First person report from DC March
Here’s a report on last week’s 09.12.09 March On Washington, from Roanoke Tea Party member Sherry Hearn, along with some more photos from the march taken by Tom Mealy.
Photo from the 09.12.09 March on Washington
September 13, 2009 – Washington was great!!! There were wall-to-wall people. The mainstream media will play it down as usual. ABC did not even put it on my email headlines this morning. We did not get as much attention from them as “Elton John Wants to Adopt Ukrainian Child”. (N0 comment necessary) or “Saudi Minister Undergoes Surgery in US”. Why did he not get surgery in his own country?? Could our system be better than his??
We chose to drive to DC to accommodate our grandchildren. There were so many people they had to close down the streets into the city. The Metro was jammed, and we were fortunate to get out because we left early before the rally was over because we had children with us. There were people there from all over the US. When looking from the base of the Capitol steps down the Mall, there was nothing but people. We could not even get close enough to see the stage area. It was very encouraging to see so many and to feel the support that was obvious from everyone. We had to stand in line for about an hour just to buy tickets for the Metro. Locals on the train said they had never seen this happen before.
The press did carry the story about 10,000 at a rally in California. That was nothing compared to the crowd in DC. There must have been 300 on each of the Metro cars. There were 6-7 cars per train that ran constantly all day long. One train we figured carried 2,000 every time it left the station. That happened about every 15 minutes. At this rate, it did not take long to get to 100,000 people coming in from five different directions. This continued all day. In addition, there were 450 busses parked in the bus lot in Fairfax, one of only many at the end of each line. Many charter busses took their passengers straight into the city. Read more
How many Marchers in DC?
View of the 9/12 March on Washington crowd from the top of the Capitol Building
Here is an image taken last Saturday (9/12) from the Capitol Building in Washington that puts the lie to absurdly low turnout estimates.
Does that look like 50,000-70,000 people to you?
If you hear anything from our opponents about an “official estimate,” that is a false claim. That number came from the DC Fire Department, who has no official status of any kind regarding estimates like this.
DC Metro rail ridership for that day tallied 437,624 riders, almost 250,000 above average. Bus fares were also up by about 100,000.
The people who were there know the truth.
Here is an interesting observation that comes from Kenneth Happel, via the Heritage Foundation web site.
I was the medical coordinator for the event. I believe that there were at least a million people there and a million and a half would be my best bet.
I don’t know where the “official estimate” quoted as 60,000 comes from. The event permit, and Chief Lyles fire department resource allocation, was based upon 50,000 (because we couldn’t prove more beforehand)and that number of people was supposed to be contained in the central section of the west lawn between the sidewalks extending from the freedom and grant statues.
I counted the crowd entering Penn. Ave. to determine how many first aid team people were needed and where. I made my count at Freedom Plaza after the police radio had indicated that the front of the march had reached Capital Circle. I used the following method. We counted the number of people stretching across Penn. Ave. from curb to curb for a distance down the street of ten feet. That number was divided in half (assuming that there were variations in how tightly people were packed)and multiplied by the number of ten foot intervals from Freedom Park to Capitol Circle. At 8:00 the count was 200,000. I inserted a medical team at that point and when it reached Capitol Circle the whole avenue had filled again and I inserted my team. So at about 9:30 the total attendance from the march was, conservatively, about 400,000. The avenue continued to pumo in people fopr another two hours. So I estimate about 600,000 came through that route. Read more
More views from the DC March
Here is a video comprised of images taken at Saturday’s 09.12.09 March On Washington. It was created by Erik Kritter, a member of both the Roanoke and Franklin County Tea Party groups, from the more than 1500 photos he shot in DC.
Erik also put together a live action video he shot on Saturday, seeking to answer the big question “How many people were at the march?”
Roanoke Tea Partiers in DC
All three buses full of Roanoke Tea Party members made it to DC and back on Saturday without incident. I’m sure that we will have more details from the marchers soon, but here are some photos that we have of and from our group.
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- Roanoke Tea Party buses depart for DC
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- Roanoke Tea Partiers board the buses on 9/12
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- Preparing to board the buses
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- Getting ready to board the buses
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- Tea Partiers waiting for the DC Metro
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- A REAL Tea Party Patriot!
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- Assorted signs at the DC March
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- Our Roanoke Tea Party t shirt
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- Marching on the Capitol
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- Don and Sandy Smith at the march
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- Lisa Tarbutton at the March with Caleb McAlister and Greg Honeycutt providing patriotic music
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- Chip Tarbutton in the shadow of the Capitol
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
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- 9/12 March on Washington
Hats off to all of you!
Congratulations to the DC marchers!
Hats off to all the Tea Party marchers who assembled in Washington today. Crowd estimates range from 1.2 to 2 million people!
Here’s a YouTube video that shows time lapse images of the march from a traffic camera in downtown Washington.
DC one day buses full – overnight trip still open
The buses we chartered to take Roanoke citizens to Washington for this Saturday’s Taxpayer March On Washington are full – at least the two one-day, round trip buses. If you would like to join us for the march, there are two options:
We still have room for additional travelers on our overnight trip, leaving Friday afternoon and returning Saturday evening. Our block of rooms at Hilton Hotel in Springfield has expired, but you can contact them and see if they will still honor the rate they had offered our group ($99). If you can book a room, the bus trip alone will cost $40.
Please contact Michael Mixon (540-793-3277 michaelmixon1@cox.net) to reserve a space on the round trip bus.
If you would like to caravan up with the buses on Saturday, you can meet the group at Tanglewood Mall Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m. and follow them to DC.
DC Bus Trip this weekend
All the plans are in place for our Roanoke Tea Party bus trips to Washington this weekend. We still have room for a few more local Patriots who will march with us in DC!
The 09.12.09 March On Washington is a grassroots, non-partisan event designed to give average citizens and taxpayers an opportunity to express their disgust with out-of-control spending by our federal government. We believe that both of the political parties who control our Congress are to blame, and we need as many people marching with us as possible to show the people in the government who really runs this country.
We have a bus leaving on Friday afternoon for an overnight stay, and two leaving early Saturday morning for an up-and-back trip. We have kept the costs low to allow as many Roanoke Valley residents as want to go to travel with us.
The one day trip is only $30, and the overnight stay $150, which includes a hotel room for Friday night. If you will be traveling with a companion with whom you can share a room, the cost will be lower for each of you. We will all meet at the march and walk together, so there is no need to be concerned about being left behind.
We still have room for a few more day trippers, and really need some more for the overnight stay. Won’t you march with us – and bring a friend?
If you have already signed up for one of the bus trips, please carefully check the details here, where meeting times and parking instructions are listed.
Tea Party Flyers
Can you help us spread the word about the 09.12.09 March On Washington, and the bus trips we have arranged for Roanoke-area Patriots?
We created this flyer with all the details about the two bus trip options. If you know of a place where it might be appropriate to post a flyer – or someone who might be interested in this information – please download the flyer, print a few copies, and distribute them as may seem proper.
Download the Roanoke Tea Party 9/12 bus trip flyer
We also have a flyer that briefly outlines what The Roanoke Tea Party is all about. Again, if you can think of anyone who might be interested in joining our group, or perhaps a bulletin board where it could be posted, we invite you to download the flyer, and print as many copies as you need.
Download the Roanoke Tea Party informational flyer
Thanks for your help!
September 12 bus trip filling up
The buses we have chartered to take Roanoke area Patriots to DC for the 09/12/09 March on Washington are filling up!
The Roanoke Tea Party has reserved a number of buses, both for an overnight stay and for a up-and-back day trip.
The day trip is scheduled to depart Roanoke at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday 9/12, returning here by approximately 8:00 p.m. The cost for that trip is only $30. At this point, there are only 58 seats left for the day trip.
The overnight trip will leave for DC at 10:00 a.m. on Friday 9/11, returning home on the evening of 9/12. The cost for that trip is $150, which includes the bus fare, hotel room and subway into the city for the March. The cost will be lower if you will be traveling with a partner with whom you can share a room. There are only 34 seats left for the overnight stay.
You can see all the details on these two bus trip options here. If you would like to reserve a spot on one of these trips, please contact us right away!
All the information about the 09.12.09 March on Washington is available online.
The goal of this March is to “take the Tea Party Movement to Capital Hill.” As their web site states:
Our message is that governments at all levels have been spending way too much money. The federal government is especially guilty of this, as they pile up the debt, deficits and unfunded liabilities. They are taxing, borrowing or printing money with no end in sight. This madness has to stop, and that is why we are demanding that they stop the wasteful spending and stop burdening taxpayers with more debt.
This protest is about defending our liberty, and about restoring our Constitution by reducing the size and scope of the federal government.
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