Ex-Steamboat resident makes new name for himself with protest
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Paonia’s Cherry Days Parade has been a homey lineup of rodeo queens, 4-H floats, tractors and veterans for more than a century — until it became the scene of a human vs. military tank protest this week.
A standoff between a sign-wielding hairdresser in flip-flops and an anti-aircraft tank during the annual parade held each Fourth of July has generated social-media buzz about comparisons to China’s Tiananmen Square protests and the iconic image of a lone protester standing in front of a line of tanks.
This time it was hairdresser and former town council member Sid Lewis stepping alone in front of — and temporarily halting — a line of rumbling military vehicles as they passed the judges’ platform in downtown Paonia, a small farming and coal-mining town in the North Fork Valley.
“I thought it would be a good chance to speak up about democracy,” Lewis said, a day after his parade protest. Lewis was a longtime Steamboat Springs resident well known as a women’s hair stylist and a road bike racer.
The tank with two mounted 40 mm guns pointing down the parade route is owned by Bill Koch, a billionaire energy magnate who also owns Oxbow Mining Co., Gunnison Energy Corp. and a growing list of ranches across Delta, Pitkin and Gunnison counties. Koch is the brother of Charles and David Koch, who are known for their huge financial support of conservative causes.
Read the full story on The Denver Post's website.
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