ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Organizers for TV personality Glenn Beck's appearance at Anchorage’s Dena’ina Center Saturday say they're anticipating tickets will be sold out.The event marks the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, and former Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to introduce Beck to the crowd.
After hearing about the event, some Alaskans have organized rallies to express their objections to Palin and Beck -- and to, in their words, throw light on the hatred and fear they create.
Organizers are expecting a lot of traffic at the Dena’ina Center for Saturday's controversial event.
“We're very, very close now, and we're anticipating it selling out or be within 5 percent, 3 percent of selling out,” said Northern Stage Company owner Christopher Cox.
Palin and Beck are on track to possibly bring in more than 4,000 people. Beck is on the record calling President Obama a racist, a charge that’s not being taken well by some Alaskans like Desa Jacobsson, who’s organizing two counter-rallies outside the Dena’ina Center and on the Delaney Park Strip.
“What I’m afraid is that they're banking on ignorance for people to believe that (Obama’s) a Muslim. I object to that -- he's our duly elected president,” Jacobsson said. “And there are hidden inferences that we want to ‘take America back.’ Back to what?”
Jacobsson says she's organizing the counter-rallies to stop spreading hate.
“We've gotten e-mails as far away as Kenai, and phone calls, e-mails from people all over Anchorage favorably responding to this,” Jacobsson said.
“The anti-Beck rally, I don't know what to say to that,” Cox said. “If you want to go out there and say, ‘I don't like that guy,’ great -- none of my other shows, no one has protested it, but I haven't had anyone so controversial.”
The date is also stirring controversy. Organizers say Sept. 11 was not the intended date, but critics don't believe it's a coincidence. They point to a Beck-Palin rally held a few weeks ago in Washington, D.C. at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- at the location and on the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Cox says people should be able to buy tickets at the door for the event, which starts at 8 p.m.
The counter-rallies will be held at 11 a.m. by the flagpole on the Park Strip, and around 7:30 p.m. outside the Dena’ina Center.
Contact Christine Kim at ckim@ktuu.com
