Return of the dueling MLK parades

The day after rival black heritage groups held Houston's first joint Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in years, the race was on again to get separate parade permits from the city. Ovide Duncantell, director of the Black Heritage Society, filed for a permit for a 2007 MLK Day parade and said he was sure MLK Grande Parade Foundation President Charles Stamps would do the same.

"Whoever has the permit has the parade," Duncantell said. "I wanted to make sure I'd done everything proper."

Maybe he should begin by using proper English? At any rate, it looks like the dueling parade permits (if the Grande Parade files for one) will end in arbitration, just as they did this year. Duncantell said he's willing to work with any organization that might file a competing parade application, sort of: "We can unite, but the point is, under what circumstance," he told the Chronicle — a reference to the BHS and Grande Parade's 10-year run of holding separate parades and fighting over the best time slot and guests. Wasn't Vince Young supposed to take care of all this?