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Published: Sep 11, 2007 07:08 PM
Modified: Sep 11, 2007 07:08 PM

Giving peace a name -- or 3
Names of activists will be set in stone
 
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CHAPEL HILL -- Peace and justice have a name -- three of them, actually, and counting -- and they'll be engraved in granite.

The Town Council agreed Monday to install a 5-by-5-foot granite paver at the foot of the flag pole in front of the post office on Franklin Street, in an area the council last year named "Peace and Justice Plaza."

The paver will include that name, along with the names of local activists Alice Adams, Joe Straley and Lucy Straley, and a quote from Benjamin Franklin: "There was never a good war or a bad peace."

Adams and the Straleys spent decades working for peace and equality, and all three lived at least into their 90s. Adams and Joe Straley died in 2005. Lucy Straley died earlier this year.

All three rallied against the Vietnam War in front of the post office every week for at least five years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, perhaps the longest continual series of peace vigils in United States history.

In 1935, Adams founded the local branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and Lucy Straley later also got involved. Adams also founded Carrboro's Dispute Settlement Center, the state's first dispute mediation center, in 1977.

The Straleys took up social causes the way other couples pursued hobbies like golf and fishing. From the civil rights movement to the civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador, the couple got involved whenever they felt peace and freedom were under attack.

They were a formidable team, with Joe being the extrovert who served a stint on the Chapel Hill Town Council and Lucy the glue that allowed the couple to raise three children and stay active in a range of political causes.

Staff writers David Bracken and Matt Dees contributed to this report.

Staff writer Jesse James DeConto can be reached at 932-8760 or jesse.deconto@nando.com.
The Chapel Hill News
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