Walkers find local support along the route
Christina Hall - Chronicle Staff Writer

WILLIMANTIC When members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows arrived Tuesday morning to journey through Willimantic to Columbia, they found a small handwritten note attached to the blue tarp covering a memorial to unknown casualties of war. The note, from the staff at the Willimantic Food Co-op on Valley Street, invited walkers to take advantage of free coffee and beverages before beginning the day’s journey. Bruce Oscar, a manager at the Co-op and member for the last 28 years, sat down to chat with a walker from Massachusetts, as well as Mike Westerfield, head of the Willimantic Housing Authority, who decided to lend a hand and some strength to the walk. It’s probably one of the more noble causes out there, Oscar said as he checked the stock of a cooler. Who speaks for the civilians? There are always casualties, no matter where war is waged. And the regular people are just kind of forgotten.

The Stonewalk began July 25 in Boston, the location of the recent Democratic National Convention, and will travel the roads of Connecticut, winding its way to Manhattan for the Republican National Convention. According to the group’s schedule, they hope to arrive in the Big Apple, dragging their message of peace, by Aug. 29.