Draft Dodgers Monument
 

Hey Guys---I heard last night on the news that this will not be put up-the best news I've heard in a long time


Tuesday, September 28, 2004 ? Last updated 5:42 p.m. PT

Draft dodgers monument in Canada slammed

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A small Canadian town best known for its welcoming ski slopes and artsy tourist trade has drawn sharp criticism for a proposed memorial to the Vietnam draft dodgers who fled to the area three decades ago.

After threats of boycotts by people in the Spokane area to the south, and a call by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for President Bush and Congress to pressure Canada to stop the project, civic leaders in the British Columbia town of Nelson have distanced themselves from the idea. Even the man who organized the project said he was reconsidering.

"To honor draft-dodgers, deserters, people who brought grief to the families they left behind and anguish to those American men who took their place, is an abomination," said John Furgess, the national commander of the 2.4-million-member VFW.

The Nelson City Council passed a resolution Monday to buy newspaper advertising saying it was not involved with the proposed memorial, which is a private venture.

An estimated 125,000 Americans fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft. Many settled in British Columbia. About half returned to the United States when President Carter granted them amnesty in 1977.

Mayor Dave Elliott said he has been deluged with e-mails and calls since he attended a Sept. 7 press conference announcing the memorial in his lakeside community about 45 miles north of the Canadian border.

"Most of them were nasty," he said.

Elliott, now the target of a petition calling for his resignation, said Nelson has a diverse and liberal population that welcomed the draft dodgers. He now believes the monument is a questionable idea but said he would not try to block it.

"The Vietnam War is something everybody would like to put behind them," Elliott said. "Let's do a monument to peace or something that will bring people together."

Isaac Romano, who helped organize the project called "Our Way Home," has said the purpose was to honor "the courageous legacy of Vietnam War resisters and the Canadians who helped them resettle in this country." A bronze sculpture, showing a draft dodger being welcomed by two Canadians, was to be unveiled at a celebration in 2006.

But on Monday, Romano issued a statement saying organizers "will be looking broadly for the appropriate setting for the peace monument. It may or may not be located in Nelson." Romano did not return telephone messages.

Council member Ian Mason said the city's involvement "would spell certain economic disaster for members of our local business community that trade with or rely on American tourist dollars."

On Monday, Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said he understood the feelings of veterans who were offended by the proposal. He said he will wait for direction from the administration.

"I can sympathize very much with the veterans," he said. "They have pretty strong feelings, particularly about people they served with who were killed in action defending our values and our freedoms."

What they need is a wall made of yellow dyed concrete with the draft dodgers names engraved on it along with a web site listing all their names and current addresses....That way there we can visit em and welcome the scum bags home.
Bob K

In todays Wall Street Journal , on page one , there is an article about the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. They are still around . They are growing because of Iraq. They hired their first full time paid staffer receintly , a counselor who advises soldiers who have gone AWOL. #*#@ them with the horse they rode in on ! ( Scouts out , Sir ! )

Lt John
 

You need to express how you think about draft dodgers more clearly! :D

Ditto, I say Ditto John

Keith

John
 

Just a note of advice, semantically speaking: kindly replace the conjuction "and" with the preposition "with", and you have a more accurate expression of our attitudes.
Your Scoutin' Bro!
Brice

Agreed "ditto" :8: :20:

Bob,...
 

...while your symbolism might be on target, a "Wall" is in place for the brave, and honorable men, and women that died,...

...It should be a large toliet seat painted yellow with their names etched upon it, as their consciences are a must to be in the shi++er,...

...

Curtis
Lets go for the gusto...A piss yellow functioning latrine with all the names engraved on the inside walls. That way you'll have something to read as you're sitting there in your moment of silence
Bob K

Little known fact probably.When King Lincoln instituted the draft for the Union,thousands of men fled to Canada to avoid it.This in a letter to a union soldier from his hometown.His family was upset about the draft dodgers going to Canada.

razar,

King Davis instituted the draft for the Confederate States on April 16, 1862, almost a full year before the Union States draft. Conscripts accounted for one-fourth to one-third of the Confederate armies east of the Mississippi between April 1864 and early 1865.

And the southern men weren't happy about it, either.