2 --Friday, Jan.24, 1997
LaGrange Daily News

A pair of peace marchers made their way through LaGrange Wednesday with a message of world peace and a coffin that serves as a chilling reminder of the victims of war.

By Graham Dukes
Staff Writer

On their eleventh day in Georgia, a weathered pair of peacemakers made their way through LaGrange heading out Highway 29 toward Alabama.

Rudy Stolfer,47, from Washington, Penn., and Kraig Mottar, 31, of Riverside, Calif., had spent Tuesday night in "an old gospel barn" outside of LaGrange before continuing the peace march they began on December 3.

They had in tow a 300-pound coffin on bicycle wheels which, they say, represents all those who have died in wars. They intend to keep walking, making their way across America "until world peace becomes a reality."

They hope that happens by the first of April when they plan to arrive at the Nevada nuclear teat site outside of Las Vegas. They are hopeful, but doubtful.

Along the 700 mile route from Washington, they have brought their message to the people in small towns and large metropolitan areas alike.

"We must end all wars," says Stolfer, the spokesman of the pair. "If we don't change the way we are doing things, the children have no future."

Small towns have been very receptive to them, they say. Large cities have largely ignored them. But, along the highways and in smaller communities, the pair has experienced the hospitality of America.

Funded by donations, they have slept in shelters or in wooded areas, sometimes coming up with enough money to stay in a cheap motel. The Salvation Army has housed them as have strangers who have invited them into their homes and to join them around their dinner tables.

Stolfer is a Vietnam veteran who worked for the railroad, for Greenpeace in the Mid west and ventured into business with his own wooden toys. Mottar is a former student who was attending school to enable him to move out of restaurant work. His college degree continues to elude him.

Both have found purpose in a series of peace marches in which they have participated together. Through America they have sensed a "de-sensitivity to the spirituality of the human family." Their message of peace on earth is underscored by their Christian beliefs. "The man gave us the plan 2,000 years ago," said Stolfer.

In LaGrange, the pair found help for an ailing bicycle wheel at a local bike shop.Billy Golden helped them out at no charge, they said, and they were grateful.Small towns again proved to be warm and generous.

Unkempt and somewhat weary, the duo left LaGrange headed toward West Point Wednesday afternoon, their coffin bearing the name they go by--WALT ROOT (We Are Living The Results Of Our Thoughts). There was a ring of truth to their name.

For anyone who would listen, there was also the ring of truth to their words, "We must change the present or lose the future," Stolfer said. "We need to find peace before the coffin is the only peace we know."