THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409180062
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
In one march Saturday, there were Grim Reapers shrouded in black and Mickey Mouse hanged in effigy. In another, 101 children on a hayride wore white with black spots, looking somewhat like Dalmatians.
Get the idea?
The competing marches - one in the District of Columbia, one in Haymarket, Va. - were the latest battles for public sentiment in the debate over the Walt Disney Co. plan to build a theme park as the centerpiece of a 3,000-acre development in Prince William County.
Opponents of the $650 million amusement park, hotel, office and residential complex rallied at the foot of the Capitol after a march through the streets of Washington. Meanwhile, at Haymarket's annual town parade, Disney characters were among the marchers, and most spectators wore buttons or held signs indicating they favor the Mouse.
The anti-Disney rally drew 1,200 people, according to the National Park Service, and 5,500 people, according to the well-funded coalition of civic, environmental and historic groups that organized it. The protesters resembled the crowd at the typical outdoor concert or garden show in suburbia: They were mainly white and were wearing khakis and polo shirts.
Speakers called Disney a ``cultural strip miner'' that would pollute the air, crowd roads and damage Civil War battle sites.
They urged people to pack up their children's Disney toys and send them to corporation Chairman Michael Eisner.
Tony Urso, an airline mechanic who is president of Protect Prince William, addressed the rally, saying that the protest was held at the foot of the Capitol because the matter has become a national fight.
``Never, never, never, never give up!'' urged Annie Snyder, a veteran advocate for preserving the battlefields near Manassas, quoting Winston Churchill. As she spoke, volunteers unrolled a petition with 29,000 signatures gathered from people opposed to the historical theme park.
Ralph Nader was there too. The corporation-fighter called Disney a ``corporate welfare specialist'' that demanded $163 million in road and other improvements from taxpayers while paying its chairman $200 million a year and paying low wages to its workers.
``Disney is the worst exponent of the freeloading, taxpayer-dependent, authoritarian, ultimatum-giving corporation in America,'' Nader said.
``They buy their way in.''
Many marchers carried signs with slogans including ``Disney Destroys Farms,'' ``Disney Destroys Real History'' or ``Disney destroys Mickey's good name.''
Alexander Hart, 11, who lives in Hume, Va., a half-hour from the park site, had an opinion too. He carried a prop: Mickey Mouse, clutching dollar bills, hanged in effigy.
``This isn't the old Mickey I liked when I was growing up,'' he said. ``This is Mickey Rat.''
About 35 miles to the west, the annual Haymarket town parade, sponsored by the Gainesville Ruritans, took on a Disney theme, even though the sponsoring organization hasn't taken an official position on the park.
Signs proclaiming ``Disney's America Yes!'' and ``Friends of the Mouse'' lined the parade route, and Mickey-shaped buttons were affixed to most spectators' shirts.
``We just love the idea of Disney coming to Virginia,'' said Ty Thompson, who was at the parade with his family.
As in past years, the parade celebrated the town's history with a horse-drawn buggy, an old mail truck and a tractor, among dozens of other entries.
But this year, for the first time, Mickey and Minnie traveled the route in an old red firetruck and the young Dalmatians followed on a hay wagon.
Midway through the parade, a small plane flew overhead pulling a banner that said, ``Traffic bad? Just wait 'til Disney.''
No one along the parade route seemed to notice. by CNB