Lawrence Democrats are riled over a Kansas City TV station’s decision to carry a documentary critical of John Kerry’s anti-war activities after his return from Vietnam.

“I told her I was very disappointed and that I would be advertising (the disappointment) on local (Internet) bulletin boards,” said Lawrence resident Lori Robinson, who talked to a woman Tuesday at the WB 62 in Kansas City. Robinson was a delegate in July to the Democratic National Convention.

Sinclair Broadcast Group owns 62 television stations across the country, including WB 62, which appears on Sunflower Broadband Channel 3.

Sinclair stirred controversy this week when it ordered most of its stations to show “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal.” Critics say the program is propaganda or political advertising disguised as a news documentary.

In the film, released in early September on the Internet, former Vietnam War prisoners of war allege that Kerry’s anti-war activities in the 1970s after he returned home as a decorated Navy veteran prolonged their own ordeal for two years by boosting the morale of their captors.

Twenty U.S. senators wrote to the Federal Communications Commission, complaining the Sinclair Broadcast Group was improperly trying to influence the presidential election’s outcome.

Officials with WB 62 would not comment Tuesday. But a receptionist at the station confirmed the program would air at 8 p.m. Oct. 21, less than two weeks before the Nov. 2 presidential election.

“It’s scheduled, it’s not been produced,” the receptionist said. “Kerry’s invited and urged to attend.”

Robinson said a protest at the station was being considered for the night of the broadcast. By Tuesday afternoon, one Web site was listing 13 local advertisers on WB 62; readers were urged to call the advertisers to pressure the station.

But Republicans were defending the right of Sinclair and WB 62 to carry the program.

“If the TV station wants to broadcast it, I think they probably can,” said Scott Poor, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party. “I don’t think there’s anything saying they have to pull it. I don’t know that Democrats have any standing. If they think it’s a biased piece, they’re free to point it out.”

The Kansas City television market includes 894,000 homes on both sides of the Kansas-Missouri state line. Kansas is considered a lock to give its electoral votes to President George W. Bush, a Republican, but Missouri is seen as a swing vote — albeit one that has leaned Republican in recent polls.

Burdett Loomis, a Kansas University political science professor, said the program would probably appeal to Republican “true believers” but should have little effect on Missouri voting patterns.

“I think it’s going to cost the network some money,” he said. “Beyond that, I don’t think it will make much of a difference.”

— J-W wire services contributed to this story