The Three articles are:
1) EVENTS TO PROTEST COLUMBUS PARADE- Ryan Morgan-Denver Post
2) COLUMBUS CONFLICT SIMMERS- Peggy Lowe -Rocky Mtn News
3) COLUMBUS DAY BEGAN IN COLORADO-Lisa Levitt Ryckman

The division within the Italian Community make for an even more difficult battle.

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1) EVENTS TO PROTEST COLUMBUS PARADE

By Ryan Morgan
Special to The Denver Post

Friday, September 07, 2001 - A cross section of human-rights activists
unveiled plans Thursday to protest the Columbus Day parade with a march
of their own.

Members of the Transform Columbus Day Alliance will hold three days 
of events in Denver before the Oct. 8 Columbus Day parade, including 
an"All Nations Four Directions March." The counter-events are aimed 
at getting people to stop honoring a man they say was responsible for
genocide.

"The events of Oct. 5, 6 and 7 will transform Columbus Day for this
city, this state and this country," said Glenn Morris, a local American
Indian Movement leader.

Hispanic activist Nita Gonzales pledged to fast until Mayor Wellington
Webb and religious communities announce their opposition to 
Columbus Day.

Morris and Gonzales were joined by state Sen. Penfield Tate, 
D-Denver, activist LeRoy Lemos and members of the New Jewish 
Agenda, the American Friends Service Committee and the Barrio 
Warriors.

But it's possible there won't be a Columbus Day parade in Denver next
month.

C.M. Mangiaracina, who holds the city-issued permit for the Oct. 8
parade, met with Gonzales to discuss how the two groups could 
peacefully coexist.

But that meeting angered members of the Sons of Italy/New Generation,
formerly the force behind the parade. George Vendegnia, president of the
group, said Mangiaracina offered to drop the contentious "Columbus"
moniker. "He's no longer part of the Italian-American community," said
Vendegnia, president of Sons of Italy/New Generation.

And as a result, Vendegnia said, Mangiaracina's parade will be short 
on participants. "It would be just him, I guess," Vendegnia said. "There 
aren't going to be any Italian-American organizations involved. He 
doesn't even have the capability to make a float."

Mangiaracina said his rift with the Sons of Italy president arose over
the fact that Vendegnia's name wasn't on the permit.

"He was a delegate to a national (Sons of Italy) convention, and he
wanted to show them his name on the permit," Mangiaracina said. 
"It's very childish."

And although he did meet with Gonzales, Mangiaracina said he never
discussed changing the parade's name. He thinks the Italian-American
community will pull together to make the parade work.

Because of the dispute, Vendegnia and the Sons of Italy - whose 
members spent 37 days camped outside a Denver permit office to 
ensure they obtained the permit - have requested a second permit.

Denver Safety Manager Ari Zavaras said he thinks a second permit 
would be a bad idea logistically, but the city may be bound by law to 
award it.

"At this point, it's my desire to not have a second parade permit, but I
have to wait on the city attorney's office" to issue a ruling, he said.

But even if the Sons of Italy don't succeed, Morris said, his group's
events would still be worth holding.
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2) COLUMBUS CONFLICT SIMMERS
Police worry about outside agitators for Columbus Day

By Peggy Lowe, News Staff Writer

The wild card at this year's Columbus Day weekend: impassioned 
people from across the country showing up to parade and protest.  
Denver police say they are gathering intelligence from other cities on 
just who plans on coming to town for the Oct. 5-8 events.

Denver City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth is concerned not enough 
has been done with just a month left before the holiday. Wedgeworth,
chairwoman of the council's Safety and Personnel Committee, fears the
rioting at the past two Group of Eight summits could come to Denver.

" This is a very emotional issue. There needs to be a strategic  plan.
It's not on people's radar screens," Wedgeworth said. "I  want to be an
advocate that says, 'Hey, if the marches happen, let's be prepared.' "

Italian-Americans organizing the Oct. 8 Columbus Day parade say they
have traveled across the country during the past year and have received
promises from supporters, mostly from the East Coast, to attend 
Denver's event.

 The multiethnic coalition planning the Four Directions All Nations
March say they hope for thousands of people from Colorado and and 
other states. The Transform Columbus Day Alliance organized the 
Oct. 6 march and vows to oppose the Oct. 8 parade, too.

 Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said he will meet with both groups
and urge the peaceful civil disobedience that was the hallmark of last
year's parade. But it's the chance of outside agitators that causes the
most fear.

 When Wedgeworth first raised the Columbus Day concerns with Mayor
Wellington Webb during a recent meeting, he agreed with  her. Gang
members from Kansas City created most of the problems during the 
Martin Luther King Day protests in the early 1990s, Webb recalled.

"When you have a lot of people, especially if they're not bound by any
rules of what happens here, they feel they're not accountable to
anyone," Wedgeworth said.

 Some 140 protesters were arrested before last year's Columbus Day
Parade in a setup negotiated beforehand with police and the city
attorney. But this year, police will have to deal with events starting
with the Oct. 6 All Nations March and the Oct. 8 Columbus
Day parade, which falls on the observed federal holiday.

City officials haven't decided whether to allow a request for a second
parade on Monday. George Vendegnia, who helped organize last year's
parade, has split with C.M. Mangiaracina, who  holds the permit for a 
10 a.m. parade on Monday, Oct. 8.

 Throw in another huge event Sunday, Oct. 7, -- the Race for a Cure, a
breast cancer fund-raiser -- and police will be in for a busy  weekend.
No one will be allowed to take days off, Whitman said, adding that he's
ready to staff for possible Columbus Day events
 through Oct. 14.

 "Our obvious hope is that these events will be peaceful and the mayor
is calling on both sides to remain calm and peaceful," said Andrew
Hudson, Webb's press secretary.

 "But the city's main responsibility is to protect everyone's
constitutional rights to be able to hold a parade and to be able to
protest an event."

Contact Peggy Lowe at (303) 892-5482 or  
lowep@RockyMountainNews.com.
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3) COLUMBUS DAY BEGAN IN COLORADO
AIM would like the holiday to end here, too

By Lisa Levitt Ryckman, News Staff Writer
September 8, 2001

Five hundred years after the voyage that made him famous, Christopher
Columbus has hit rough waters in a place without an ocean.

And as unlikely a port as Denver might be for this cultural storm,  the
reason resides in history: Columbus Day began in Colorado.

"I don't think most people know that," said Glenn Morris, a spokesman
for the American Indian Movement, a group that  would like the day that
began here to end here, too.

On a philosophical level, the clash over Columbus Day has become a
question of whether Columbus -- heroic explorer to some and barbaric
exploiter to others -- should be revered or reviled. But at  street
level, it has become a parade vs. a protest.

"The Italian community feels its rights are being trampled on," said
Maria Allen, vice consul of Italy in Denver. "It's a matter of the
injustice of it -- that's what creates this frustration. And it is a
matter of pride. The Italian community wants to hold onto
Columbus Day as Columbus Day."

 "Columbus oversaw the slaughter of millions of Taino Indian  people,"
Morris said. "He personally began trans-Atlantic slave  trade in both
Indians and Africans. To say there should be veneration of Columbus is
to say these are the values we respect  and the values we expect our
children to embrace. To us, that's reprehensible."

Colorado isn't the only place where activists advocate a different
historical perspective. South Dakota has replaced Columbus Day  with
Native American Day; in the California cities of Berkeley,  Sebastopol
and Santa Cruz, it is now Indigenous Peoples Day.

 San Francisco, a city known for its Italian heritage, replaced Columbus
Day with Italian-American Day.

 Up until 1892, the 400th anniversary of his trans-Atlantic trip,
Columbus hadn't attained widespread icon status. In fact, the  turn of
the century was a time of fierce discrimination against  Italians, many
of whom labored in the mines of southern Colorado. They were hungry 
for a hero.

For them, Columbus was the one name that other Americans would 
respect, said Tom Noel, a history professor at the University of Colorado 
at Denver.

 "It's very comparable to the struggle for the Martin Luther King
holiday," he said. "The Italians wanted a hero that they could  point to
with pride."

Against that backdrop, Angelo Noce drafted a bill in 1905 calling for a
Columbus Day holiday, which Gov. Alva Adams signed. The nation's 
first Columbus Day celebration, as reported on the front  page of the 
Rocky Mountain News on Oct. 13, 1905, took place in  Pueblo with 
the unveiling of a Columbus statue followed by a  parade, a banquet 
and a ball.

The day became a federal holiday in 1971, another source of Italian
pride, Allen said. "Because Columbus Day is recognized and 
celebrated at a  national level, the Italian community feels, 'Why should 
we give it  up?' " she said.

AIM's anti-Columbus Day campaign began in 1989, when AIM activist
Russell Means poured blood on the Columbus statue in Civic Center 
Park.

In 1990, the parade began again; protesters agreed not to interfere on
the condition that the groups meet and hammer out their differences 
during the year -- a meeting which never took place.

The parade was blocked in 1991, and there were a few arrests. But 
in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, the parade ended 
before it began.

Despite AIM's promises of a peaceful protest, parade organizers 
canceled the march after learning that the 120 parade participants 
were outnumbered 10-to-1 by demonstrators.

Since then, there have been no Columbus Day parades in Denver until 
last year, when tensions ran so high that the U.S. Justice Department 
stepped in and brokered a compromise that would have called the 
parade The March for Italian Pride with no mention of Columbus.

But the agreement disintegrated, and police arrested 147 
anti-Columbus demonstrators who blocked the parade by sitting  in 
the street.

"Columbus Day started here in Colorado," said Manolo Gonzalez-Estay, 
a member of the Transform Columbus Day Alliance. "And it will be
transformed and end here in Colorado."
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