Peace Conference Scheduled at Chapman

A free, daylong conference on peace is being planned by a group of 27 organizations interested in international peace efforts.

To be held Saturday at Chapman College in Orange, Uniting for Peace is a combined celebration of International Year of Peace--as the United Nations has designated 1986--and National United Nations Day, which actually falls on Oct. 24.

Organizers hope that participants fill a 900-seat auditorium and 25 classrooms provided by the college.

“If we have 900 people talking about peace, then we better the chance we’ll have peace,” said organizer Lester Van Tatenhove of Santa Ana. “It won’t happen overnight, mind you, but it will help.”

Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the auditorium at 333 N. Glassell St.

Derek Boothby, U.N. senior political affairs officer, will open the conference at 9 a.m. with a keynote address.

A panel discussion titled “Working for Peace” will follow at 10:15 and last till noon, with Larry Agran, mayor of Irvine, serving as moderator. Panelists will describe their involvement in the peace movement, Van Tatenhove said. They include Juana Conrad, president of International Women for Peace and Arbitration, and Jean Forbath, founder of Share Ourselves, the Costa Mesa-based service organization for the needy and homeless.

Others are Bill Mack, political action chairman for the Orange County chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People; Tom Tierney, a Tustin businessman who has donated $450,000 to UC Irvine for peace studies, and Dorothy Williams, a resident of the Hy-Lond Convalescent Hospital in Westminster, where residents have “adopted” and prayed for American hostages in Lebanon.

In the afternoon, workshops on a variety of peace-related issues will be held in three 45-minute sessions, running from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Topics include “Letter Writing to Government Officials and Editors,” “Perspective on the Arms Race” and “Raising Children to Wage Peace.”

Activities for children also will be held. In the morning, “Around the World,” an imaginary trip to five foreign countries, will stress “the oneness of mankind” through games, discussions and displays, according to its planner Jan Smith of the El Toro Community of the Baha’i Faith. In the afternoon, art projects designed by Susan Eaton, a member of Orange County Educators for Social Responsibility, will also stress international cooperation.

Folk dancing will follow at 3:30 p.m., and the event will conclude at 4 p.m. with the release of an “International Peace Balloon,” a balloon painted to resemble the earth and carrying messages from conference participants.

Van Tatenhove, a retired superior court judge who founded the Orange County United Nations Assn. 35 years ago, conceived of the conference last November when he learned of the U.N.’s intentions to designate this year as “International Year of Peace.”

Joining him in initial planning stages was Ralph Farrington, chairman of the Irvine’s Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’i Faith, a 150-year-old world religion active in the peace movement.

The Interfaith Peace Ministry of Organization contacted the 25 sponsoring organizations which include Alliance for Survival, Amnesty International and Concern.

The Orange County United Nations Assn., which claims a membership of 200, operates a reading room and nonprofit gift shop.

While attendance at “Uniting for Peace” is free of charge, organizers ask that participants register in advance by contacting the United Nations Center at 2428 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana, or by calling (714) 241--9351.

There will be a charge for lunch and a $2 to $3 materials fee for children.

“This has been a good year for peace, what with Hands Across America, the Great Peace March and International Day of Peace,” said Van Tatenhove. “We just want to make it better.”