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Written by Louis Weisberg, Staff writer
Oct 6, 2010
A La Crosse official was ticketed for disorderly conduct after allegedly shoving a 14-year-old girl and assailing her with anti-gay slurs during the city’s Oktoberfest Maple Leaf Parade on Sept. 25.
Mark Schneider attended the parade in his official capacity as Riverfest Commodore, an honorary title bestowed annually on a prominent local citizen. At the start of the parade, Schneider became incensed over an American pride flag carried by the daughter of Rosanne St. Sauver, executive director of the LGBT Resource Center for the Seven Rivers Region.
“The commodore came over and physically grabbed the flag pole in Emily’s hands and attempted to take it from her,” according to a press release from the center. “Our director went over and attempted to intervene and repeatedly asked the commodore to stop, as there were children present. …. He did not stop and said, ‘Look at what you are teaching them.’ During the incident he pushed Emily and remained belligerent throughout the confrontation.”
A police officer was summoned and broke up the altercation. As Schneider was walking away he yelled, “You are a piece of shit. Go to a country where they will hang you,” according to the center’s press release.
Schneider was later ticketed over the incident.
“I am extremely infuriated that Mark Schneider only received a disorderly conduct citation for violating a city ordinance,” St. Sauver said in written statement. “I believe there are sufficient statements and supporting accounts of the incident to support further investigation in to a possible hate crime charge. Not to mention that he did this to a 14-year-old child.”
St. Sauver called for Schneider’s removal as Riverfest Commodore.
Schneider and his wife Peg Schneider are volunteers at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Schneider is past president of the Aquinas Booster Club and serves on several parish boards.
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