Festival Suppression!

[Antigone]

Here is something that is going on in our County that we should all be concerned about. The Crystal Lake Gala Festival has decided to ban The McHenry County Peace Group and the Libertarian Party from marching in their festival because the festival organizer Luise Steinbach considered the material from them too upsetting for people. Nevermind that it was the fourth of July parade that represents our freedoms, including the freedom of speech or that people considered those floats to be the most interesting part of the festival. Below are some pictures of the Libertarian Party float from that fest and some letters in the paper concerning it.

[Antigone]

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Step right up

Publication Northwest Herald
Date October 15, 2005
Section(s) Opinion
Page



Step right up

To the Editor:

Northwest Herald columnist Brian Slupski called and spoke with me under the pretense that another festival was having problems with the Libertarian Party in their parade.

I address this response to him.

You asked what our policy was, and I spoke freely and truthfully with you about our parade.

I wish I could say the same of you.

Somehow, this got turned around to Gala-bashing.

I am proud of our parade and what we stand for. As volunteers, we enjoy providing a celebration for the Fourth of July and everything it represents.

As a private corporation, we also have certain rights that we can exercise. One of those rights is to exclude what is perceived as a protest.

We have not banned anyone, but they need to follow the rules. Where should we draw the line?

What about the Ku Klux Klan in their white sheets? Or white supremacists exercising their right to free speech?

Better yet what do we do when a group brings a stack of American flags and burns them along the parade route?

I firmly believe in the power of protest and the right to free speech, but not in our parade on our dollar.

We volunteer thousands of hours every year for this festival. But it seems to me more than ever before that people who don't do the work, criticize.

If your feelings are so strong, Mr. Slupski, I have a place for you on the festival committee. It's a lot of work but usually very rewarding.

You called me out, and now I'm calling you out.

If you really feel this strongly about the Gala and your community, call me. We have work for you.

Or do you like to just stir the pot, sitting back, watching? Voyeur versus volunteer, you choose.

Louise M. Steinbach

Proud co-chairman

Crystal Lake Gala Committee


archive.nwherald.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/nwh/archive/2005/October/15/Opinion/64670.xml

[Antigone]

Section(s) Opinion
Page



Freedom on Fourth

To the Editor:

Congratulations to Brian Slupski for his thoughtful column on Louise Steinbach, chairman of the Crystal Lake Gala's Fourth of July parade (Oct. 12, Northwest Herald).

Steinbach does not like civic institutions such as the McHenry County Peace Group participating in the 2006 parade because the group carries signs and symbols opposing the war. That's preposterous.

This year's McHenry County Peace Group's float, signs and membership at the parade were a civil and beautiful expression of political dissent on a major national issue: War.

The Fourth of July celebrates the greatest political event of our country. On that day, the Founding Fathers expressed their political opposition to ("first") King George, in no uncertain terms.

Neither the Fourth nor the events that followed it were designed for future gala picnics of hot dogs and sweet talk. They started the torch of freedom through free speech. It is our obligation to carry the torch.

What's next with the parade organizers? To completely silence the torch and instead to have the Fourth celebrated on a Sunday, football game and all?

Nelson Borelli

Woodstock


archive.nwherald.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/nwh/archive/2005/October/15/Opinion/64673.xml

[Antigone]

Stirring gala

Publication Northwest Herald
Date October 15, 2005
Section(s) Opinion
Page



Stirring gala

To the Editor:

I am a member of the Fox Valley Libertarian Party and made most of the signs for the Independence Day parade float that evidently caused a stir in the Crystal Lake Gala Fourth of July parade (Brian Slupski's Oct. 12 column).

Perhaps because I made most of the signs, the writer of the following letter chose me to disseminate the following letter for him:

Dearest and Most Honorable Chairman of the Crystal Lake Gala Fourth of July parade:

We, too, share your most wise opinion that participants in public gatherings should strive not to upset any loyal and reverent people.

We, too, want to have all of our subjects to be happy with our parades.

Alas. Only if we, too, had your wisdom and foresight to stifle the amateurish performances of a few disobedient and insolent rogues and rabble-rousers in (what is now) your fair land, who thought that donning costumes and constructing effigies for public display were appropriate methods for expressing their quite unreasonable opinions.

I congratulate you for developing such regal philosophies, given your commoner status. Please do not be swayed by such "democratic" insanity, as the fact that most of the people watching your parade last year seemed to react positively to the disloyal "liberty" message of Fox Valley Libertarian Party's float.

Warmest regards, HRH, George III, King of Great Britain, King of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, Duke of Celle, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Chester, Earl of Eltham, Marquess of Ely, Viscount Launceston, Baron Snowdon and George William Frederick.

John Teschky

Lombard

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