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ENLARGE
The Tea Party Patriots are still angry about the direction this country is going in, but a rally in Sacramento left them feeling energized and exhilarated about their movement.
More than 5,000 people attended Friday's rally in Sacramento, 168 of whom came from Nevada County on three buses.
Demonstrators kept to the same themes: Smaller government, reeling in taxes and support for veterans, said Jackie Branson of Grass Valley.
Similar protests took place Friday elsewhere in the country, and more are planned in coming days.
“I don't know where this is going to go,” said Robert Steuber, another Grass Valley participant. “We're not trying to be a third party. We're trying to be the voice of the American people.”
The Capitol rally was “powerful, moving. The people were energized,” said Jackie's husband, Walter Branson.
“There were people from everywhere in California,” he added. “The people were wonderful, courteous as ever. I must've dropped my camera, and somebody chased me through the crowd to get it back to me.”
Farm equipment started arriving about 11 a.m., then the big-rigs came at about noon — about 100 of them circling through downtown Sacramento, although none dared honk their horns.
“They weren't allowed to toot their horns, or they'd be fined $800,” Walter Branson said. All the equipment “tied up traffic nicely.”
“It was very well-behaved,” Jackie Branson added.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, and Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, spoke at the event. Reporters from Fox News and the New York Times pulled participants aside for interviews, Walter Branson said.
At one point, Tim Robinson, of Robinson Enterprises, was asked to take the stage. His family's timber and fuel business based in Grass Valley had employed roughly 300 people a few years ago, but has declined to about 125, Walter Branson recalled him saying. Robinson blamed the decline less on the economy and more on clean air rules and environmental restrictions on logging, Branson said.
“I went down there because I am a construction worker,” Branson said. “I've worked in the mining industry, in the logging industry, but I've hardly worked at all this year, and my unemployment is not too far from running out, and winter's coming.
“With any luck, the politicians are going to realize, we're the ones who put them in there, and we can vote them out,” he said.
City Editor Trina Kleist contributed to this story. To contact Staff Writer and Online Community Manager Zuri Berry, e-mail zberry@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4244.
More than 5,000 people attended Friday's rally in Sacramento, 168 of whom came from Nevada County on three buses.
Demonstrators kept to the same themes: Smaller government, reeling in taxes and support for veterans, said Jackie Branson of Grass Valley.
Similar protests took place Friday elsewhere in the country, and more are planned in coming days.
“I don't know where this is going to go,” said Robert Steuber, another Grass Valley participant. “We're not trying to be a third party. We're trying to be the voice of the American people.”
The Capitol rally was “powerful, moving. The people were energized,” said Jackie's husband, Walter Branson.
“There were people from everywhere in California,” he added. “The people were wonderful, courteous as ever. I must've dropped my camera, and somebody chased me through the crowd to get it back to me.”
Farm equipment started arriving about 11 a.m., then the big-rigs came at about noon — about 100 of them circling through downtown Sacramento, although none dared honk their horns.
“They weren't allowed to toot their horns, or they'd be fined $800,” Walter Branson said. All the equipment “tied up traffic nicely.”
“It was very well-behaved,” Jackie Branson added.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, and Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, spoke at the event. Reporters from Fox News and the New York Times pulled participants aside for interviews, Walter Branson said.
At one point, Tim Robinson, of Robinson Enterprises, was asked to take the stage. His family's timber and fuel business based in Grass Valley had employed roughly 300 people a few years ago, but has declined to about 125, Walter Branson recalled him saying. Robinson blamed the decline less on the economy and more on clean air rules and environmental restrictions on logging, Branson said.
“I went down there because I am a construction worker,” Branson said. “I've worked in the mining industry, in the logging industry, but I've hardly worked at all this year, and my unemployment is not too far from running out, and winter's coming.
“With any luck, the politicians are going to realize, we're the ones who put them in there, and we can vote them out,” he said.
City Editor Trina Kleist contributed to this story. To contact Staff Writer and Online Community Manager Zuri Berry, e-mail zberry@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4244.
