Senate OKs study for Latino museum

By Anne C. Mulkern
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 04/11/2008 

WASHINGTON — A national Latino museum came one step closer to reality Thursday as legislation passed the Senate that calls for setting up a commission that will study its potential creation.

"It's about time," Ramon Del Castillo, chair of the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at Metropolitan State College of Denver, said of the Latino museum. "The Latino has been left out of American history."

The bill also calls for a study of whether places related to the life of civil rights activist Cesar Chávez should become national historic landmarks.  The goal of Latino activists is to have a federal holiday on Chávez's March 31 birthday, Castillo said. But, he added, "anything that we can do to promote this man who was an icon and a hero . . . we support that." Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., sponsored the measure on the Latino museum.

"We must celebrate the diversity of our nation, and Latinos have been a significant part of American history," Salazar said. "They have contributed to nearly every facet of our culture including the arts, business, and served in our nation's military with distinction."
The measures were included in a sweeping bill that packaged together 62 proposals dealing with public lands. That bill also had language from Salazar directing a study of the feasibility of reusing leftover water from energy development; and authorizing the federal government to work with Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming on a program to protect endangered and threatened species along the Platte River.

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., co-sponsored the Platte River legislation. He supported the legislation because it protects the species while allowing water in the river to be used by cities, local authorities, farmers, ranchers and others. "This legislation aims to address one of the most pressing needs in the West, ensuring that the Endangered Species Act does not stop water from flowing," Allard said.

All of the proposals packaged together in the bill have passed the House as individual bills. The Senate bill with all the measures together will return to the House for a vote but is expected to pass.
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