PORT ANGELES – Fifteen people gathered on the doorstep of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks Monday morning with banners, signs, passion and pie.
The Sequim Family Farms sugar-free apple pie that was set before Mary Schuneman, district representative for Dicks, D-Belfair, was a peace offering.
Kassandra Kersting of Sequim presented the gift as a symbol of the group’s hopes for a piece of the federal budget pie to be allocated to a U.S. Department of Peace.
She’d expected eight local residents to show up for the presentation.
So she was pleased to see the larger turnout of people from across the North Olympic Peninsula.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio introduced legislation in September 2005 to create a Department of Peace.
Since then, some 65 representatives in the House of Representatives have signed on as cosponsors.
The Peace Alliance, a nonpartisan organization (www.DOPcampaign.org), urged activists across the nation to use Mother’s Day as a flashpoint.
Mother’s Day was an idea inspired by Julia Ward Howe, who in 1862 wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and who worked for peace and women’s rights.
Howe’s work inspired Kersting to visit Dicks’ Port Angeles office the morning after Mother’s Day, though the congressman is in Washington, D.C., at least until Memorial Day weekend.
Dicks represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes Jefferson and Clallam counties.
Schuneman staffs the Port Angeles office on Mondays and Thursdays.
