Hundreds with Palin tickets turned away
Inside Cambria County War Memorial Arena on Saturday, an enthusiastic crowd waved signs and roared for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
But outside, the mood was much different.
Many ticket holders for the campaign rally were shut out when, just before Palin began to speak, local officials decided that the arena could not safely hold any more people.
It is not clear how many were turned away. One official estimated that as many as 2,000 Palin supporters, some of whom had waited for hours, never got inside.
“I’m sure there were a lot of upset people,” said Pat Lape, Johnstown Fire Department deputy chief. “But we have to do what’s safe for everybody.”
The Palin rally drew a huge response, with residents gobbling up thousands of free tickets in Cambria and surrounding counties. More than 4,700 tickets were distributed in Johnstown alone.
The War Memorial has seating for 4,000, with additional standing room on the floor.
Lape estimated that at least 5,000 witnessed the Palin speech.
They need bigger arenas...or set up chairs outside.
And from the Obama plants comes this, the counter attack..
“Karen Bowman of Ebensburg, a Northern Cambria High School teacher, said she had arrived in Johnstown at about 7:30 a.m. and had a ticket.
But she could not get inside.
“I have students who are going to ask me about my experience here today,” she said.
“The (McCain/Palin) ticket lost votes,” she added. “And it gave the protesters ammunition.”
Her daughter, Shippensburg University student Kristin Bowman, was bitterly disappointed at not being able to see Palin.
“There were seats left inside,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.”
‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’
I understand the concept of frustration, but it rings a bit hollow in the remarks above. Why not just say, “I busted my butt to be here but the place was packed and I couldn’t get in, but I’m pleased to know that Sarah got a great turnout, and we still had a swell time in the parking lot.”
If Obama held a rally (in his popular days) the police would have turned a blind eye to the numbers inside Cambria County War Memorial Arena. They would not have stopped until there were 30,000 people. Obama would have helped with the crush of people by throwing water bottle out to those who felt faint.
I do not know why they gave out more tickets than there was seating.
Too late now!
That’s interesting. I was at the rally and I thought they could have fit another 200-300 people on the floor. I actually didn’t think it was going to fill up, since there were still 300 empty seats 20 minutes before Palin went on.