Hometown Hero’s Welcome Due for Skipper Conner

A triumphant Dennis Conner is returning to San Diego Saturday afternoon, and his hometown is planning to greet him with a hero’s celebration, complete with a parade down Harbor Drive to the B Street Pier, where a large, outdoor ceremony in the parking lot is scheduled.

After that, Conner and his Stars & Stripes crew will board a plane for Washington, where they will meet Sunday and Monday with President Reagan and congressional leaders.

The hoopla will continue Tuesday in New York City with a Manhattan ticker-tape parade put on by Mayor Ed Koch and real estate magnate and Stars & Stripes backer Donald Trump.

But on Saturday, Conner belongs to San Diego, where last-minute welcoming arrangements are being handled by the mayor’s office, the San Diego Unified Port District and the San Diego Yacht Club.

At a press conference Thursday at the the B Street Pier, officials said they have no idea how many people will attend the welcome-home event.

“We’re hoping a lot of people will come down,” Paul Downey, the mayor’s press secretary, told reporters.

Conner, his crew and officials from Sail America, the Stars & Stripes fund-raising syndicate, are scheduled to arrive about 12:30 p.m. on a chartered Continental Airlines DC-10 at Lindbergh Field.

After a brief, private ceremony at a hangar, during which the airplane will be rechristened Stars & Stripes, Conner--in a convertible with the America’s Cup in hand--and his entourage will ride down Harbor Drive.

The parade is expected to begin at 1 p.m. on a route running from Grape Street south to Broadway along the bayfront, ending at the B Street Pier.

At 2 p.m., Mayor Maureen O’Connor and a host of other local and state politicians, possibly including Gov. George Deukmejian, will hold a welcoming ceremony on a makeshift grandstand in the large parking lot next to the cruise ship terminal on the pier.

A spokesman for the governor said Deukmejian had received the invitation but has prior commitments for Saturday. A decision on whether Deukmejian will travel to San Diego will be made today.

Downey said the city wants the B Street celebration to include boats. He asked boaters to anchor at the end of the pier in a show of support.

“It’s part of the mental image we’re trying to present to the world,” Downey said.

After the ceremony, Conner will hold a press conference inside the cruise terminal, and then leave about 3:30 p.m. for the airport and the trip to Washington.

Downey said that Councilman Bill Cleator, who is in Fremantle along with a San Diego contingent of public and civic leaders, called the mayor Wednesday night and told her that Conner “wants to come here first,” thus setting off feverish last-minute preparations because Conner wasn’t expected back until the following weekend.