PORT ANGELES — When faced with a bad situation, a lot of people like to cut and run.
Not Laura O’Neal.
As the executive director of the Peninsula Dispute Resolution Center, O’Neal and her staff member, Mayree Lowman, dedicate much of their time diving right into the middle of family or business conflicts.
“When you’re in a [conflict] situation where a third party is not present, you behave differently, often slowing yourself down,” O’Neal said.
“But when you do have a third party, you both become more human.”
For a sliding fee scale and since 1992, the resolution center — a United Way agency — has been helping people get past their differences through conflict resolution and mediation techniques.
But sometimes people resolve conflicts on a regular basis that aren’t necessarily their “business,” and they do it in a quiet, unassuming way.
O’Neal wants to know who these people are.
Nominations due May 6
From now until Friday, the Peninsula Dispute Resolution Center is accepting nominations for people who express an everyday commitment to resolution of problems.
“What we’re asking for is people in the community who resolve conflict in a peaceful way,” O’Neal said.
“It doesn’t have to be in a structured way or even a professional mediator.
“It could be someone at the grocery store.”
Once all nominations are in, an independent committee will look them over and select recipients for the award.
Those people will be recognized at an awards ceremony May 25 at 7 p.m. at the Port Angeles Senior Center, although everyone nominated will be acknowledged with a certificate, O’Neal said.
Last year, the state Department of Transportation and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe won the Bill and Carol Knebes Award — named after the founders of the resolution center — for their work in resolving issues that surfaced around the city’s graving yard construction, which later was halted anyway.
“We wanted years ago to start acknowledging those people who do so much to resolve conflicts peacefully,” she added.
To get more information, call the Peninsula Dispute Resolution Center at 360-452-8024, or visit its Web site at www.pdrc.org.
