Posted on 05/18/2007 7:01:57 AM PDT by Inspectorette
Loyalty Day - Activists were banned from a parade because of paperwork, not politics, organizers say
NEWPORT -- When two anti-war groups showed up to take part in the annual Loyalty Day Parade in Newport, organizers sent them marching -- in the other direction.
Now two weeks later, as high season on the Oregon coast heats up, Newport finds itself at the heart of a boycott that has tourists pledging to take their loyalty elsewhere.
So far more than 400 people have signed an Internet petition protesting how parade organizers handled the confrontation and promising to bypass Newport merchants.
Shop owners haven't felt the effect yet, but the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce has been hearing from critics as far away as Denver, said executive director Susan Huntington. "The Chamber of Commerce is where all the people are registering their dismay," Huntington said. "We get all the e-mails and phone calls from people who are very angry about it."
The trouble started May 5 in the Safeway parking lot where parade entrants gathered to await the march through town down U.S. 101. The parade is sponsored by the nonprofit Loyalty Day and Sea Fair Association and is part of an annual weekend of community festivities.
Gordon Sturrock and about five others arrived from Eugene in the Veterans for Peace bus about two hours before the noon parade start. The biodiesel-fueled bus is painted with three messages: Veterans For Peace, Stop the War and American Made Biodiesel Gets Zero Soldiers Per Mile.
They had been invited by the Lincoln County Democrats to take part in the parade under the Democrats' banner, and assumed they would be included in the party's parade application. But the application made no mention of the veterans' bus. Shortly after arriving, the group learned from a sheriff's deputy that it wouldn't be permitted in the parade, Sturrock said. When members protested, the deputy sent parade chairwoman Patty Louisiana to talk with them.
Louisiana couldn't be reached for comment, but in a video shot by Sturrock, she can be seen telling the group members that they can't be in the parade if they plan to enter the bus. When Sturrock asks what's wrong with the bus, Louisiana tells him that the spirit of the parade is loyalty to the community. She also explains that parade rules require every group to fill out a parade application before the parade.
"I know you called and said there was a bus, but to me a bus is a van with supportive language," Louisiana tells Sturrock in the video.
Dan Beck, chairman of the Lincoln County Democrats, also tries to persuade Louisiana to allow the group to take part. "So even though we invited them to participate with us, you will not allow them to participate?" an angry Beck asks
Louisiana: "Yes."
Beck: "And it's because of their message?"
Louisiana: "It's because we have a spirit of community here in Newport."
After about eight minutes, the confrontation ends with Louisiana telling the group, "I feel, and I know the committee feels, that this was a way to circumvent our rules."
The whole matter might have ended there, but word that Veterans for Peace was excluded from the parade began to spread. Then a second group -- CodePink, Women For Peace -- reported that one of its members, also invited to participate with the Lincoln County Democrats, was turned away, too.
Four days ago, a petition drafted by Rik Reynolds of Washington state went up on the ipetitions.com. By Thursday afternoon, 403 people had signed the petition titled: "Newport, Oregon: Dissent is NOT Disloyalty, calls for the Boycott of Newport."
"I don't want to do any harm to Newport, but I want the committee put on notice this is not acceptable behavior," said Reynolds, who said he refused induction in the Vietnam War in 1970. He's a friend of Sturrock's and describes himself as an auxiliary member of Veterans for Peace.
"So far, the organizers and the city are not willing to admit this a mistake. All I'm asking is that they recognize they made a mistake and pledge not to repeat it in the future."
That's not likely to happen, said Lorrie Crook, co-chairwoman of the parade. "We didn't do anything wrong," she said. Several years ago, parade organizers turned away the Oregon Coast Aquarium because it also had failed to fill out an application, she said. "It doesn't have anything to do with ideology or the First Amendment," Crook said. "We said no because they didn't put in an application."
Excellent. I was thinking of retiring there.
You’ve got a lot of company. We retired here to the Oregon Coast two years ago. The climate, despite winter storms, is quite mild, no extremes of heat or cold. Once in a while we get a little snow, and that becomes a picture-taking occasion :-)
The Veterans For Peace was in the Nevada Day Parade last October. I was standing behind an elderly couple seated on lawn chairs. Every time an American flag came by the gentleman stood at attention. I found out that he was a Marine, and he’d seen action in both WWII and Korea. When the Veterans For Peace group came by he exclaimed, &#@*, they’re wearing costume store uniforms! Then he apolegized to the ladies present for his foul language. These so called “veterans”, ambled down the street waving little printshop signs. Several of them had small American flags stuffed in their pockets.
God bless our veterans. The unwashed anti-war idiots are free to make a**es of themselves because our veterans fought for our freedom, just as our fine young men and women are fighting today to protect us from Islamofascism.
Probably not more than 1 or 2 of the 400 are even from the area. Of those other 398 or so, they weren't coming to town to patronize the local businesses anyway.
Note to self: visit Newport more.
What a great little hidden gem on the coast. Of course the Oregon coast is full of those little gems, but I liked Newport a lot.
I hate to see such a beautiful place attacked because they actually do things like be patriotic or actually expect people to follow the rules.
Eugene = University of Oregon = Big nest of lefties
It was even that way when I grew up in the Willamette Valley in the 50s and 60s. It wasn’t too bad when I left for the Navy in 1971, but when I returned in 1977, I couldn’t pump my own gas, and bottles and aluminum cans all showed a refund value on the outside. I despair for what has happened to my beautiful state, but it’s good to know there’s a “red” city left.
If there’s any way I can support Newport from Arizona, I would like to express my appreciation and help them in some way.
It seems to me that the founding fathers intended for us to think for ourselves and to be free to disagree. It seems odd to me that people fear that. Should we all think alike? If so there are places that enforce that attitude.
I’ve never heard that encouraging people to not waste resource by via bottle and can deposits is a bad thing. Drive down the coast in a state that has no bottle bill and you’ll see what I mean.
Oh, and because I do think differently than you I suspect that the conservative censor will get me. But that will help to prove my point.
And I served 4+ years in the military during wartime and I worked for over 10 years in two Veteran’s Hospitals caring for those injured by war.
The parade was intended to be non-political. Why is it necessary for the left to continually impose its views into every scenario?
Thank you for your service to our country.
Well, the Oregon Central Coast is a beautiful place to visit. If you're planning on a vacation anytime soon, the weather is getting better all the time (it doesn't always rain here ;-)
The people are friendly, and the scenery is jaw-droppingly beautiful!
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