North is the wrong direction

"Real Christians don't lie."

"No one is above the law."

"Support schools, not criminals."

"Ask Nicaragua about family values."

"North is the wrong direction."

About 35 people gathered on Wenatchee Avenue in front of the Performing Arts Center to demonstrate against a speech to be given by Olver North. North is the former Marine Corps colonel who organized several military operations in Central America during the Reagan Administration and who played a central role in the arms-for hostages sale known as the Iran-Contra Scandal.

Today, North is a conservative commentator on radio and television, and he writes books to promote his so-called family values. On Saturday night, though, he was the featured speaker in a fund-raiser for St. Paul's Lutheran School.

Apparently a small group of benefactors put up the $30,000 it took to bring North to Wenatchee. Tickets for the event were $100 to $1,000. I suspect the more expensive tickets allowed a person to meet North and have a photo taken or something similar. A friend walked in to see how the room was set and counted 258 seats.

So it was an enthusiastic group of people of conscience that gathered at the PAC and then down below at the parking lot-level entrance to the convention center. My cohorts down there held their signs aloft for people to read and walk past as they entered, dressed in their finery. The best slogan that emerged was "Good cause, wrong choice of speaker."

On the street level, as I held my placard to be seen by passing motorists, a few of them honked in support or gave a thumbs up sign. Others, more frequent, gave a middle finger, swore out their window or shook their head in mock disgust.

One interesting moment came when the man chosen to introduce North walked by. The person selected was my former school principal, a man known for his Christian fundamentalist values and mixing public roles with private religious interests. I held my placard in front of me, looked him in the eye, and he said hello and we shook hands. No one was there for a confrontation.

Well, one man was there for a confrontation. He walked along down at the parking lot level and shouted at the demonstrators, his crudely made cardboard sign saying something about it being hard to love thy neighbor. It was confusing. He engaged a few other people and quickly disappeared.

St. Paul's School certainly has the right to bring anyone to speak, and people have a right to go listen if they want, even if it is expensive. Heck, I paid $75 to hear Michael Moore in Seattle a couple years ago. But the larger issue here is that a man convicted of accepting a bribe, destroying evidence and obstructing a Congressional investigation was being asked to speak about family values. That his convictions were overturned on a legal technicality does not make them less serious or offensive.

Perhaps the real offense was that people would pay to hear anything he had to say. Oliver North is certainly no role model. Some good did come from the event -- progressives, liberals and other people of conscience are increasingly active and willing to step up and say, "Not in our town, not in our name." And that is a good cause.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.