KENT KRIEGSHAUSER/The Register-Mail

A group of five people making a Walk for Peace move through New Windsor Thursday morning. They are walking the country to promote peace and protest the war in Iraq. The walk began in San Francisco and will end in Washington, D.C. From left are Isabelle Salmon, Ashley Casale, Art Brown, Antonio Kies and Michael Israel.

Group walking cross-country for peace

Hope to reach Washington by Sept. 11

Friday, August 3, 2007

By CIGI ROSS

The Register-Mail

The two have been hiking across the country on a "March for Peace" that began May 21 in San Francisco and will take them 3,000 miles to Washington, D.C., which they hope to reach by Sept. 11. The trip was arranged by Casale, a 19-year-old student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., who started a Web site during her freshman year.

Israel, 18, of Jackson, Calif., was the only activist to join her in San Francisco, where the two met for the first time just 10 minutes before their journey began. They have been traveling together through seven states so far.

They were joined by three other marchers and an on-the-ground coordinator in Des Moines, Iowa. Art Brown had been doing a solo peace walk from Oceanside, Calif., when he heard of "March for Peace" and met up with them Tuesday. Antonio Kies, of Omaha has been on the walk for eight days, and Isabelle Salmon, of Seattle, has marched four days. Peter Cobb drives ahead of the walkers, scouting sleeping locations and carrying the walkers' backpacks.

Both Israel and Casale are outfitted with fuel packs for hydration along the highways. They each wear a pair of Birkenstock sandals, the third pair of footwear for both. And both are determined to finish the walk and spread a message of peace.

"For me, it's not really politics at all," Casale said on Thursday morning in New Windsor. "Our march is to advocate nonviolence. The war in Iraq is one of the things we're thinking about, but it's not really what motivates me to march. It's not only this current administration or current war that gets me thinking about it, it's more the need for peace in general. There's violence all over the world."

Israel agreed.

"It's important that people don't just look to the political parties," Israel said. "People living in this country need to step up and try to make a change."

Each day presents the group with different challenges. The activity is mostly the same - walking, walking and more walking - usually beginning between 8 and 9 a.m. and concluding when it becomes dark. Some nights the group finds lodging and food in local supporters. On those days laundry is done and the crew gets clean clothes, warm food and showers. Other days the marchers sleep in tents along the roadside. But the group shrugs off any mention of physical or personal discomfort.

"The physical demand is pretty gruelling," Casale said, though she says she and Israel have become used to day-long walking. "We're committed to doing this, so we're just going to keep going."

Although the Casale knows the walk won't end the war, "We hope it will make the war end, but we don't hinge our hope on that," she has seen its effects on other activists.

"We've seen people that feel inspired to take action," she said. "We hope that everyone we talk to, and every town we pass through, and every peace group we make contact with will be more vitalized and take more action."

The marchers made it to Galesburg Thursday night and spent the night there. Their next stops are expected to be in Knoxville, Brimfield, Pekin and Peoria.

On the Net:

March for Peace

www.marchforpeace.info