A throng of Santa Clauses descended on Kensington's tree-lighting ceremony Sunday to protest an earlier decision by the Town Council to exclude him from the annual event.
Posted on 12/05/2001 7:16:35 AM PST by Hail Caesar
Santa comes to town after all
by Leah Carlson
Staff Writer
Dec. 5, 2001
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Santa Claus showed up in abundance at Kensington's tree-lighting ceremony Sunday, and one was allowed to participate in the event after all.
Many people in the crowd of about 1,000 at the town hall wore red suits, white beards and Santa hats. Some of the Santas carried signs to protest the Town Council's vote to adopt a patriotic theme for the event and exclude Santa. At least two were dressed as the Grinch in a Santa suit. Many came from other counties in Maryland and Virginia.
The signs included phrases like "The liberals who stole Christmas," "Grinch for mayor" and "Mean-spirited, Santa-hating liberals." The protestors chanted, "No Santa, no peace."
Earlier this year, some Kensington residents requested that the town display a menorah at the tree-lighting ceremony. Others wanted the town to keep the ceremony as it had been in the past, with holiday lights, carols and Santa. The Town Council voted Oct. 29 to make this year's tree-lighting ceremony patriotic and secular.
Town officials received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from across the country last week. Most criticized what was dubbed "the Santa ban." The town's Web site, which had registered 7,308 hits between April 1 and Nov. 28, logged 22,245 hits by Friday morning and 67,569 hits by Monday.
On Friday, town officials allowed Santa to be part of the ceremony.
At about 5 p.m. Sunday, the crowd cheered, whistled and clapped when trucks from Kensington Volunteer Fire Department arrived with Santa waving.
The fire truck Santa, played by fireman Ken Forti, stood next to Mayor Lynn Raufaste when she lit the tree and read a proclamation to honor firefighters, postal workers and police officers who responded to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and anthrax threats.
"It was pretty neat seeing that many people," said Wade Northey, a fireman who lives at Station 5 in Kensington. "It was a big sea of people ... a lot of Santas."
Raufaste was pleased with the large turn out. "I think it's wonderful. They know where Kensington is now," she said Sunday night.
When asked about the Santas, Raufaste said, "The more, the merrier."
Town Councilman Glenn Cowan agreed. "I thought the turnout was spectacular. This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Kensington," he said.
When asked about the protestors, Cowan said they have a right to free speech. "The U.S. is a democracy, and Kensington is a little piece of democratic America," he said.
The Chosen Sons, a group of bikers from Baltimore, and Bikers Against Child Abuse, a group based in Gettysburg, Pa., came to the tree lighting dressed as Santas.
When asked about the Town Council's decision, a biker from Baltimore County, who goes by the name Goat, said, "It's government's pacifying of special-interest groups. Everybody ought not to be so ... sensitive."
The protest was not entirely peaceful. A teen at the event took down an anti-Semitic banner, tearing it from the hands of the person who was holding it up. A number of Kensington residents said they found the banner offensive. Police brought the teen to the other side of the street, but there were no arrests.
Rose Starin, a Kensington resident who favored the menorah idea, said, "It was a very sad moment for the town having all those people there. But it was a good lesson in free speech for my 11-year-old ... You learn from it, and you move on."
Town Councilman Chris Bruch said the story was overblown. "The whole thing has been blown entirely out of proportion," he said Thursday.
The Rev. A. David Argo of St. Paul's United Methodist Church echoed that sentiment and supported the Town Council's actions.
"The council's decision was made after much planning and consideration. It's guiding principal was to build community, particularly during these times of uncertainty and healing," Argo said in a written statement. "To call Kensington 'the town that banned Santa Claus' misses the point. We are the town that bends over backward to help everyone be included."
Relevant background info. is posted here:
"FReeper Million Santa March saves the day for Kensington Town, Montgomery County, Maryland!"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/582415/posts
< sigh > .. Aren't we a republic? Or has this been beaten to death already?
Town Councilman Chris Bruch said the story was overblown. "The whole thing has been blown entirely out of proportion,"
Question. Is a liberal ruckus EVER called "overblown" (which the vast majority of them are) by the press? Or just conservative ones?
I thought so.
Come visit us at Freepathon Holidays are Here Again: Let's Really Light Our Tree This Year - Thread 5
and be a part of something that is larger than all of us.
Alone, we are a voice crying in the wilderness. Together we are a force for positive action!
Don't be left out!
Be one who can someday say..................... "I was there when..................."
Thank you to everyone who has already come by and become a part!
Hey Kensington Kouncil Taliban - ALL YOUR SANTAS ARE BELONG TO US!!!
The United States is a Representative Republic not a democracy! I can understand a product of the public education system not being aware of the difference and in sore need of remedial instruction, but an elected official?
"and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath...."
You are wrong, Councilman Cowan. The U.S. is a Republic.
In a Democracy, free speech can be abolished if you get 50% of the people plus one to vote to abolish it.
The town that bends over backwards to help everyone be included, what crap. More like the town who bends over forward for a couple special interest grinches...all at the expense of everyone else. That's not even a democracy, Kensingtown Kouncil KOOKS!
Yeah right, Kouncilman Bruch. You're darn lucky we didn't blow you right out of town or burn you in effigy that day. ;-)
That is a bold faced LIE. Those people deliberately exclude Catholics, Muslims and other religious/ethnic groups from political influence in their town. Except, of course, when they are trying to raise money for the Democrat party or other limousine liberal causes.
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