thedrifter
06-29-07, 04:37 PM
Vets’ anti-war float allowed in parade
By Robert Imrie - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jun 29, 2007 6:42:34 EDT
WAUSAU, Wis. — Organizers of Superior’s Fourth of July parade said Thursday they will accept a veterans group’s controversial anti-war float because their tradition of openness is more important than fueling any dispute.
Two other parades have rejected the float.
“This is supposed to be fun,” said Bill Andrews, co-chairman of the committee that has organized Superior’s parade for 10 years. “Our policy is to let anybody in the parade, and they’re in. We have had no controversy, and we are not going to start now.”
The committee decided Wednesday to put the Veterans for Peace float in the back of the 125-unit parade even though it missed a sign-up deadline. The parade is all about “letting freedom ring” on the nation’s birthday, Andrews said Thursday.
“The reaction to the float will probably be next to nothing,” he added.
The float was kicked out of a June 16 parade in Virginia, Minn., after organizers learned its theme, and the group’s application to join the June 24 Musky Festival parade in Hayward was rejected.
The group had been considering consulting the American Civil Liberties Union on possible legal action if it was rejected from other parades, said Navy veteran Peter Edmunds, 68, of Solon Springs. He furnished the trailer and supplies for the float as a member of the Duluth, Minn., chapter of Veterans for Peace.
In addition to the Superior parade, it has scheduled to appear in July 3 parades in Aurora, Minn., and Gilbert, Minn., Edmunds said.
The float carries a 7-foot-tall, 20-foot-long, two-sided billboard with this message printed in 12-inch letters: “For Children, for veterans, for mothers, for the planet, no more war.”
Another sign in the back of the pickup that pulls the float says, “3,520 dead. How many more must die before we say enough?”
It’s a reference to the U.S. troops killed in Iraq since March 2003 when troops invaded the country to topple Saddam Hussein’s government. The number of casualties is updated before each parade with red tape over the original painted black numerals, Edmunds said.
“The inference is the Iraq war is a bad idea,” said Edmunds, who served in the Navy in the 1960s, just after the Korean War and before Vietnam. “We are trying to wake people up.”
His Veterans for Peace chapter has about 50 members, some of them World War II veterans.
“It is not like we are just the average peacenik,” Edmunds said. “Some have been in real battles, and some have real battle scars.”
No members are Iraq war veterans, he said. Grandmothers for Peace and Peace North also sponsor the float.
The float rolled through about a dozen parades in Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, including Superior, last year with little fanfare, other than from an occasional spectator who objected with “thumbs down or one finger up,” Edmunds said.
But as the float was being readied for transport home after a parade in Bayfield, one man got in Edmunds’ face and yelled at him for nearly a minute before stomping off.
“He said I was unpatriotic and this was inappropriate for a parade,” Edmunds said.
The controversy started this year in Virginia, Minn. The float was accepted for the Land of the Loon Arts and Crafts Festival parade but uninvited three weeks later. Various reasons were offered, including organizers desire to avoid anything politically controversial, the veterans’ group said.
The parade’s bylaws have long prohibited political floats, one organizer later said.
Edmunds’ group took the float to Virginia anyway and parked it near the festival.
The Hayward parade did not give a reason in its letter rejecting the veterans’ group’s application, Edmunds said. His group didn’t push the issue because the son of the parade’s grand marshals was wounded in Iraq and lost an arm.
“We just kind of quietly backed away from it,” Edmunds said.
Kevin Ruetten, executive director of the Hayward Area Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the parade, did not immediately return a telephone message Thursday.
Edmunds said he has been “whining” about war for 40 years and news stories on the float controversy have been a godsend for getting the anti-war message before more people.
“I am sort of energized by it,” he said. “The original premise of us doing this was to reach a wider audience and create a conversation about the war.”
Ellie
By Robert Imrie - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jun 29, 2007 6:42:34 EDT
WAUSAU, Wis. — Organizers of Superior’s Fourth of July parade said Thursday they will accept a veterans group’s controversial anti-war float because their tradition of openness is more important than fueling any dispute.
Two other parades have rejected the float.
“This is supposed to be fun,” said Bill Andrews, co-chairman of the committee that has organized Superior’s parade for 10 years. “Our policy is to let anybody in the parade, and they’re in. We have had no controversy, and we are not going to start now.”
The committee decided Wednesday to put the Veterans for Peace float in the back of the 125-unit parade even though it missed a sign-up deadline. The parade is all about “letting freedom ring” on the nation’s birthday, Andrews said Thursday.
“The reaction to the float will probably be next to nothing,” he added.
The float was kicked out of a June 16 parade in Virginia, Minn., after organizers learned its theme, and the group’s application to join the June 24 Musky Festival parade in Hayward was rejected.
The group had been considering consulting the American Civil Liberties Union on possible legal action if it was rejected from other parades, said Navy veteran Peter Edmunds, 68, of Solon Springs. He furnished the trailer and supplies for the float as a member of the Duluth, Minn., chapter of Veterans for Peace.
In addition to the Superior parade, it has scheduled to appear in July 3 parades in Aurora, Minn., and Gilbert, Minn., Edmunds said.
The float carries a 7-foot-tall, 20-foot-long, two-sided billboard with this message printed in 12-inch letters: “For Children, for veterans, for mothers, for the planet, no more war.”
Another sign in the back of the pickup that pulls the float says, “3,520 dead. How many more must die before we say enough?”
It’s a reference to the U.S. troops killed in Iraq since March 2003 when troops invaded the country to topple Saddam Hussein’s government. The number of casualties is updated before each parade with red tape over the original painted black numerals, Edmunds said.
“The inference is the Iraq war is a bad idea,” said Edmunds, who served in the Navy in the 1960s, just after the Korean War and before Vietnam. “We are trying to wake people up.”
His Veterans for Peace chapter has about 50 members, some of them World War II veterans.
“It is not like we are just the average peacenik,” Edmunds said. “Some have been in real battles, and some have real battle scars.”
No members are Iraq war veterans, he said. Grandmothers for Peace and Peace North also sponsor the float.
The float rolled through about a dozen parades in Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, including Superior, last year with little fanfare, other than from an occasional spectator who objected with “thumbs down or one finger up,” Edmunds said.
But as the float was being readied for transport home after a parade in Bayfield, one man got in Edmunds’ face and yelled at him for nearly a minute before stomping off.
“He said I was unpatriotic and this was inappropriate for a parade,” Edmunds said.
The controversy started this year in Virginia, Minn. The float was accepted for the Land of the Loon Arts and Crafts Festival parade but uninvited three weeks later. Various reasons were offered, including organizers desire to avoid anything politically controversial, the veterans’ group said.
The parade’s bylaws have long prohibited political floats, one organizer later said.
Edmunds’ group took the float to Virginia anyway and parked it near the festival.
The Hayward parade did not give a reason in its letter rejecting the veterans’ group’s application, Edmunds said. His group didn’t push the issue because the son of the parade’s grand marshals was wounded in Iraq and lost an arm.
“We just kind of quietly backed away from it,” Edmunds said.
Kevin Ruetten, executive director of the Hayward Area Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the parade, did not immediately return a telephone message Thursday.
Edmunds said he has been “whining” about war for 40 years and news stories on the float controversy have been a godsend for getting the anti-war message before more people.
“I am sort of energized by it,” he said. “The original premise of us doing this was to reach a wider audience and create a conversation about the war.”
Ellie