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By BILL PEACE; Times Leader Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 24, 1995 Page: 10A
WILKES-BARRE — Now that it has withstood half a century, the United
Nations should use more of its international clout to tackle world hunger and
preserve the rain forest, say members of the Northeastern and Central
Pennsylvania Chapter of the World Federalist Association.
“In the next 50 years, members of the U.N. should move their focus away
from thriving industrialized nations to underdeveloped countries,” said Robert
Griffin, president and one of 20 Wilkes-Barre area members of the WFA chapter.
Griffin of Forty Fort joined a dozen WFA members at noon Monday on Public
Square to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. They served
chocolate cake and soda while talking with passers-by about the group’s
beliefs.
There are 100 members in the six-month-old Northeastern and Central
Pennsylvania chapter.
The group advocates — among other things — U.N. intervention between
feuding ethnic rivalries and establishing an International Criminal Court,
Griffin said, standing near a 20-foot banner that read, “More Power to the
U.N.”
Griffin and five WFA members plan to travel to New York early this morning
and hold the banner in a peaceful demonstration near the United Nations. The
group has obtained a permit to do so, Griffin said.
Joining Griffin will be his father, Jack, David Oehmke, Cora Hunt and
Gottfried Csala.
Oehmke, a Plains Township resident who helped Griffin hand out information
on Public Square, said he’s excited about the trip to New York.
“This is a once in a lifetime thing and I want to be part of it,” Oehmke
said. “People who are opposed to the United Nations think they have to give up
sovereignty or that the organization comes above the allegiance to a country.
That’s not so.”
TIMES LEADER/CLARK VAN ORDEN
Members of the World Federalist Association celebrate the 50th anniversary
of the United Nations Monday afternoon on Public Square. Five members of the
WFA chapter plan to travel to New York today in honor of United Nations Day.