more suffering.
"I had to speak out," said Allison, a resident of New
York City. "It was going to be hard, it was going to be difficult,
but I had to do it."
Jaswant Chani, one of the Sikh temple's founders, said he wished
the suffering of Sept. 11 had ended that day. But for families of
victims, for Sikhs who have been targets of racial profiling, and
for many others, the suffering continues.
"And that is the worst part. I cannot bear that," Chani
said.
Reading from an original poem, temple member Ajit Chadha wished
Peaceful Tomorrows members inner peace and said she empathized with
them.
"Your losses and gains may not be mine, my losses and gains
may not be yours, but common to humanity are smiles and tears,"
Chadha said.
Veena Chani, Jaswant's wife and the temple member who organized
the event, said the Sikh religion, founded more than 500 years ago,
emphasizes human rights above all. She said Sikhs share in Peaceful
Tomorrows' mission of responding to events like Sept. 11 not with
revenge but through peaceful messages.
For Allison, the best way for people to spread that message is to
reach out to others, not to close themselves off. "We need
to be united," she said. "We need to reach across borders
and across religions and across colors."
Today's portion of the walk begins at 9 a.m. in Mendon. It will
follow Rte. 16 into Uxbridge before turning onto Rte. 122 and heading
into Millville.
Jones said area residents are welcome to help pull the stone along
the route.
[return
to top]
Peace
Walk Stopping in Valley Today
Steven H. Foskett Jr.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
August 3, 2004
Going through ups and downs is not a problem for the several dozen
peace
activists who call themselves the September 11th Families for Peaceful
Tomorrows, although the ups require a little help when a 1,400-pound
stone
is involved.
''Pulling it- well, there have been some hills that have been pretty
tough,'' David Potorti, one of the group's founders, said yesterday
on the phone from his home in Cary, N.C., where he was taking a
respite from a 230-mile peace walk. 'Sometimes people along the
route will stop and give us a hand.''
Mr. Potorti and his group- founded in 2002 by families who were
directly affected by the 2001 terrorist attacks- began walking with
the stone July 25 in Boston, and will likely arrive at the final
destination, New York City, during the upcoming Republican National
Convention. The group will be traveling through the area, including
a stop in Uxbridge today.
Group members are scheduled to walk today from Milford into Hopedale
and Mendon, with a final stop in Uxbridge. The Shea Gallery and
the Court Street Gallery in Uxbridge will be hosting a speaking
event for the group at 7 tonight in the Community House. The event
will be followed by a reception in the gallery space in the Community
House, where the Culture of Peace, an international exhibit of art
and poetry, will be on display.
The 1,400-pound stone has the words ''Unknown Civilians Killed in
War'' inscribed on it. The stone rides on a caisson-like wooden
and brass wagon, Mr. Potorti said.
Although the walk began in Boston at the time of the Democratic
National Convention and will end up in New York during the Republican
convention, Mr. Potorti said yesterday the walk is nonpartisan.
''We actually have veterans marching, from Veterans for Peace and
Military Families Speak Out, so we invite everybody,'' Mr. Potorti
said. ''It's nonpartisan. We're not carrying political signs. We
want to find a common ground.''
And according to Mr. Potorti, finding a common ground is finding
an alternative to war.
''People can come up and put their hands on the stone and remember
someone who died in a war or during military service,'' Mr. Potorti
said. ''And they become part of a larger sensibility, acknowledging
the human cost of violence.''
Mr. Potorti left the walk yesterday to go home for a bit. He said
that after the walk arrives in New York City, the group will stay
in New York for a Sept. 11 commemoration and leave Sept. 12.
He said the response so far has been positive.
''People have been happy to pull it with us for an afternoon. Some
have come a few blocks, or even a few minutes, with us,'' Mr. Potorti
said.[return
to top]
The
Toll of War
By Amy L. Zitka
The Herald Press
08/01/2004
Peace activists and family members of victims killed in terrorist
attacks will be pushing and pulling a heavy burden to make people
aware of a lesser known toll of war -- the civilian cost.
Participants are pulling a 1,400-pound granite memorial on a caisson
between Boston and New York known as Stonewalk 2004. The memorial
-- honoring the "Unknown Civilians Killed in War" and
looking like an immense tombstone -- will be making its way through
upper Middlesex County later this month.
Meg Scata, of Connecticut United For Peace, is coordinating a portion
of the route between Willimantic and Durham. The walk, which began
July 26 in Boston will end in New York City on Sept. 2, is sponsored
by the September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows.
Scata is contacting the various towns seeking local support for
the walk, which will be coming into East Hampton on Aug. 12. The
walk continues the following days into Portland, Middletown and
Durham. The participants will walk the stone out of Durham into
Northford on Aug. 15. The participants walk approximately 10 miles
per day, Scata said.
"They push the stone from town to town hoping a church or civic
group provides a venue for them to talk about peace," she told
the Durham Board of Selectmen recently.
The Boston-New York trip happens to coincide with the political
nominating conventions. The Stonewalk began in Boston during the
Democratic National Convention, and is expected to wind up during
the Republican convention.
The non-partisan statement is one acknowledging the civilian victims
of war, terrorism and violence worldwide.
"Eighty percent of casualties of war are civilian deaths,"
Scata said. This includes World War II through acts of terrorism
within the past three years including the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks
in the United States, the Madrid bus bombing and nightclub attack
in Jakarta, she said. "It’s not a casual off-the-wall
thing. It’s a message of peace."
The stone is on a rolling caisson which has positions for approximately
18 people to push the stone, Scata said. Several members of Sept.
11 families will be walking with the stone, she added.
First Selectwoman Maryann Boord suggested a few potential contacts
that could host the Stonewalk and possible activities when it comes
into town.
Scata added when the Stonewalk comes into Middletown, activities
have been planned to take place on the South Green.[return
to top]
Peace
March stops in Natick
By Mary Kate Dubuss
Natick Bulletin & Tab
July 30, 2004
At noon tomorrow, members of Sherborn's Peace Abbey will march through
Natick to the town common alongside family members of victims from
Sept. 11, carrying a 1,400-pound granite memorial stone.
The walkers are all advocates of peace. They believe it is their
duty to remind Americans of the terrible consequences of war.
"We want to bring a sense of reality to the losses. You see
the news, but don't get an idea of the human cost," said David
Potorti, a member of September Eleventh Families for a Peaceful
Tomorrow. "We are in a state of denial in this country."
A wooden wagon adorned with brass carries the stone. Its presence
is meant to allow onlookers to recognize and mourn the loss of civilians.
Those being honored are not limited one war, attack or century.
Potorti, whose brother Jim died in the World Trade Center, believes
such an exhibit encourages Americans to mourn all civilian deaths,
not just American deaths.
"America is magnanimous and beautiful. We can feel bad about
everybody. We shouldn't limit our love or compassion," he said.
Nick Burlakoff of Ossining, New York, plans to walk the entire route,
in honor of his family and wartime atrocities.
"War has disrupted three generations of my family's life. My
father walked from the Ukraine to Germany as a refugee and my mother
walked from Yugoslavia to Austria as a refugee, during World War
Two," he said.
Burkaloff was drafted and removed from graduate school to fight
in Vietnam where he became a conscientious objector in the service.
"This is the opportunity of a lifetime, I really want to walk,"
he said.
Before Potorti's brother, Jim, died in the World Trade Ce |
September
Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows