By TORY DENIS
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Four members of the local group Springfield Peace and Justice gathered on Saturday morning to demonstrate their opinion that peace, not war or violence, is a better way of resolving conflict.
Dozens of Springfield drivers honked in solidarity, while some showed no reaction as the small group stood quietly on the sidewalk on Main Street, holding up signs in support of peace.
“We’re dripping water on the forehead of Springfielders, a drop at a time,” said Chuck Gregory, a longtime member of the group.
Gregory said the group has been holding the small-scale protests locally since the first Iraq war. The message they are trying to help people understand, he said, is that war is an “extremely ineffective, cost-unproductive way of settling disputes.
The signs were self-explanatory: “I’m already against the next war,” “Black lives matter,” and “Living need, not corporate greed,” were among the messages.
The group included Murray Ngoima of Pomfret, Vermont; Norman Emond of Charlestown, New Hampshire, the self-described “oldest member;” Gregory, and Larry Sherk of Springfield.
Ngoima said that she and Emond have been holding protests of this nature since 1970, to protest the Vietnam War, and also take part in political parties and other events as part of the Liberty Union Party of Vermont, also founded in 1970.
Sherk said the reason he participates is to focus on not just the negative, but the positive aspects going on in the world as well.
He said he is trying to “combat fear by pointing out the positive things that are developing,” he said.
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