4/18 Tea Party

I completely forgot to post the article I wrote about April's Tea Party! I've edited it from its original version, removing last names and locations.

Around 75 people of all ages assembled along the Susquehanna River Saturday afternoon – though not because it was the first day of trout season. It was concern regarding taxes, government spending in general and the future of the nation prompted Floyd . . . to organize a Tea Party in [the] Soldiers’ Park. Citizens from as far as Bloomsburg gathered, some wearing patriotic garb and most bearing homemade signs and bags of tea, the latter of which, following a short march to the . . . bridge, were emptied into the river with the permission of the PA Fish & Game Commission. The Tea Party opened with prayer and was followed with the Pledge of Allegiance. Speakers included Floyd . . . Lynn . . . of the Central PA Patriots Ning social networking website, and Pat Toomey representative Carolyn. . . .

The protesters were encouraged by passing drivers as they stood on the bridge, many of whom honked or waved in support and slowed to read the signs. Even younger children were active – they held pig-shaped balloons, waved signs, or chanted “USA!” Nine-year-old Skyler informed people that “there’s lots of problems in Congress and we have to stop it. We should be the leaders but we’re not.”

Rev. George . . . said, “I believe in our Constitution – for 200 years it kept this nation stable [but it’s] gradually going downhill spiritually, economically, morally. . . . I’m very concerned . . . not only for my own person but for my children [and] my grandchildren and everybody in America is hurting because of financial problems but I’m concerned about the moral issues, too – and the right to carry a gun.”

[Floyd], who originally learned of the tea parties via the Internet, was overall pleased with the turnout. Next time, he expects “everybody to bring an extra person with them and . . . to have more people in the future.”

In regards to the future, [Floyd] said, “We have already started a website. We are meeting two times a month, and the website is centralpapatriots.ning.com. We’re planning some events in the future; in late August we want to do a Constitution Camp and educate people about our rights, where they come from, our history, and along with our rights and our history, the responsibilities that go along with it and to hand our next generation a strong country like we have now.”