Posted on 11/01/2005 3:39:14 PM PST by SmithL
After three weeks of infighting that almost scuttled the Berkeley Veterans Day ceremony, the man whose role as a proposed speaker started the dispute has decided not to speak after all.
On Monday, Bill Mitchell, co-founder of Cindy Sheehan's group, Gold Star Families for Peace, notified Mayor Tom Bates that he has decided to instead attend an anti-war rally in Santa Monica that day.
Mitchell's name had been proposed by the chairman of the organizing committee, singer/songwriter Country Joe McDonald, causing dissension within the committee. The local chapter of Disabled American Veterans, which has participated in past Berkeley Veterans Day memorials, threatened to withdraw, claiming Mitchell's presence would turn the event into a protest against the war in Iraq.
But other members of the ad hoc committee supported Mitchell's appearance, saying that uninviting him would be tantamount to censoring his right of free speech.
Two weeks ago, McDonald announced the ceremony was canceled because of the lack of consensus.
But last week, Mayor Tom Bates resurrected the event by forging a compromise: Mitchell would still be invited to speak, but not as the keynote speaker.
That was still unsatisfactory for the DAV, which announced it would not participate, although individual members would still attend. Bates tried to mollify the group by promising to speak with Mitchell and urge him to keep his remarks strictly non-partisan.
As a result of Mitchell's withdrawal, the DAV has reversed its decision to boycott the ceremony. Nate Harrison, commander of the local chapter, and David Gan, a veteran of the Normandy campaign in World War II, will speak at the event. The Veterans Day ceremony will take place in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park on Nov. 11 at 11:11 a.m. -- the exact moment when the armistice that ended the fighting in World War I went into effect in 1918.
Vietnam veteran Michael Blecker, executive director of Swords To Plowshares, will be the keynote speaker. He is expected to talk about veterans' rights.
Rev. Marvis Peoples of Liberty Hill Baptist Church will give the invocation, and Rev. Kurt Kuhwald of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists will give the benediction. McDonald will be the master of ceremonies. Bates and Councilwoman Dona Spring will deliver welcoming remarks. The Berkeley High School Pep Band will play the national anthem, and the Cal ROTC will provide the color guard.
After the ceremony, a reception will be held in the lobby of the nearby Veterans Memorial Building.
I guess even the washed-up peaceniks have their own "security resolutions" that one must satisfy.
How the HELL did "Country Joe" McDonald get to be chairman of a Veterans' Day event??? I know he's famous for the "VietNam Rag". Is he a veteran? Even if he is, why in God's name would anyone associated with veterans or Vetrans' Day let him run the event?
Well. That oughta be special.
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