By MIKE O'ROURKE
Associate Editor

The Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace was denied a spot in Friday's July 4 parade on the basis of safety issues, Community Action officials said today.

Nancy Cross, executive director of Brainerd Community Action, said her board made the decision on the basis of general safety after consulting with Brainerd Police Chief John Bolduc and City Attorney Tom Fitzpatrick.

"The police told us they were spread absolutely too thin," Cross said. She said the decision was not made haphazardly. Cross said Community Action offered to reserve a spot on the parade route where the coalition could display its signs but the peace group rejected that idea.

Larry Fisk, spokesman for the BACP, said the option of setting up a booth would not have given his group the same exposure and was not the same manner in which other groups were treated.

In a letter he faxed to Community Action and city officials Wednesday Fisk urged them to reconsider and raised the possibility of legal action.

"To deny responsible citizens the right to full and equal participation, because their organization has the word 'peace' in its title, and believes in peaceful solutions to human problems, makes a mockery of what the day and the celebration are supposed to be about: Freedom! The freedom of Americans in all our diversity of creed, color and opinion.

"Failure to promptly reverse your decision and allow the Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace to march in the parade will result in the BACP seriously considering legal action against Brainerd Community Action and the city of Brainerd to remedy this injustice," his letter stated.

As of mid-morning Fisk said he had received no response to his letter and had not yet decided whether any legal action would be taken.

Attorney Ed Shaw said he had discussed the issue with Fisk but was not representing the group. He said his own opinion, while he was not a constitutional attorney and had not researched it, was that Community Action should be content neutral when it came to deciding on applications.

"I think the safety argument could be used to keep anything out that you want out," Shaw said. "If the people at the parade were that out of control then we probably shouldn't have it."

Sara Dunlap, a member of BACP and the wife of a retired, decorated Marine, said she disagreed with Community Action's decision.

She said the peace group supports U.S. troops and was not going to carry any inflammatory signs. Dunlap, a graduate of the Citizens Police Academy, will help police with traffic control, something she's done at the parade for about three years. She didn't think the coalition's entry in the parade would have incited any incidents.

City Attorney Fitzpatrick said police officials felt that with the size of the crowd and only 22 officers that law enforcement would be spread too thin to accommodate the peace group.

Other factors he noted were the patriotic fervor at the parade, the presence of military veterans and the fact that some parade observers tend to drink at the parade. He also said the peace group's application was late and security preparations were already in place.

Bolduc could not be reached for comment this morning.

Fisk said that while his group may have missed the original deadline, he was assured verbally that applications were still being accepted.