The 2005 Columbus Day parade
will go ahead as planned in Denver, one of its key organizers said
Tuesday, even as several groups called for the repeal of Columbus Day
as a state and national holiday. "It's ... celebrating our heritage. We
will have our motorcycle guys, we will have our floats, the older
people and the younger children," said George Vendegnia, founder of the
Sons of Italy-New Generation and a parade organizer. Hours earlier,
organizations representing the more than 200 protesters arrested for
blocking last year's parade called for the repeal of Columbus Day as a
state and national holiday. They also asked the mayor and City Council
to take "the moral position that celebrations to Columbus are no longer
welcome in Denver ..." "This is consistent with Mayor (Federico) PeÃa
and Mayor (Wellington) Webb telling the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis that
they are not welcome in Denver," said Glenn Morris, one of the protest
organizers acquitted last week. "We expect no less from the mayor and
the council with regard to the racist celebration and veneration of
Columbus," Morris said. On Tuesday, City Council members urged City
Attorney Cole Finegan to draft stricter ordinances prohibiting people
from blocking or disrupting assemblies such as parades. Councilman
Charlie Brown said he wants the tighter ordinances passed before
Columbus Day in October. [more]
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