Friday, July 24, 1998
INTELLIGENCER
Wheeling, W.Va.

By Mary Beth Diss
Intelligencer staff

One man is on a mission, and neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor sore feet can stop him.

Rudy Stolfer has been doing a lot of walking since Dec. 3, 1996, when he and five others started a march for peace in Washington DC. Twenty months and thousands of miles later, Stolfer has crossed and recrossed the country, seen one of his group members injured and become a solo man on the long jaunt that will culminate in Washington, DC on Labor Day weekend.

Stolfer traveled from the nation's capital to Oregon and from there turned around to recross the nation. Stolfer arrived in Wheeling this week, stopping to see family before starting the last leg of the trip that will conclude on the September holiday weekend.

"The Walt Root Quest for Peace," with Walt being an acronym for "We Are Living The Results Of Our Thoughts," is the name of the crusade Stolfer and the other walkers have been carrying on in the name of peace and freedom.

The premise of the peace walk is "improving awareness about how our individual freedoms are eroding and what different groups like Proposition 1 and Greenpeace are doing to improve our lives," Stolfer explained. Proposition 1 is an organization that has had a continuous 24-hour, seven-day-a-week vigil outside the White House since 1981 in a effort to eliminate all nuclear weapons.

"I have information about nuclear power and the environment and many other things," Stolfer said, "and I have been giving it out to anyone interested along the way. I am here to tell people how they can make a better world."

And he has had a lot of positive response.

"Having people come up to me and supporting me along my way justifies every step I take," Stolfer said.

"A lot of people walked with me through their towns, including many kids," Stolfer said, "I had kids walking with me who were from Switzerland, New Zealand and Russia, so it had an international flair to it. A lot of kids from the United States, too."

"Many older people stopped and talked to me, and they had the same ideas and worries and hopes I did. A couple of them even offered to cross the country with me if they could. And I know they would have, too."

"It is a great way to meet people and to be able to talk to people about what is going on. Instead of rushing around like everyone else, when I go three miles per hour, I can see there is a lot of good stuff going on." Stolfer, who ended up being the sole crusader after others were discouraged by weather and one was injured in an accident, continues his strive against war in all forms.

"There is a mentality in this country about war," Stolfer said. "There is the war against poverty and a war against drugs, but they are not working. There is no reason that in the United States in the '90s somebody should go to bed homeless or hungry."

Stolfer, a native of Washington. Pa., preaches a mixture of environmentalism, spirituality and freedom while reminding people of the good that is still in the world and trying to remove that which is bad.

"We are all victims or potential victims," Stolfer said. "I do not want anyone being a victim of war or homelessness or technology. Nobody is expendable."

"The first peace pilgrim was Jesus, and all we have to do is have faith and read the Word."

As Stolfer continues his walk to Washington, D.C., he can be seen pulling his cart with souvenirs, flags, mottos and a coffin representing the victims of various types of wars. He is adorned with necklaces, bracelets and other trinkets bestowed upon him by dozens of people in a variety of different states and of all ages and backgrounds.

What Stolfer and the interested bystanders do have in common is their desire for peace, freedom and justice.