It's Official: Veterans are not troops (just has beens)

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23224

It's Official: Veterans are not troops (just has beens)
Submitted by danielifearn on Sat, 2007-06-02 17:54. IFPJ



Removal of bus from parade in Newport provokes boycott

By Winston Ross
The Register-Guard
Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007

NEWPORT (OR)- Here's a riddle: When is a vehicle not a vehicle?

When it's a biodiesel-fueled peace bus, according to the organizers of this year's Newport Loyalty Days parade. Which is why Springfield resident and Veterans for Peace member Gordon Sturrock was banished to preach peace in a parking lot at the 51st annual event, then to mope along Highway 101 only after all of the approved parade entrants had done their thing.

It's also why a movement to boycott the coastal city's merchants is gathering steam. Almost 600 people have signed an online petition blasting the decision to exclude Sturrock's message-laden vehicle from the parade and promising not to do business in Newport until there's some reconciliation.

All this fuss over a bus? Here's the back story:

To be perfectly clear, the bus wasn't officially registered in the May 5 parade - not as a bus, anyway. The Lincoln County Democrats only scribbled "vehicle" on their application. They then called parade organizer Patty Louisiana to let her know it was a bus. But when the actual contraption showed up at the staging ground - two hours early by Sturrock's watch and a half-hour late by Louisiana's - there was a problem, she explained in an event captured on videotape.

"I'm going to have to ask you not to be in the parade," Louisiana said.

"What's wrong with the bus?" Sturrock asked. "As the spirit of the parade is `Loyalty to the community - ' " Louisiana said.

"Why is this not loyal?" Sturrock interjected.

"You did not declare this on your application," Louisiana said. "I'd like you to respect the spirit of the parade. You called and said there would be a bus. But to me a bus is a van, with supportive signs."

more...