Veterans Convoy

We appreciate that The Times covered the ceremonies at the Irvine City Hall honoring the Veterans Peace Convoy to Nicaragua (May 31), but we wish to protest the biased reporting that gave a very distorted view of the event.

The story accurately reported that there were 150 to 200 people present to honor the Veterans Peace Convoy and 20 to 30 in opposition. But then, except for a couple of sentences, virtually the entire story and the photos were about the opposition. Is that a fair representation?

The story erroneously reported that Mayor Larry Agran organized the event. The event was organized by the Orange County Friends of Nicaraguan Children. We simply asked the mayor if he would say a few words to greet the Veterans Peace Convoy when it stopped in Orange County.

The Times story emphasized the signs, chants and statements of the small group in opposition to the mayor and to our organization. However, no mention was made of the cheers and prolonged applause when I announced that we had reached our goal, that residents had contributed $5,000 to buy more than 9 tons of bulk rolled oats for cereal for war orphans and infants and children displaced by the war in Nicaragua.

The Times story emphasized that the protest was organized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars but did not mention that one of the speakers at our ceremonies, and a member of the Veterans Peace Convoy, was Steve Brooks, commander of VFW Post 5888 in Santa Cruz.

Instead of publishing a photo of the beautiful, moving scene of North American and Central American children giving flowers to the members of the Veterans Peace Convoy, a photo taken by a dozen photographers who were present, The Times published a very large photo of the hate-filled face of a woman protester shrieking and the hate-filled signs of the protesters.

You chose to focus on the opposition to our event but failed to mention the dramatic and obvious contrast in the themes of the two opposing groups.

SHIRLEY CERESETO

Anaheim

Shirley Cereseto is co-chairman of the Orange County Friends of Nicaraguan Children.