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Arcadia Mayor “Appalled” at Attempts to “Hijack my Mayor’s Breakfast”
Arcadia Weekly Jan 21, 2011
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Arcadia Mayor say’s he’s
“appalled that a few activists have tried to hijack my Mayor’s Breakfast by wanting to censor my choice of speaker”
By Terry Miller
Arcadia residents may remember a couple of years ago when the controversial conservative talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger was selected as keynote speaker for the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
Schlssinger’s appearance and subsequent media coverage caused quite a hullababloo in town and readers were very vocal on both sides of the issue.
This year, Arcadia’s Mayor, Peter Amundson’s has selected The Rev. H.B. London Jr., vice president of ministry for Focus on Family which hold similar anti-gay views.
London Jr is scheduled to speak about families for the 2011 Mayor’s Community Breakfast on March 4. London was affiliated with Pasadena Nazarene Church in the 1980. There will apparently be no reference to gays in the keynote speech but that hasn’t stopped the questions from flying into our email in box here at Beacon Media.
Amundson defended Focus on the Family, which was founded in Arcadia by psychologist Dr. James C. Dobson who is no longer with Focus on Family but is listed as the founder on their web site.
Mayor Amundson sent Arcadia Weekly the following e mail on Thursday:
“The theme for my Mayor’s Breakfast is “Celebrate Family.”
Arcadia is a Community of Homes, a community of families.
Focus on the Family was founded in Arcadia, by Dr.James Dobson.
I, like thousands of parents found Dr. Dobson’s books like “Dare to Disciple”, “The Strong Willed Child” and “Bringing up Boys” very helpful to raise my family.
No organization in the world has done more to support the American family than Focus on the Family.
Focus was a natural choice to have attend.
Mr. Dobson, due to his new radio program, “Family Talk” cannot make the breakfast.
His cousin, Mr. H.B. London was a local pastor and knows about the early days of Focus in Arcadia.
Mr. London does not deal with homosexual and alternative lifestyle issues.
He will not address the issue, that is not what my breakfast is about.
I am appalled that a few activists have tried to hijack my Mayor’s Breakfast by wanting to censor my choice of speaker.
Is that what tolerance is all about?
You know I have sat by quietly and respectfully and listened to countless speakers who’s opinion I do not share.
Tolerance should be a two way street.
I doubt if the naysayers ever planned to attend in the first place and no one is forcing them to come.
This will be a great and very uplifting event for Arcadia.
I appreciate all the community support I have been receiving.
Ticket sales are at a record pace as people want to hear his positive message for and about the Arcadia Family.
As for the possible $5,000, the City has always sponsored the Mayors Breakfast, formally the Mayors Prayer Breakfast. This year is no exception.
As for your comment of me not being a stranger to controversy, As Mayor, I only try to do the right thing for Arcadia.
Two of the last three years Arcadia has been named the best place to raise a family in Arcadia.
Having an uplifting celebration of one of the things that make Arcadia great, Led the lead family organization, that started in Arcadia seemed right to me.
I fail to see how censoring and blacklisting speakers promotes tolerance.
Respectfully
Peter Amundson”
Linda Garcia of the City Manager’s office confirmed that $5000-5500 would be the cost of the event to the city but that the spesaker is not getting paid. However, London is flying from and back to Colorado Springs on the City of Arcadia’s dime!
Arcadia residents Robert and Marsha Aizumi also sent an e-mail to Arcadia Weekly and other media as well as to the mayor and council asking Amundson to reconsider.
The email said their son faced “harassment and bullying” at Arcadia high as a result of being gay. The email continued to say they ( Aizumi’s ) felt the matter quite serious and were deeply upset by Peter Amundson’s choice and felt a more tolerant speaker would have made a better choice.
We asked Councilman Mickey Segal for his tholughts on the matter and he replied with the following: “This event has always been the mayor’s event. I am not familiar with Focus on Family so I don’t think I am really in a position to comment.”
We have requested comments from Focus on Family and the other couincilmembers and will print those comments as soon as we received them.
We’d like to know what you think on the matter:
Please email us your thoughts on such decisions: editor@arcadiaweekly.com
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