End gun violence

SANDUSKY — Protesters lined the sidewalk from Columbus Avenue to Washington Park, carrying signs and shouting pleas to end gun violence. Residents carry signs as they head from Schade-Mylander Plaza to the Washington Park gazebo Saturday, June 11, 2022, participating in the March for Our Lives rally to end gun violence. Register photo/Angela LaRosa The Center for Peace Through Understanding hosted a local "March For Our Lives" protest against gun violence Saturday, one of more than 100 similar marches that took place across the nation. "If we are going to make progress on issues like gun violence, we need movements to not just be in the big cities of this state, or any state, but they need to be in the smaller cities and rural communities," said Eric Wobser, Sandusky city manager, one of several people who spoke from the gazebo at Washington Park. People of all ages came to march in downtown Sandusky from Schade-Mylander Plaza including families with young school-aged children and grandparents. The march started at 10 a.m. with sign-making and T-shirt handouts. By 10:30 a.m., marchers were on the sidewalks waving their signs and shouting, "Enough is enough." Public officials attended the march and protest, including Erie County Pposecutor Kevin Baxter, Sandusky police Chief Jared Oliver, Perkins Township police Chief Vince Donald, Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth, Sandusky school board's president, Martha Murray, and her husband, Sandusky city commissioner Dennis Murray Jr., along with city commissioner Dave Waddington Ohio House District 89 candidate and civil rights activist Jim Obergefell also attended the march. Speakers included Marcus Harris, the diversity and economic opportunity manager for the city, and Phil Gardner, a retired Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor. "I'm a responsible gun owner. I have a shotgun that is safely secured in my home. But when I step out into the public, I count on — in a civil society — for us to act accordingly. I don't need to take something that protects my home into the public," Harris said. The march ended in prayer, led by Gardner "Praise this God, we call to you for a dose of conscience. Our nation dearly needs it. We are so divided in this country about various ideologies, various truths and lies and various understandings of what's wrong and how to deal with it. What we know is wrong is that there are bodies and there shouldn't be bodies. This keeps happening and happening and happening all over and all over again. "We pray for an answer. We pray that we can be responsible people and make good decisions. That those will make decisions for the sake of public safety throughout our country, throughout our state, throughout this city and county. "Bless our nation with peace, with the desire to support life, with a desire to put a stop to the violence and with a desire to honor one another as human beings with the gift of life. Bless us be with us for the one who came among us and suffered for us. Amen." The Center for Peace Through Understanding march was organized by Rev. Lenore Kure and members of First Congregational United Church of Christ. Young adults were lined up in front, followed by their more senior counterparts. March For Our Lives is a youth-led organization against gun violence founded by David Hogg, a survivor from the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. The March For Our Lives organization hosted a march in Washington D.C., and other cities on Saturday.