SAN DIEGO BRIEFLY

A less-publicized facet of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s visit to New York will be a presentation to him of a dinner plate embossed with a mural titled “Peace Through Children” by San Diego artist Mario Torero. In addition to the plate, Gorbachev will receive about 400 letters written both to him and the children of the Soviet Union by the students at Miramar Ranch Elementary School. “It’s kind of exciting, the idea of children writing to children and developing relationships with children in the rest of the world,” said Miramar Principal Bruce McKay. The peace through children project is the brainchild of Dan Garcia, who arranged for a presentation to Gorbachev at the Soviet Mission at the United Nations. Garcia has personally presented copies of the mural to Pope John-Paul II and Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.