Anti-war message heard on outskirts of Bush rally

Two buddies with opposing views find a common ground

By Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News
October 29, 2002

Two friends found themselves on opposite sides of the political fence Monday.

Kris Lecciso, 23, his dark hair short, wearing a Navy blazer with a Republican sticker, was leaving President Bush's rally when he recognized a protester chanting opposition to war against Iraq.

Jeremy Rubingh, 22, long-haired with a necklace, came out of the sign-wielding crowd. The friends embraced and slapped each other on the back. They had found their own common ground between the anti-war minority and the GOP regulars.

"It's good to see there's an opposition," Lecciso said, as the men tried to summarize their lives since graduating a year apart from Wheat Ridge High School.

"I respect Kris' point of view," Rubingh said. "He was always an intelligent person."

Still, they differed on the fundamental issue of Bush's plan to strike Iraq to halt the development of nuclear weapons.

"I'm scared of war," Rubingh said. "There are always alternatives to war. There are other options we haven't explored."

"There are other options," Lecciso said. "But I don't want one of the alternatives to be waiting for a mushroom cloud."

War was the major issue that brought out about 500 demonstrators opposed to Bush and the GOP candidates he flew into Denver to promote.

"Five hundred people is not discouraging," said John Parsons, 58, of Longmont, one of several Vietnam veterans in the ranks of the protesters. "This will not be over quickly, and I'm sad to have that feeling.

"We haven't had any bullets fly," Parsons said. "We haven't had any body bags come home. Body bags are really heavy when your buddies are in them."

Some were young and new to the drum beats, placards and bull horns of organized protests.

"It's my generation that will have to pick up the effects of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq," said Heather Strack, 17, a Cherry Creek High School senior who is one of the founders of Students Taking Opposition Peacefully.

Other protesters were practicing talents and strategies dormant since the end of the Vietnam War.

Lois Brower, 81, hoisted herself over two steel barricades to stand where police directed her. She protested that the protesters "were penned up" yards from the party loyalists. All the protesters saw of Bush was his airplane circling to touch down.

"We're here to let the president know we are against this war," the Denver grandmother said. "We're trying to stop this war before it's too late. During Vietnam, it took three or four years to get organized to protest."

Other protesters said they were worried that funding for education and medical research would be decimated if the nation gets involved in a lengthy war.

Members of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union also rallied in the protest zone, calling for Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, one of the beneficiaries of Bush's politicking, to urge the president to aid drought-stricken farmers.

"On many issues of importance to family farmers and ranchers, this particular president and the U.S. senator he's cheering for are too often a part of the problem," said John Stencel, president of the organization.

Stencel said that even Republican members of the organization "really question the Republican leadership and whether they will give us the representation we need."

garnerj@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-5421