912: AMERICA AWAKES.
10 MILLION IN 2010!
Posted on 09/14/2009 7:33:14 AM PDT by CT-Freeper
WATERBURY — Arthur Caisse Jr. of Wolcott has been attending tea parties since the middle of April, and on Sunday afternoon he paced the downtown Green holding a handmade sign at yet another one.
“Throw the tax bums out” it read on one side, and “Dump Dodd” on the other.
His small white dog, Fonzy, carried his own sign on his back. “It’s a dog gone shame,” the sign read. Arthur Caisse Sr., Caisse’s father, held a sign that said, “Enough is Enough.”
About 200 people attended the tea party, organized by the Rat Pack Motorcycle Club. It was the first tea party the club, based in Waterbury since 1964, has organized, but it was not the first rally its members have attended.
More than two dozen club members provided a rumbling escort of motorcycles on a rainy Friday for the Tea Party Express, a national bus tour of protests against excessive government spending, taxes and intervention.
Club President Robert Fernandez said about 80 club members attended Sunday’s rally on the Green. The club was politically active back in the 1960s, Fernandez said, and has remained political. He said club members will continue to attend other rallies in the state; he said they are upset over several issues, including the stimulus bill, the take over of car companies, socialized medicine and overspending.
“We’re hoping that the government will listen to us,” Fernandez said. Sunday’s tea party was held as runners from the Bob Veillette 5K Road Race and Walk passed by. Speakers included a doctor, dentist, members of the group trying to oust Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, motorcycle club members and Mayor Michael J. Jarjura.
“You are the government. You are the spark that’s going to be the change,” Jarjura said during brief remarks.
More tea parties have been held throughout the state in recent months, including in Cheshire, Meriden and Bridgeport.
Many of those who rallied on the Green attend weekly rallies, while for others this was their first.
Bryanne Nanfito of Wallingford attends a tea party in Meriden every Thursday and sometimes in Cheshire on Monday nights. A coffee stained cardboard sign hung from her neck on a white string.
It read, “To know Congress is to no Congress.”
Dorian D’Amico of Derby held a sing that read, “Audit the Fed.” He said he got involved after his girlfriend, Sabrina Ritchie, told him to stop complaining and do something about it. They at tended their first rally in Bridgeport on Friday.
Ritchie said she started to question the government after she was laid off in January.“ I don’t understand how things got so bad,” she said.
From reading the article, it appears that our Democrat mayor (Jarjura) was in attendance as well. He's been nominated by both the Democrat and Republican Town Committees this year, and faces a primary for the Democratic endorsement tomorrow.
Waterbury is an odd place - overwhelmingly Democrats, but the most conservative Democrats I've ever known.
I think that together with the march in DC on 9/12 the people are beginning to speak. Now if the politicians will listen, that is another matter!
I remember the rat pack in the 60s. They had a fearsome reputation and were rumored to be muscle for the local mafia.
Their used to have a club house on Hamilton Ave.
“Gee...the mafia had (has) a presence in Waterbury??!! I’m shocked, I tell ya! “
Yup, I know because I used to deliver loan shark payments from my dad to to an auto body shop owner named knuckles.
Waterbury in the 60s was a fun place.
Yeah, my father-in-law has told me some stories. He's Waterbury born and raised (born in 1947).
“He’s Waterbury born and raised (born in 1947).”
I was born in Waterbury in 1949.
I remember standing in the front yard at my sister’s house with my bro in law as he held an M1 during the 68 race riots.
The good ole days.
The north end was a no go zone. Still is =) Progress.
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