Posted on 12/18/2005 5:07:08 PM PST by wagglebee
Political parties in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Austrian hometown have started a petition drive to remove his name from a sports stadium.
The dispute stems from the governor’s decision to deny clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams. The co-founder of the Crips gang was executed early Tuesday in San Quentin State Prison for four 1979 murders.
Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria, and the once-popular Schwarzenegger has lost much of his shine since becoming California governor for refusing to spare convicted murderers on death row.
The outcry was especially sharp after the clemency denial for Williams, who had written children’s books warning of the dangers of gang life. Politicians from the Greens party in the southern Austrian city of Graz, Schwarzenegger’s hometown, reacted by calling for his name to be removed from the "Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium.”
On Thursday, the local Social Democrats said they would support that appeal, meaning there likely will be majority backing in the city council for renaming the stadium. The council, which is responsible for the stadium, is expected to take up the matter on Jan. 19.
The Union for Austria’s Future wants to keep the stadium’s current name, arguing that generating controversy around it could lead to financial loss by prompting sponsors to withhold funds from sporting events there.
A spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger said the office would not comment on the matter.
Do these AP leftists not understand that Williams was largely responsible for gang violence?!
Yes, that little thing about Austrian Nazis killing innocent people must weigh heavily on their minds.
Maybe they should rename it Tookie Williams Stadium and then see how many Germans show up to events there....lol
I think we need to do the opposite -- start campaigning for a statue of Arnold in the foyer of San Quentin, inscribed "Tookie won't be bock"
LMFAO!
1) Granted Clemency to Tootsie Williams,
2) Put Tootsie on a one-way trip to Austria,
3) Gave Tootsie a parachute and shoved him out of the plane, and
4) Let these high-minded Austrians live with a psycopathic killer in their midst.
/sarcasm. I am really sick to death of Europeans incessantly lecturing us Americans on everything from A to Z. Hey Austria, MIND YOUR OWN EFFIN' BUSINESS!
Was Tookie the only guy executed in CA since Arnold became governor? If not, what makes him so special?
The last time that happened, the Austrians shipped the psychopath to Germany and civilization was nearly destroyed as a result.
I heard somewhere that the group was suggesting exactly that.
Schwarzenegger will probably settle for former, not rocking the boat for fear of percipitating the latter.
No. If not, what makes him so special?
He was black. Therefore, he was -- in the eyes of the Left -- a "victim of racial injustice."
"The last time that happened, the Austrians shipped the psychopath to Germany and civilization was nearly destroyed as a result."
He came back to Austria for a nice visit in 1938.
He was only killing 'Amies' so how bad could he be?
Sure they will...and then the next time they need a fat donation for a pet project Ahnold will tell them to stuff it..
Bet the city fodders are already sweating that possiblitiy...
Awesome...the soccer hooligans will really love that. These are the same fans that throw bananas on the field when a black soccer player is playing. That should be really popular.
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