WESTERN SKIES - October 11, 2005

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STEPHEN RAHER: For Western Skies, I'm Stephen Raher.

Many people spent today recovering from the Front Range's first major snow storm of the season. Most highways reopened this morning, allowing stranded travelers to continue on their ways. Some school districts, particularly those in rural areas, closed to await road plowing.

The storm hit the Front Range early Monday morning and moved east onto the plains during the course of the day. Much to the delight of ski resorts, some mountain areas reported over two and half feet of new snow, although certain parts of Denver and Colorado Springs that stayed above freezing experienced only light rain.

The state Department of Transportation closed one hundred fifty miles of Interstate 70 from Denver to Goodland, Kansas on Monday and dozens of flights at Denver International Airport were cancelled. The Red Cross set up three emergency shelters in eastern plains towns for motorists who were forced off the roads due to low visibility and snow drifts. In Denver, the Red Cross gave out winter clothing to evacuees of Hurricane Katrina who were unprepared for the sudden blast of cold weather.

During the storm, about one hundred thousand people lost power. By this afternoon service had been restored to all but nine thousand users.

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RAHER: Denver was spared any violence related to Columbus Day this year. For the last eighteen years, Native American activists have staged protests of the holiday in the Mile High City, specifically the Columbus Day parade put on by Italian-Americans. The protests have sometimes been chaotic, and even violent. But on the one hundredth anniversary of Columbus Day being designated an official state holiday, events in Denver remained peaceful this year. Maeve Conran reports.

MAEVE CONTRAN: Last week, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper appealed to both parade organizers, and the protestors. He said he was sick and tired of the whole costly business of the parade and protests and asked for compromise. The Order of the Sons of Italy, the parade organizers, said it was their First Amendment right to celebrate Columbus Day. Parade opponents, the Transform Columbus Day Alliance, which include the Colorado American Indian Movement, said they would only call off the protests if, amongst other things, the mayor denounced the parade. Mark Cohen of the Transform Columbus Day Alliance.

MARK COHEN: AIM asked for some commitments from the city in terms of revising curriculum regarding Columbus, and the mayor had said he didn't like wasting all this money on police protection for the parade. We said we would not protest if some of that money would be given to programs for native peoples, and there were several other provisions, but basically we asked that if these alternatives be taken up, then we would not protest and there would be no need for massive police protection. The city basically said "Forget it."

CONRAN: In a contrast from last year when more than two hundred people were arrested for blocking the parade route, this year twenty protestors lay down in the street in a piece of street theater representing the Native Americans killed by Columbus.

[sound of drumming and screaming]

CONRAN: When the police ordered them to disperse, several more protestors carried them away, signifying the Native Americans who have survived the genocide. After a half hour delay the parade moved by and no arrests were made. Glen Morris of the American Indian Movement and protest organizer says that civil disobedience in future protests will not be ruled out.

GLEN MORRIS: Our position was clear, that we were going to confront the parade. We did that. And we don't have to waste the time and energy and resources on legal defenses this year, but we make no guarantees for next year. We have a diversity of tactics and we consider all strategies in the elimination of racism against native people in this state and in this country.

CONRAN: Last week, the National Order of the Sons of Italy released a study which refutes allegations that Columbus was a slave trader responsible for genocide. Speaking on KGNU last week, Donna DeSantos, the Deputy Executive Director of the Sons of Italy, defended the legacy of Columbus.

DONNA DeSANTOS: We have to teach the youth of America the truth. Now, genocide is the planned annihilation of a people. If you read Columbus's logs you realize he did not come here to exterminate Indians.

CONRAN: The Colorado American Indian Movement, however, says there is ample evidence to prove Columbus oversaw a genocide in which eight million native people were killed. They say that they are not just protesting the Columbus holiday and parade, but the colonial legacy which pervades today. It is this legacy they say, which results in the ongoing theft of Indian lands and natural resources. Colorado AIM say they will happily participate in a cross cultural Italian Heritage Celebration, but denounce any celebration with the name Columbus. However, parade organizers say they will never change the name of the Columbus Day Parade.

For Western Skies, I'm Maeve Conran in Denver.