September 21st is the International Day of Peace. Since 1982, Peace Day has been celebrated by millions of people all around the world. Sunday, residents in Cortland got a head start with their second annual Peace Walk.
For the second straight year, dozens of people took part in a walk to celebrate peace in Cortland. The walk began at Lakeview High School, and made its way to the city's clock park.
Clyde Bolinger and his wife Jean started the peace walk because of a song. "A song got into my head. And I couldn't get rid of it. And I struggled for over nine months trying to get it out of my mind, and it wouldn't leave. So I finally decided to do something. The song was let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."
The celebration includes many students from the Lakeview schools. Some third graders made pinwheels with their ideas of peace to place in the city. There was even an essay contest.
The winner was Lakeview Freshman Michaella Radich, "The topic was, if the whole world was ruled by one person, and they kind of didn't incorporate peace into society, and they just turned to using like bombs and weapons, and stuff, what like advice would you give the President."
The peace walk ended with a skit at Lakeview High School. Aaron Jesse participated in the skit, "It's about nuclear disarmament, and it talks about how there is a ridiculous number of nuclear weapons in the world. Especially between the United States and Russia."
Organizer Clyde Bolinger added, "Word has to get around that peace is extremely important. With 30 thousand nuclear missiles in the world. We're just an accident waiting to happen. And we've got to try to get people interested in peace, before it's too late."
