Byline: Paul Grondahl Staff writer
On the afternoon that the verdict in the Rodney King case fueledthe Los Angelos inferno and reignited the incendiary issue ofrace in America, an improbable symbol of unity was taking wingon a rocky rise in this Rensselaer County community.
Nearly a dozen volunteers, armed with nothing more substantial than good will, were turning steel, concrete and wood into a tangible statement against violence and war.
Their architecture of faith is the Grafton Peace Pagoda, a domed Buddhist shrine that will welcome all visitors and spiritual seekers regardless of race, creed or religion after its scheduled completion in September 1993.
The process of building a peace pagoda - the Grafton structure is only the second in North America, although about 75 exist worldwide, mostly in Japan and India - has been likened to an international barn- raising or a scene from "Lilies of the Field."
"Somehow, people just seem to show up when we need them," says Jun Yasuda, 43, a Buddhist nun who has coordinated the loosely organized building program that began with ground clearing three years ago.
On this day, Burt Howard, a Quaker and retired engineer from Troy, was …
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