Moose Dropping festivities marred by political intolerance

TALKEETNA -- Two men from Palmer claim their political float was sprayed with water and that they were verbally and physically assaulted while participating in the Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival Parade last weekend.

Rick Browning and his friend, Robert Vaughn, constructed a political float in support of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Browning said he had already entered the float in the Palmer Colony Days Parade and the Wasilla Fourth of July Parade without incident but both men said things got worse in Talkeetna.

"It was quite horrible from the moment we hit town," Vaughn said. "People were booing and yelling at us as we came in."

Missy Smothers has worked as parade coordinator for the past three years and said she's never heard of any trouble regarding the floats until this year. While Smothers was organizing the order of the floats, she said a man from one of the floats began yelling at people from the Murkowski float, telling them that they had no right to be there and that they did not want them there. "I noticed yelling and I told him that they did have a right to be here," Smothers said.

"He said Talkeetna doesn't stand for Bush/Cheney and I told him Talkeetna doesn't stand for censorship," Smothers added.

During the dispute, Smothers said one woman told the protesting man that political floats had always been in the parade. Smothers said last year there were several political floats, with no conflicts, and the man opposed to Browning's float did not have a problem with a float for Democratic Assemblywoman Betty Vehrs.

To avoid further conflict, Smothers finally decided to put the upset man's float toward the front of the parade and Browning's float further back. That was the last Smothers heard of any conflict.

Smothers said the Murkowski supporter did not look to be causing any trouble. "He was sitting off to the side, probably realizing that they were in the lion's den."

Things got worse when the parade began, however, Browning and Vaughn said. Browning drove a Jeep Cherokee, pulling his Murkowski/Bush/Cheney float. Behind Browning, Vaughn's 12-year-old daughter drove a little cart with Vaughn and Vaughn's 14-year-old son following behind her, pulling two carts with a four-wheeler.

Browning said people were yelling obscenities so loud that he turned off the National Anthem, which had been playing from speakers on his float, and switched songs to "The Eye of the Tiger."

"I cranked it up so the children couldn't hear what those people were saying; it was just sick," Browning said. "I cranked it so loud they couldn't even hear themselves think."

About 100 to 150 feet past the announcement stand Browning said people started throwing hard candy back at them and, at one point, Browning said he was hit in the face with a bag of white powder that stung his eyes.

Vaughn, who has a electronic stimulator to help alleviate pain in his left ear, said someone hit him in the ear with a piece of candy. "When it hit me, I almost blacked out," Vaughn said. He said his daughter was hit several times as well when people hurled the candy back at them.

As they approached the softball fields, Browning said someone began spraying his float with a water hose. Browning said he asked a park ranger for assistance but did not receive any.

Toward the end of the parade, Vaughn said he was approached by a group of men and threatened. "They said they were going to kill me and my kids in the tent that night if we didn't leave," Vaughn said.

"We wanted to stay for the festival but after being threatened we didn't want to take any risks with the kids," Vaughn said. Vaughn and his family left that night, along with Browning.

Carolyn Reiter is the coordinator of the Moose Dropping Festival. She said she heard about the incident from several people, including Smothers, but did not hear anything herself during the parade, apart from general heckling as Browning's float went by.

After hearing from Smothers, Browning and a couple of other people, Reiter said she filed a report with the Alaska State Troopers. "I'm disappointed, one group of people should not be able to dictate the freedom of individuals to participate in our parade," Reiter said. Reiter said she would have tried to get the identity of certain individuals if she had known what was going on.

In the future, Reiter hopes political floats will be able to continue in the parade.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.