Posted on 07/17/2009 8:20:47 PM PDT by JRochelle
The Bristol Fourth of July Committee and the Rhode Island Tea Party put down their sabers Wednesday, a week after a phone call between two Bristol residents unleashed a torrent of nationwide anger upon this town and the state of Rhode Island.
The Tea Party accepted an apology from Fourth of July committee chairman Dave Burns, and assurance that the citizens activist group has not been banned from future July 4 parades. The Fourth of July Committee also made it clear that their Float Committee chairman, Jim Tavares, had no authority to “ban” the Tea Party when he called float organizer and Bristol resident Marina Peterson last Wednesday, July 8.
According to Ms. Peterson, Mr. Tavares called her four days after the parade and screamed about her group’s actions during the parade, telling her “we never should have let you people in in the first place.” He allegedly said the Tea Party group should never apply to be in the parade again. He was angry because someone connected to the Tea Party distributed materials during the parade in violation of event rules — and after being told not to.
It was later revealed that the offender, Warwick resident Christopher Kairnes, is a member of the Tea Party but was not part of the group’s official float. In a letter, he said he bought a couple thousand copies of pocket Declarations of Independence/U.S. Constitutions and distributed those, bumper stickers and other materials on his own to people along the route.
At the start of the parade last Saturday morning, Mr. Tavares confronted Mr. Kairnes — who was wearing a yellow shirt matching those worn by Tea Party members on the float and was walking alongside the float — and tried to confiscate the materials. They had a brief confrontation before Mr. Kairnes continued down the parade route distributing his Declarations of Independence.
Mr. Tavares did not respond to efforts to reach him and he did not attend a Tuesday meeting at Bristol Town Hall, arranged by Town Administrator Diane Mederos, between Fourth of July committee leaders, Ms. Peterson and a town attorney. Ms. Mederos stepped into the controversy after being inundated with angry e-mails and phone calls from across the country. People accused the town and its leaders of being un-American, un-patriotic liberals, communists and socialists who spat on this nation’s ideals.
Ms. Mederos called it “a colossal misunderstanding.” Fourth of July Committee executive board member Nat Squatrito said Mr. Tavares “misspoke.” Parade chairwoman Judy Squires said “I knew Jim [Tavares] was calling the Tea Party, but I had no idea it was going to lead to this.” She did not know he would “ban” them from the parade.
The July 8 conversation between Mr. Tavares and Ms. Peterson spread across the country after Ms. Peterson sent an e-mail to the roughly 800 Rhode Island Tea Party members. Through Internet message boards, more e-mails, local talk radio and finally the nationwide Glenn Beck radio talk show, people from across America were told that organizers of the nation’s oldest Independence Day celebration had banned the Tea Party because someone handed out the U.S. Constitution.
Despite the apology from the Fourth of July Committee, Ms. Peterson is not satisfied. She feels her group has been wrongfully accused of violating parade rules. “The accusations are totally false. No one from our float distributed any materials,” she said.
Of the nationwide response, she said, “All of a sudden, our float has turned into an icon for anyone who feels they’re being wronged by the government.”
Advertisement Ms. Squires feels battered, bruised and sick to her stomach after a week of this controversy. “The e-mails we’ve been getting have just been awful,” she said.
“We’re all volunteers doing the best we can,” she said. “I’m sorry all this is taking place right after what was by all accounts a very successful celebration. It’s sad to see.”
Read the committee’s statement
Note: Following is a statement released Tuesday morning by Fourth of July Committee Chairman David Burns on the Tea Party controversy:
As Chairman of the Fourth of July Committee for the past two years, I would like to clear up any misunderstanding regarding this year’s Fourth of July Parade and the Rhode Island Tea Party float.
The Fourth of July Committee regrets and apologizes for any miscommunication to the Rhode Island Tea Party group and assures them that they are not banned from future parades. In addition, it has not been determined that materials were distributed from the Rhode Island Tea Party Float.
It is not the policy of the Fourth of July Committee to “ban” floats, marching units or parade participants. The parade units participate in the parade upon invitation only. If a particular organization violates policy the committee would investigate the violation. The Chairman of the Float Committee did not and does not have the authority to ban floats from the parade in future years.
The Fourth of July Committee will investigate all of the organizations that may have distributed materials along the route this year and provide such organizations with an opportunity to present their side of the story to the committee before taking any further action.
David Burns, Chairman
Bristol Fourth of July Committee
July 14, 2009
Why would we accept their apology?
We should stop being so accepting
Yah, it’s time our side did some of it. Whoooeeeeee.
Isn't this a violation of free speech?
How dare they pass out Constitutions and Declarations of Independence at a 4th of July parade! The nerve of them of some people. What they think the First Amendment applies to anyone or something?
/sarc
Exactly. Resignations should be demanded.
What part of Independence Day did the parade organizers not understand????
The Constitution was SIGNED ON INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
Friggin liberal idiots %$%%&*#^$#$!&*%!!
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I heard that woman on Glenn Beck the other day. I knew that they would be getting a LOT of e-mails after that segment.
Wow. Just the thought of this b*sturd pulling this crap and getting as far as he did w/out the pulp being tore outta him, shows just how much the libtards having been abusing our (conservatives) tendency to not get involved in confrontational behavior as a daily occurance. It’s well past time to push back, and hard. (Not a call for violence, of course)
im thinking and seeing that conservatives have just about had enough and are beginning to become very vocal
Really? Thought it was adopted in September 1787. Who knew?
As for the Declaration of Independence, don't believe that was signed until August 1776.
Exactly!
We should ask for damages, and use that money to finance the RIGHT!
That is what the Left does to us, isn’t it?
shows just how much the libtards having been abusing our (conservatives) tendency to not get involved in confrontational behavior as a daily occurance.
Good idea but all for nothing if we do not get fair news. The news media is not fair. They are definitely pro-democrat.
I do not want to watch PRO-LIBERAL NEWS. I also do not want to watch PRO-conservative news.
I WANT FAIR NEWS WITHOUT OPINIONS. I WANT FACTS.
Until our side takes on the MSM, anything we do is in vain. Contrary to some peoples imaginary beliefs, the MSM is not on a deathwatch; they just successfully helped to elect an unqualified individual as President of the United States of America.
The MSM helps to control popular political opinion and until they are fair in their reporting, WE WILL always have the disadvantage.
Overload! The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776.
Not the Constitution.............
The lefties are hitting us from so many sides I feel slapped silly and overloaded. But I ain’t giving up!
If Mr. Burnes has any cojones, Jim Tavares will not be the float chairman next year.
Give it up. None of what you are wishing for will happen.
We have what we have, and that’s how the war will continue to be fought.
Isn't this a violation of free speech?
Sure, but that's civil, strong armed robbery, on the other hand, is a criminal matter that I would have pursued had he tried to take anything out of my hand.
But I would have also been a nice enough guy to give him a copy as the cops took him away... It would have come in handy.
Yep! Don't turn the other cheek, just bend over and spread'em!
Talk, talk, talk....NEVER works with a marxist ideologue!
So, if discussion and reasoning are proscribed, what IS left?
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