SF4-EVER
Dec 04, 2002, 02:43 PM
Susan asked me to post this article, since it looks like she won't be able to "get back to where she once belonged" until the weekend. Here's the LINK (http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_338151700.html/).
Dec 4, 2002 3:14 pm US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) The city Parks and Recreation Department refused on Wednesday to extend the closing hours of Central Park to allow the organizers of the annual John Lennon vigil to hold an all night memorial for the slain singer.
Organizers had hoped Mayor Michael Bloomberg would be more sympathetic to their cause than the previous Giuliani administration, which imposed the 1 a.m. curfew because park officials said they didn't want the organizers throwing "all-night pot parties celebrate (Lennon's) memory."
"It's a matter of public safety," said Megan Sheekey, spokeswoman for the Parks Department. "It's just a precedent that there are no overnight events in the park. If we changed that rule for them, we would have to do so for everyone else."
Tom Leighton, who ran for governor this year and for mayor two years ago under the banner of the Marijuana Reform Party, said that before former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took office in 1991, the Lennon vigil lasted all night.
Leighton and co-organizer Candido Bonilla formed the Memorial Committee in 1994 and battled City Hall for years to end the curfew.
Leighton called the vigil, which is held on the anniversary of Lennon's death, a "peaceful and inspiring" event. Lennon was shot dead by a deranged fan in front of his Central Park West home on Dec. 8, 1980.
"We are deeply disappointed. We had hoped that a new mayor would have had a new policy," he said. "We don't need security for this event or to arrest people for marijuana. We have bigger things like terrorism and a budget to worry about."
(© MMII Infinity Broadcasting Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cyberguy.gif
Rooftop Sessions (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)--a monthly e-zine of fab Beatles fan fiction
Lennon's Line (http://www.sandraulbrich.com/lennon.htm)--A science fiction series about John's descendants--Updated 10/25/02
Dec 4, 2002 3:14 pm US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) The city Parks and Recreation Department refused on Wednesday to extend the closing hours of Central Park to allow the organizers of the annual John Lennon vigil to hold an all night memorial for the slain singer.
Organizers had hoped Mayor Michael Bloomberg would be more sympathetic to their cause than the previous Giuliani administration, which imposed the 1 a.m. curfew because park officials said they didn't want the organizers throwing "all-night pot parties celebrate (Lennon's) memory."
"It's a matter of public safety," said Megan Sheekey, spokeswoman for the Parks Department. "It's just a precedent that there are no overnight events in the park. If we changed that rule for them, we would have to do so for everyone else."
Tom Leighton, who ran for governor this year and for mayor two years ago under the banner of the Marijuana Reform Party, said that before former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took office in 1991, the Lennon vigil lasted all night.
Leighton and co-organizer Candido Bonilla formed the Memorial Committee in 1994 and battled City Hall for years to end the curfew.
Leighton called the vigil, which is held on the anniversary of Lennon's death, a "peaceful and inspiring" event. Lennon was shot dead by a deranged fan in front of his Central Park West home on Dec. 8, 1980.
"We are deeply disappointed. We had hoped that a new mayor would have had a new policy," he said. "We don't need security for this event or to arrest people for marijuana. We have bigger things like terrorism and a budget to worry about."
(© MMII Infinity Broadcasting Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
------------------
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cyberguy.gif
Rooftop Sessions (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)--a monthly e-zine of fab Beatles fan fiction
Lennon's Line (http://www.sandraulbrich.com/lennon.htm)--A science fiction series about John's descendants--Updated 10/25/02