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Newsbriefs Hillary must march in parade step

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Ray O’Hanlon

First Lady and U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is now expected to march in next week’s New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

But the parade’s organizing committee has yet to hear it from the Clinton campaign and expects to be informed of Clinton’s exact intentions.

"We’re working on the assumption that she’s going to march, but she can’t just turn up and march on her own. But if she follows the guidelines, she is welcome to march," said parade committee chairman John Dunleavy.

Dunleavy said he expected that Clinton would likely march in the section of the parade set aside for members of Congress and New York State legislators.

A Democratic Party source told the Echo that Clinton would march with the New York City Council delegation.

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Dunleavy said that the parade committee was making preparations in anticipation of confirmation that Mrs. Clinton will step out on Fifth Avenue.

When asked by the Echo if Clinton would definitely march, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign referred to wire reports in which the candidate is reported as stating, "I’m marching."

Dunleavy, meanwhile, expressed confidence that Cardinal John O’Connor would be reviewing the parade from the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral despite his serious health problems.

"The cardinal is going to make the parade. He will be there. His determination to be at the parade is extraordinary," Dunleavy said.

GOAL appeal

GOAL USA, the Irish international relief agency, is appealing for help in its campaign to ship relief supplies to flood-ravaged Mozambique. GOAL’s recently appointed U.S. coordinator, Raina Stuart, said that donations can be sent to GOAL USA, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, 33rd floor, New York NY 10019. Stuart can be reached at (212) 698-9860.

Hayden in South Armagh

California State Senator Tom Hayden has criticized the continued heavy British army presence in South Armagh.

Hayden recently spent two days in South Armagh on a fact-finding mission at the invitation of the South Armagh Farmers and Residents Committee.

"Because South Armagh is more and more the test of British intentions in Ireland, the question should be asked of the British military, ‘Is the war over?’ " Hayden said.

"From the look of the heavy military occupation in South Armagh, it appears that the British army is here to stay permanently and the implications for the Peace Process are serious."

"How can the British and Unionist campaign for IRA decommissioning be anything but a public relations exercise when they are strengthening the fortifications and continuing to patrol all over South Armagh?"

Very Briefly

The Commodore Barry Club of Brooklyn will mark the 255th anniversary of the birth of the Wexford-born "Father of the U.S. Navy" on Wednesday, March 15, at 11 a.m. at Commodore Barry Park, North Elliott Place, between Park and Flushing Avenues, Brooklyn. Details, (718) 680-1336.

€ The National Assembly of Irish American Republicans has announced that Brian J. McCarthy, a partner in The McCarthy Law Firm of Manhattan, is the group’s new chairman. McCarthy replaces Jeff Cleary, the recently appointed president of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce USA. Jack Irwin, a leading member of the AOH, has been named vice chairman of NAIAR.

€ Vice President Al Gore gave a tour-de-force at last weekend’s Irish American Presidential Forum in New York, according to Fr. Sean McManus of the Irish National Caucus.

"Al Gore deserves the Irish American vote. He has a long, proven record on Irish affairs. I was deeply impressed by his forcefulness and earnestness," McManus said.

€ Rep. Joe Crowley says he will introduce a resolution before the House of Representatives condemning "the blatant discriminatory practices" at Bob Jones University in South Carolina.

"As a Catholic, I take deep offense to an institution of higher learning preaching religious intolerance, going as far as likening the pope to a ‘possessed demon,’ " Crowley said.

€ New York’s City’s Irish American citizens are an integral part of the city’s history and renewal," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said this week at a reception in Gracie Mansion honoring "Irish Heritage Month" in the city.

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