Posted on 10/14/2011 5:05:31 PM PDT by mdittmar
About 50 of the estimated crowd of 400 people who 'occupied' Utica Thursday evening ended up spending the night.
The diehard protesters say they will continue to 'Occupy Utica' 24 hours a day as long as the weather permits.
One of the organizers, Ken Keplinger says he does not want to put anyone's health in jeopardy, so as soon as the temperatures drop overnight to a temperature the group believes is unsafe, the protest will then only take place during the day.
Keplinger says they do plan to stay 24 hours a day, as long as they can.
Keplinger, who himself spent the night in a tent along Liberty Bell Park says it was rainy and cold on this first overnight, but it was an enthusiastic bunch who spent the night, "high spirits, a lot of people going by and honking for us. People from Utica, from businesses all over. They've been coming by, they're saying way to go, thanks for being out here for us, here's some food, here's some water."
The crowd was estimated to be about 400 during the peak 6:00 p.m. hour Thursday night, when the group held its kickoff event.
Just like their counterparts in the ongoing 'Occupy Wall Street' protest in New York City many of the protesters here in Utica chant and hold up signs with slogans about political and financial reform.
Once again I DEMAND
ONLY solar and wind generated electricity may be used for mobile phones and computers.
How do these people go to the bathroom?
And more important, what exactly are they protesting?
Are they just mad at the world?????
Occupy Utica? That’s funny. Good luck to them.
I know there is a Utica in Illinois.
Barry really needs to start visiting these Obamavilles so the fleabaggers can all have the opportunity to lick the bottoms of his shoes.
I’m not sure, but I’ve read they hit the crapper in various businesses that are close by. Being NYC there’s probably a lot of places open 24 hrs. The business folks probably don’t much like it but probably fear discrimination complaints.
Then again it’s possible this is like a multiple shift factory operation where crews come and go during a 24 hr period.
Being a native New Yorker (Adirondack division x-fered to AZ) I protest the existence of Utica almost as much as that as NYC. Pretty much anything south and west of Watertown has to be declared another country if there is any hope for the state’s survival... ;)
They obviously don’t have jobs to go to.
Most of them are living off Mom and Dad while protesting for the Government to take Dad’s money in taxes.
Let’s see how well their tents hold up to the high winds blowing through this area. Good luck....morons!
Yes there is, and it's a shit hole and has been a shit hole for a good many years. The Liberty Bell park they are occupying is a small corner lot in downtown Utica. There is no downtown anymore. They couldn't even keep a McDonald's open down there. It's been raining all day, and is supposed to rain all next week except for Monday. Temperatures at night are in the low 40's. We usually have snow by Halloween, so hopefully that will chase their sorry asses back home.
Mother nature is a fickle witch and she is going to slap them down and send them home. It will be the same in New York and they will never make it all day in the middle of the winter either.
Ain’t it great. Of course they will blame Wall Street for the cold weather as well.
Let’s see them occupy Ithaca (City of Evil).
And that Utica, is 10 miles up it.
And Utica's got a great brewery.
LOL!! I’ve never heard that one. Thanks for sharing. I was born in Rochester, NY, and have lived in the Utica/Rome area more or less since 1972.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.