Draft Dodgers Monument

[lcpd24]

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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."