Suzie Harrison
In an ongoing campaign, opponents of illegal immigration staged a
protest Saturday on Laguna Canyon Road, near Art-A-Fair, to oppose
city funding of the Job Center, a day labor site.
The group plans to protest at the Job Center on July 30, according
to its website.
Saturday, a scuffle between a demonstrator and a
counter-demonstrator resulted in a knife being confiscated from a
demonstrator, but no arrests were made, police said.
The protest took place less than a half-mile from the day labor
site, in the vicinity of Laguna's three arts festivals.
The protesters say that money to fund the day labor center comes
from the Festival of Arts. About 100 protesters carried signs and
shouted demands that the city stop funding the day labor site.
Signs with messages such as "Laguna funds illegal aliens, unfair
for US workers," "Deport illegal aliens," "I defend our borders,"
"Hiring illegal aliens is illegal and un-American, go home" were
waved.
Attendees of the arts festivals appeared bewildered by the group,
which dominated the sidewalk but did not appear to disrupt operations
at any of the three festivals under way.
Members of the Save Our State group, which is mounting protests
all over the region, showed up in large numbers. Information about
the protest was posted on http://www.saveourstate.org, urging members
to make signs and be heard.
A small group of five to six counter-demonstrators gathered on the
opposite side of the road with signs, one of which read, "Stop the
Hate."
Laguna Beach artist and resident David Milton saw the protest and
was not pleased, especially with some of the demonstrators' antics.
"To me this is like performance art -- these are the same people
who are for the death penalty and denying a woman's right to choose;
you can't talk to them," Milton said.
Milton passed out fliers with images of hardware nuts that read,
"Use common sense, don't pay attention to nuts, right wing nuts."
City officials said the Festival of Arts has nothing to do with
the Job Center, where people may go to get temporary work.
"The festival has no control over it and is not involved in any
way shape or form," City Manager Ken Frank said.
The festival's lease money goes into the City's general fund.
"The lease with the Festival of Arts is a percentage of gross
receipts; it has been about $175,000 the last few years," Frank said.
"The City Council sets aside that money to go toward community
agencies."
The council has made a commitment that whatever money is received
