Minutemen plan all-nighter in Bullhead


BY DAVID BELL
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 10:24 PM MST


News-Herald Photo/David Bell Mohave County Minutemen leader Luca Zanna addresses the protest outside Bullhead City Hall Wednesday while fellow Minutemen member Virginia Hilton looks on.
BULLHEAD CITY - Calling the protest “peaceful but extreme,” more than a half-dozen members of the Mohave County Minutemen chained themselves together in front of Bullhead City Hall Wednesday morning.

The hunger strike is slated to run 24 hours.

“We are protesting in a peaceful but extreme way. Extreme by depriving ourselves of sleep for 24 hours, by depriving ourselves of food for 24 hours and by chaining ourselves together symbolically to show we are not slaves to the idea of allowing people to illegally immigrate into this country,” Mohave County Minuteman leader Luca Zanna said.

The Minutemen have asked the city councils for Bullhead City, Kingman and Lake Havasu City to enact ordinances based on a law passed by Hazleton, Penn., which makes it illegal to rent homes and apartments to illegal aliens, revokes the license of any business that knowingly employs illegal aliens and makes English the only language for all city activities and documents.


Bullhead City Council was the first approached but at the city council retreat Nov. 4, council members expressed little interest in passing the proposed ordinance.

Minuteman member Randy Cone said the city was out-of-sync with the rest of the state, as Arizona voters passed four anti-illegal immigration initiatives Tuesday.

“We have America moving in one direction and politicians moving in the opposite direction. It's amazing to me they don't understand what the people want,” Cone said.

While no council members were on-hand when the protest kicked off, one made his feelings known. In an email to Mohave County Minutemen member Virginia Hilton, Bullhead City Councilman John Anderson wrote, “You are an excellent salesperson of fear and racial bias. The issue of immigration belongs in the hands of the Federal Government! They would like nothing more than to have local and state governments pick up the tab for what they are responsible for; it's called double taxation. I won't bend to your racially biased and very expensive propositions.”

“It ridiculous and slanderous what he said,” said Minutemen member Bridget Langston. “He should be sued.”

“We are not racists. This has never been about race,” said Zanna, who emigrated legally from Italy. “I don't care if you are from Italy or South America or Mars. Just do it legally. And we never asked to deport people; we don't want one person hired to deport people. We want to see the laws enacted that do not encourage people to come to this country illegally.”

An awards ceremony for Bullhead City Police Officers was scheduled to take place one hour after the protest began, in the same plaza at City Hall. But Deputy Police Chief Brian Williamson said the ceremony was postponed due to the chief being called away. Williamson said even if the ceremony had taken place, he saw no conflicts with the protest.

“They (the Mohave County Minutemen) called yesterday and we discussed mutual concerns. Mr. Zanna is going above and beyond to work within the law,” Williamson said.

While the protesters said they would go a day without food, they did have water, courtesy of Bullhead City. As city spokesman Steve Johnson passed out bottles of water, he said city officials had no problem with the lawful protest.

“This council is open to hearing what the public says through the call to the public section at council meetings. This is really no different,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the city council continues to look at the issue of city policy when it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants and a proposal could come back for public review. He staff continues to review various options.

The Mohave County Minutemen organization suffered a split recently when Lake Havasu City members took issue with actions in Kingman. Hilton, Zanna and other members called for the Kingman Wal-Mart to remove Mexican flags from sales shelves until Arizona state flags are back in stock.

Lake Havasu City area residents Marvin Taylor and Bill Dyda said they were unhappy the group opted to take action involving a retailer breaking no law and said they would form a Lake Havasu City Minutemen chapter.




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