Columbus Day parade organizers say protest fines slap 'on the hand'

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 23, 2008 at 2:56 p.m.
Updated January 23, 2008 at 2:56 p.m.

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The organizer of the 2007 Columbus Day parade is glad protesters were found guilty of blocking the event, but he's not happy with the low fines they received.

"How many times could I break the law before I got severely punished?" George Vendegnia, a Denver businessman who organized the parade, asked today.

The procession has been stopped by protesters every year since 2000, when the celebration was revived. But until Tuesday, no protester had been convicted.

A four-woman, two-man Denver County Court jury convicted protest organizer Glenn Morris of disrupting a lawful assembly. Rev. Julie Todd was convicted of obstructing passage on a street, and Koreena Montoya, of Denver, was found guilty of resisting arrest and interfering with police.

Morris and Montoya were fined $200, while Todd was fined $100, with $50 suspended.

Vendegnia said the protesters should have received jail time.

"They just got a little spanking on the hand," he said.

Morris said today the protesters will decide soon whether to appeal their convictions.

The protesters say the parade is hateful to them because it honors an explorer who brought suffering to Indians.

Vendegnia said the parade is not intended to glorify Columbus, but to honor the nation that emerged in the New World.

"This was the discovery of this great country that we live in, and if we let a small group like this change this holiday, you know the next holiday they're going after is Thanksgiving," Vendegnia said.

Vendegnia said his event is called the Columbus Day parade because that's the name of the national holiday. If the name is changed, he'll rename the parade.

"Whatever they change it to, I will honor. They can change it to Native American day, and I would honor that," Vendegnia said.

But Morris said Vendegnia could rename the parade now.

"Why doesn't he call it an American parade?" he asked.

Vendegnia said his group is planning a 2008 Columbus Day parade.

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