Fifth Tax Day Rally held at Perrysburg

0
A small crowd gathers at
Hood Park in Perrysburg to listen to various speakers Saturday afternoon during a Tea Party rally.
(Photo: Shane Hughes/Sentinel-Tribune)

PERRYSBURG – Blue skies and moderate temperatures brought the
conservative faithful out Saturday to the annual Tax Day Rally at Hood
Park, overlooking the Maumee River in the city’s downtown.
"We’ve
supported the movement, lesser government, taking care of the debt,
since the very beginning," said Waterville resident John Fink, who
observed from the audience.
He said that changes wrought in both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations have damaged "the
fabric of the government."
Approximately
50 attendees turned out for the fifth-annual event by the 1:30 p.m.
start time – a smaller crowd than in past years.
Linda Bowyer, chair
of the Northwest Ohio Conservative Coalition, which sponsored the rally,
took note of what she called the mainstream media assertion that "the
conservative movement, the Tea Party movement, is in decline, is dead."
She
challenged such thinking, noting recent electoral success for the
movement, including the election of Sue Larimer to the Perrysburg Board
of Education.
"We’re making in-roads," said Bowyer.
Larimer was present at the event but was not a featured speaker.
The
Tax Day rally’s speakers largely included office-holders or candidates
for positions in Lucas County, including Toledo city councilman Tom
Waniewski and Republican State Central Committee candidate Bill Delaney.
Scott Allegrini, running for the Ohio House’s 47th District seat,
noted the change in the area’s Tea Party over the past five years.
Allegrini is challenging incumbent Rep. Barb Sears, R-Sylvania.
Originally, he said, those people interested in the Tea Party gathered, but didn’t have an action plan.

Since then, "we’ve really morphed into an activist group, to pushing for candidates," he said.

Later
noting that the Tea Party title originally emerged as an acronym of
"Taxed Enough Already," Allegrini said it should be changed to "Totally
Engaged Americans."
Some at the rally showed their support with flags
– including the well-known Gadsden flag featuring a rattlesnake and the
phrase "Don’t Tread on Me" – and signs bearing the words "I’m All Taxed
Out!" and "Evil Government is a Cancer Killing Our Republic."
Ron
Johns, a University of Toledo student and president of the Young
Americans for Liberty organization at the campus, asserted that "the
silent majority of college students are actually very fiscally
conservative. As a matter of fact, they’d probably be Republicans if
their parents didn’t tell them different."
Speaking the day before
Easter, Johns took a tongue-in-cheek approach as he contrasted taxation
with the religious concept of tithing.
"God only asks for 10 percent.
Government asks for 30 percent," he said. "So my question for
government is: why do they think they’re three times more valuable than
God?"
"Complete opposites," he added later. "God giveth, government taketh away."
"We’re in the red more than just fiscally and financially," said conservative activist Charlie
Earl. "We’re in the red morally."
"We keep electing people who have turned a blind eye when they keep expanding government."
Perrysburg
resident Ron LeRoux, running for the District 2 Republican State
Central Committee seat, said he has no problem with politicians who
learn how to speak well, but "that becomes their profession. To talk.
But that stops with the talking."
"It really comes down to that set
of morals," he said, adding "our morals come from living life everyday"
next to friends and family.
The electorate, he said, needs to say "we’re going to elect people on principle."

No posts to display