No end in sight for MLK parade fight

More news from Houston's ongoing effort to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of equality and harmony: It looks like an arbitrator's decision on the city's dueling MLK Day parades is setting off yet another fight. We thought this year's joint parade between the Black Heritage Society and the March For Freedom Foundation — the first in years — might be the first step toward some kind of agreement, but the day after the parade, the rush for dueling permits was on again. Last week, an arbitrator awarded the permit for the 2007 MLK parade to Charles Stamps and March for Freedom, a move the BHS's Ovide Duncantell isn't too happy with. "That's just round one in a 15-round fight," Duncantell told the Chronicle. "Stay tuned is all I can say at this point."

In case you've forgotten the specifics, the BHS held the city's only MLK Day parade for many years, but Stamps left the BHS in 1995 and formed a group to hold a rival parade. The two groups fought over who would get the better day and time for their parade, and the city — which had never really had to deal with two groups wanting to have parades in the same place at the same time — had to change its rules for awarding permits. Under the new rules, groups that file for the same parade date and time must undergo arbitration, and the arbitrator's decision is supposed to be binding, which brings us back to the news at hand.

Duncantell has accused the city of favoring Stamps, but arbitraator Raul Gonzalez said evidence presented during a one-day hearing "failed to establish any credible evidence of favoritism or conspiracy by any department of the city of Houston." It's not clear how Duncantell plans to appeal the arbitrator's decision.