Stonewalk

Peace marchers cart huge stone memorial through area
Ann DeMatteo , North Bureau Chief 08/16/2004
NORTH HAVEN — There was nothing more that Dan Jones would rather do than to walk with people to promote peace.

Jones, a resident of the Bronx, N.Y., who lost a brother-in-law in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has been walking since July 29 in an effort to call attention to the mission of the September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. The organization is made up of 120 families of victims of 9/11.

"The walk is incredible. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing," said Jones, who has been with the march since the families and a 1,400-pound granite stone left Boston. The group is walking to New York, expecting to arrive Sept. 2.

The stone is being pulled on a caisson, serving as a symbol of the cost of war. One like it is on the grounds of The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Mass., where it inspires perpetual prayer, said Lois Smith of Guilford, a volunteer who is coordinating the walk in New Haven County. The stone honors unknown civilians killed in war.

"This is a major pilgrimage for the stone," Smith said, as well as a symbol to show that it takes people working together "to move mountains, which is what it takes to create a peaceful world."

Events began in Boston July 26, where the stone was displayed at a Veterans for Peace conference and the Boston Social Forum, Jones said. It also was in Copley Square at a display called "Eyes Wide Open," which displayed Army boots for each soldier killed in Iraq and a pile for the 10,000 civilians who lost their lives there. "The purpose is to persuade policy-makers to work for a safe and more peaceful world," Smith said.

Jones and other family members of victims of 9/11 spoke Sunday night at the Unitarian Society of New Haven. The vocal group Another Octave, performed.

Walkers expect to leave the North Branford fire station at the intersection of routes 17 and 22 about 9:30 a.m. today and proceed to the New Haven Green. There is no activity Tuesday, but on Wednesday the stone will leave New Haven and proceed to the Orange Fire Department station on Route 1.

On Wednesday night, there will be a public forum with the Peaceful Tomorrows stone walkers at the Friends’ Meeting House, 225 E. Grand Ave., New Haven.

On Thursday, the stone will leave the Orange fire station in the morning and will proceed into Milford via Route 1. There will be a public program at 7 p.m. with artist Jane Bernhardt of Promoting Enduring Peace in Milford.

The stone will head to Stratford on Friday.