Rallies Planned Throughout the Valley to Support Troops

Yellow ribbons, banners and U.S. flags are popping up everywhere around the San Gabriel Valley, and marches and rallies supporting U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf are planned.

Among the rallies:

* “Support Our Troops Rally” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in front of the Plaza Pasadena at Garfield and Colorado avenues. It is sponsored by the Pasadena Republican Club and Young Republicans. Supporters are encouraged to wear yellow ribbons and bring signs and posters.

* Hundreds of yellow ribbons and flags will be passed out at Operation Desert Support at 11 a.m. Saturday in Covina Park, said Covina Mayor Chris Lancaster.

* Army veteran Lou Hernandez has organized a rally and march beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday in front of the American Legion hall, 330 N. Azusa Ave., West Covina. Hernandez is founder and president of the U.S. Vietnam Veterans of Southern California.

* Pomona Mayor Donna Smith said the city is planning a rally near City Hall in the next two weeks. Smith, whose 19-year-old son is stationed in the Middle East, says the city is distributing flyers encouraging people to write letters or send care packages to the men and women stationed in the desert.

About 72 people with banners, flags and yellow ribbons showed up for a rally Monday, organized by San Dimas First Assembly Church, said the Rev. Clyde Harvey.

Alhambra City Council also offered an expression of support, unanimously adopting a resolution commending U.S. troops and instructing city staff to look into ways the city can support the war effort.

In Irwindale, the Miller Brewing Co. has stretched a 120-foot banner with a U.S. flag and yellow ribbons across the top of its fermenting tanks.

The banner can be seen from the Foothill Freeway. By Tuesday, the company had received 33 calls, including three from car phones, from people praising the large sign that reads, “In Support of Our Troops,” said Miller spokesman Victor Franco.

The day before the Jan. 15 deadline for Iraq to pull out of Kuwait, Vietnam veteran Gary Enderle hung a 30-foot banner adorned with yellow ribbons and a U.S. flag on his back fence in San Dimas. Over the weekend, the banner, inscribed in red with “God Bless America,” was vandalized with red spray paint to say “Iraq 1.”

Enderle, 43, says he suspects the vandals were teen-agers.

He said he plans to clean the banner and leave it up until the Persian Gulf War ends.

“I spent eight months in Vietnam in 1968, and we heard a lot about the anti-war sentiments. It was real depressing,” he said. “We want to let troops know that people back here are supporting them.”