I **
'
Lois Barton, “a force to be reckoned with" in the Eugene Peace
Center since 1966, sits in the soon-to-be-demolished headquarters.
Eugene Urban Renewal is tearing down the entire block of buildings at
^ s Photo by Phil Waldstein
the Center’s present 10th Ave. location. The Center’s new office will be
at 3800 Hilyard St.
Peace Center carries on in new location
A landmark in downtown
Eugene is being “urban
renewed” to a new location at the
end of this month.
The Eugene Peace Center is
moving from its location for the
past three years at 119 E. 10th to a
building owned by a Presbyterian
Church at 3800 Hilyard St.
The Center, which has been in
operation in different forms at
various locations in Eugene since
1962, has had three main func
tions. Operated by the World
Without War Council, it has
served as a resource center for
peace education, a com
munications center for in
dividuals and organizations
active in peace education, and as
an action center for local peace
work.
In 1962, the Eugene branch of a
national umbrella organization
for community peace centers
called Turn Toward Peace
opened the first Eugene office on
the second floor of the Hampton
Bldg. This office was closed
because there wasn’t enough
demand in the community for the
materials to justify paying rent.
The national Turn Toward
Peace flopped in the middle
sixties, and local people involved
in it—Quakers, pacifists, and
anti-Vietnam-war activists—
formed the World Without War
Council in Eugene. In 1967 and
1968 the organization shared
office space on W. 8th with the
Congress on Racial Equality
(before that group became all
Black), the Citizens for Sane
Foreign Policy, and with an anti
war ad hoc group. The foiiowing
years saw these people in an old
house on Lincoln St.
The Eugene Peace Center has
operated in its 10th St. office on a
budget of $6,000-$7,000 per year.
This money comes from dues,
voluntary contributions from
people in the community, from
the sale of peace materials, and
from fund-raising events.
One such event used to be an
annual children’s book fair which
netted as much as $1200, but
which was discontinued when the
Center lost its relationship with
its distributor of books. Another
money-raiser was the May Ball,
which brought in over $500 when
it was held in 1965. The WWWC
became a dues-assessing
organization in 1969. Annual dues
are $6. There are approximately
100 members.
The Peace Center has three
paid staff, each of whom is paid
$200 per month. Other fixed
expenditures have been the rent
and utilities at about $100 per
month.
The center has had a series of
peace interns on its paid staff.
The Emerald interviewed Rick
Ritch, 25, a conscientious ob
jector and a ’69 graduate of the
By JOYCE BOLES
Of the Emerald
UO School of Journalism, who is
the current peace intern. Fitch
works with Debbie Gordon, 25, a
Eugene woman active in the
peace movement for many years.
But the force to be reckoned
with at the Eugene Peace Center
has been Lois Barton, 55, Quaker
mother of eight who has worked
for the Center since 1966. Barton
lives with her family on a farm
near Eugene. The farm was
originally bought by a group of
pacifists after the McCarthy era
in the early fifties. Barton does
not work at the Center in the
summer months when her
children are home from school.
Barton says the anti-Vietnam
war feeling and activism is not all
gone, but that the “average
person thinks the war is over and
has gone fishing. This is what
Nixon would like us to believe,
and a lot of people have bought
that,” Barton told the Emerald.
Barton cited a survey of the
American people that said only
about 10 per cent of Americans
care about foreign policy, and
that many of these are
academics. Another 10 per cent
feel some responsibility for or
about domestic policy, while at
the other end of the scale, 10 per
cent believe “there’s nothing you
can do.”
The Center fulfills its resource
function by renting audio-visual
materials, selling and lending a
wide range of books, distributing
flyers and pamphlets, supplying
a selection of “peace
periodicals” for people to read in
the office, and keeping files on
peace activities locally and
nationally. The Center also
operates a speakers bureau and
cooperates with other local peace
organizations on bringing
speakers into the community.
Local peace organizations
currently active include the
Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom, Clergy
and Laity Concerned, Peace
Investors of Eugene, Peace
Concerned Tax Consultants, the
Vietnam Veterans Against the
War, and Medical Aid for In
dochina .
The Center publishes a monthly
newsletter for the “peace con
stituency” and arranges periodic
meetings of the groups. It also
publicizes the activities of the
“peace people,” and allows
various groups to use its office.
Communications to the public
ORIENTAL CAFETERIA and GROCERY
Enjoy your lunch-dinner in our open-air garden
or take some home with you.
HOURS M-F 11-7:30
SAT and SUNDAYS 12:00-7:00
- BAMBOO PAVILION
345-5788 1275 ALDER
AD GOOD FOR 25C Off ON MEALS SUN JULY 1.
LIMIT ONE PER PERSON.
involved a referral service to get
people together with the proper
organization, bulletin boards,
booths at public events, and
regular contact with the news
media.
The WWWC operated the first
place in Eugene which provided
draft counseling, and it still
functions an employment office
for conscientious objectors
seeking alternative service.
Currently the Center is working
jointly with the Women’s In
tematonal League for Peace and
Freedom to get peace education
ma'erials into the public schools.
The School Resource Committee
gathers educational materials
and makes contacts with
teachers.
The Center also promotes
appropriate legislation, although
as a tax-exempt organization it is
not allowed to lobby. The Center
directs its activities at educating
the community about the
existence of the bills.
Although the Center is very
quiet now, Fitch and Barton
listed a wide range of other
projects the center is involved in:
a Planetary Citizenship Drive in
cooperation with the World
Federalists and local churches;
sponsorship of a consumer
boycott of corporations
responsible for the “electronic
battlefield” in Vietnam; a survey
of community attitudes toward
the United Nations, in
cooperation with the Mayor’s
Committee for International
Cooperation; an education
campaign about the state of the
political prisoners in South
Vietnamese prisons; efforts to
repeal the draft laws altogether;
and leadership training in peace
work—the WWWC Peace Intern
Program.
Fitch said the Center has ex
perienced very little harassment,
and that the indifference of the
community is the main problem.
He said sometimes “outraged
citizens” come to the office, and
that they have had a few crank
phone calls. About the possibility
of government surveillance, he
said, “If they were Feds, we
didn’t know it.”
The Emerald asked Fitch to
(Continued on Page 14)
SUMMER
HAIR CARE
at the beauty Ti/osilel
We have an experienced staff in all phases
of beauty culture to answer your beauty -
needs. We specialize in:
Long Hair Conditioning
Re-Conditioning
and
} Scientific Hair Analysis
Give Us a Try
beauty 7{JosiCd
2831! Willamette HAIR FASHIONS
NEXT TO EUGENE HARDWARE
686-14%