September 7th, 2010
By Jacob Pierce |
News |
Posted In: CLEAN UP
If you've been living a Lars Larson-less existence, you may not have noticed the controversy that engulfed Beaverton recently.
In honor of the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain this year, the City of Beaverton had decided to host a Mexican bicentennial celebration on Sept. 16.
Things did not go as planned.
"What kind of city celebrates Mexican Indep and skips celebrating the 4th of July? Beaverton Oregon...welcome to 'diversity' democrat style," Larson tweeted on Aug. 25.
Then Bill O'Reilly from Fox News chimed in. He said it was unfair that folks in Beaverton would have to pay $6,000 to finance the event. So last week Beaverton officials switched gears and decided to widen the scope of the celebration. “We focused on only one country,” said Holly Thompson, a Beaverton program manager, on Tuesday. “We didn't want anyone to feel they were being left out.”
The new event will acknowledge the 2010 bicentennials of Argentina, Colombia, and Chile--plus National Hispanic Heritage Month this September. Thompson said Beaverton got a deluge of complaints after Bill O'Reilly's report. Not all of the complaints were local. “The majority of people we have heard from are outside of Beaverton,” Thompson said, “many of them out of state.”
The “Year of the Bicentennial” will be held Sept. 16 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. For more information visit Beaverton's web site.
Beaverton Caves to National Pressure on Mexican Celebration
If you've been living a Lars Larson-less existence, you may not have noticed the controversy that engulfed Beaverton recently.
In honor of the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain this year, the City of Beaverton had decided to host a Mexican bicentennial celebration on Sept. 16.
Things did not go as planned.
"What kind of city celebrates Mexican Indep and skips celebrating the 4th of July? Beaverton Oregon...welcome to 'diversity' democrat style," Larson tweeted on Aug. 25.
Then Bill O'Reilly from Fox News chimed in. He said it was unfair that folks in Beaverton would have to pay $6,000 to finance the event. So last week Beaverton officials switched gears and decided to widen the scope of the celebration. “We focused on only one country,” said Holly Thompson, a Beaverton program manager, on Tuesday. “We didn't want anyone to feel they were being left out.”
The new event will acknowledge the 2010 bicentennials of Argentina, Colombia, and Chile--plus National Hispanic Heritage Month this September. Thompson said Beaverton got a deluge of complaints after Bill O'Reilly's report. Not all of the complaints were local. “The majority of people we have heard from are outside of Beaverton,” Thompson said, “many of them out of state.”
The “Year of the Bicentennial” will be held Sept. 16 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. For more information visit Beaverton's web site.
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