St. Louis, Mo. Tea Party under the Arch

Tea Party supporters converge under the Arch

BY JAKE WAGMAN AND MICHELE MUNZ

Thousands of Tea Party supporters gathered under the Arch this afternoon for what is one of the group’s largest gatherings before the mid-term election in November.

As speakers began to welcome the crowd at mid-day, the front steps of the Arch were nearly full with people, many holding signs or waving “Don’t Treat On Me” flags. Organizers were hoping for a crowd of about 10,000.

“I think that it’s normal Americans,” said Jim McWilliams of St. Charles. “Most of these people have not been politically active, including me. And I’m 78 years old. I’ve never been as scared in my life with the way things are going in this country.”

A video broadcast on two large screens opened the rally, with a voice-over declaring: “The Tea Party Patriots will define the future of this country and will be a new voice for Americans.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Price, a Georgia Republican, was one of the first speakers at the rally, and he wowed the crowd with pledges to fight back against taxation and spending in Washington.

Price applauded the “righteous indignation” of rowdy Town Hall meetings last year.

“This is the most important election of our lifetime,” Price said, looking out at the crowd. “The signs out there say it all: silent no more.”

Many other speakers were expected to address the crowd, including Dick Morris, U.S. Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, and Dana Loesch, a local conservative blogger and radio personality.

Jon Fulps, 35, and his wife, Nicole, traveled from Wichita to attend the rally with their two kids, 5 and 6 months. Jon has been disillusioned with government, a feeling that was reinforced when he was laid off a year ago from his job as an aicraft worker.

“Ever since I started having kids, I’ve wanted something better, something I can be proud of and my kids can be proud of,” he said. “Government spending has gotten out of hand.”

The event, called “Gateway to November,” began at noon and is scheduled to end at 4 p.m. Organizers wanted to spread a message of low taxes, small government and fiscal restraint in a run-up to the November election.

 It is one of three “9/12″ rallies around the country; Tea Party activists today will also gather in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, Calif.

Read more in tomorrow’s Post-Dispatch.

Tea Party members have used “racial epithets,” have verbally abused black members of Congress and threatened them, and protestors have engaged in “explicitly racist behavior” and “displayed signs and posters intended to degrade people of color generally and President Barack Obama specifically,” according to the proposed resolution.

“We’re deeply concerned about elements that are trying to move the country back, trying to reverse progress that we’ve made,” NAACP spokeswoman Leila McDowell told ABC News. “We are asking that the law-abiding members of the Tea Party repudiate those racist elements, that they recognize the historic and present racist elements that are within the Tea Party movement.”

[Editor's Commentary: I have not joined any Tea Party organization, but I am very supportive of their agenda to follow the Constitution, scale back the size and reach of the federal government, cut taxes and provide for a strong military defense of this country.

I attended the first St. Louis Tea Party Rally on April 15, 2009 and reported on it for our SolidPrinciples.com Podcast.  There were over 8,000 participants at the rally and I can PERSONALLY ATTEST to the fact that there were no racial epithets or racially demeaning posters used.  There were African/American conservatives there, contrary to what the MSM would have you believe and although the attendees were in large part middle-aged and beyond, there were also teens and 20-somethings in the crowd as well.

When I came across this piece from ABC News, I just had to post a rebuttal.  That is the great strength of the Citizen’s New Media.  We no longer have to sit idly by while these elitists broadcast their propaganda.  Now we have a voice.

~~John Cronin~~

Here’s a story that happened about 10 miles from where we live, but because we were flying into Washington, D.C. and then driving down to Quantico,VA to attend our son’s graduation from the Marine Corp’s Officer Candidate School, one that we followed on FOXNEWS in our motel room near the base.

St. Louis conservative radio talkers have been beating the drums for months because there didn’t seem to be any movement in the case, but KMOX radio reports that charges have now been filed.

This case was a shocking example of what happens when an administration and it’s enablers think they can ignore the will of the people. The utter disdain with which the Democratic Party treats it’s critics is something to behold.

Now the folks who allegedely got a little fiesty in the parking lot at St. Louis Community College got some ‘splainin’ to do.

~~John Cronin~~

Kevin Killeen Reporting
kakilleen@cbs.com

ST. LOUIS (KMOX Radio) – Three months after the punches were thrown, a prosecutor in St. Louis County has filed charges against six people in connection with fights outside a congressional forum on health care.

It happened outside a Russ Carnahan town hall meeting, on an August night when the national debate over health care reform was rising like a heat wave before a thunderstorm.

Members of the Service Employees International Union clashed with members of the Tea Party.

Now, St. Louis County Counselor Patricia Redington has issued a total of ten charges spread out among six people.

Reached by phone after she left the office for the Thanksgiving holiday, Redington spoke from memory in general terms about the case.

Among those charged, two accused of assault in connection with the beating of Tea Party activist Kenneth Gladney. Gladney had claimed that two men wearing SEIU shirts attacked him as he sat at a table giving away tea party buttons.

Redington could not immediately provide the names of those charged, and she said she did not know whether those charged are members of SEIU.

The charges are all St. Louis County ordinance violations, which are lesser charges than a misdemeanor. If convicted, the six people face up to a year in jail and a thousand dollars fine on each count, Redington said.

Redington was asked if she was pressured after recent publicity about the lack of charges to wrap up the case. “Nobody called me and I don’t know why that was perceived to be long,” Redington said. “We have about 90 thousand charges a year. We try to get charges written up within six to eight weeks of getting a report.”

So why did this case take three months?

“Most of our charges don’t involve dozens of police officers, multiple defendants and quite a few videos to review,” she said.

Kenneth Gladney is reacting with disappointment to the charges against those accused of beating him.

His brother Keith, who has been acting as his spokesman, told KMOX the charges “should have been more serious.” Keith Gladney also claims investigators failed to contact his brother Kenneth or interview the witnesses to his alleged beating during the three month investigation.

Redington confirms that among those charged is St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman, accused of interfering with police. Wagman had been working the story and shooting video when a dispute arose with police over where a reporter could be allowed to stand.

Read More at KMOX