1200 Rally to Support Troops (Venice, FL 3/23/03)Mother of Marine Speaks to the Crowd.

Sarasota Herald Tribune (Venice Edition) ^ | Mar 24, 2003 | Kelly Brooks

[JulieRNR21]

1,200 rally to support troops

The mother of a Marine in Iraq addresses the crowd at Patriot's Park.

VENICE -- More than 1,200 people participated in an emotional rally Sunday afternoon in support of American troops at home and abroad.

"We want to show support to our president and to our armed forces," said 68-year-old Venice resident Nick Catsakis. "We are mainstream America. Not the people you see protesting on the side of the road."

Rallygoers waved American flags, sang patriotic songs and cheered those who spoke at the hour-long gathering at Patriot's Park in Venice. Gary Douglass, head of Disabled American Veterans Post 101 in Nokomis, organized the event. He urged the people in the park to remember the young men and women engaged in combat.

"When you go home, get a yellow ribbon and tie it around the old palm tree," he said.

North Port resident Don Pedriali, 58, of the Vietnam Brotherhood spoke against the anti-war protests over the nation in the past few months.

"They don't speak for me, my country or the thousands of veterans," he said. "Every person, no matter how they feel about it, has an obligation to offer up a prayer daily for the men and women putting their lives on the line for our country." The rally was sponsored by the Venice Area Veterans Council and the Sarasota Veterans Council. On Saturday, 250 supporters gathered in Sarasota's Bayfront Park.

The most poignant moment at the Venice rally came when Patty Camara of Venice addressed the crowd. Camara's 22-year old son, Kenny, is serving in Iraq. She clutched her son's picture as she offered up a prayer.

"As the mother of a Marine, you have this constant pain inside," she said. "But we need to stay strong and keep our pride. They need us."

[JulieRNR21]

My husband & I attended this Rally & took many pictures which I will post later today.

SH!T had no pictures with the story but does have some on the online website.

[JulieRNR21]

FYI Ping......About 30 people joined us in a FREEP after along Rte 41.

We are going to meet again next Sunday in Venice to Rally at a busy intersection to Show Support For Our Troops.

I think I've recruited some more Freepers including several Veterans!

[NautiNurse]

"But we need to stay strong and keep our pride. They need us."

Beautiful! Will keep her son in our prayers.

A great big patriotic BUMP!

[MinuteGal]

Good work, Julie and Richard. You both are veritable Energizer Bunnies!

Get rest when you can....we have lots of freeps ahead!

Leni

[Coop]

Great work! Thanks for sharing.

[anymouse]

Way to go SW Florida FReepers. Eagles up!

[Joe Brower]

WE WILL BE THERE!

I will also have my wife and two kids along for the fun. I have also emailed several other guys and gals I know who might like to join in. Looking forward!

[HighRoadToChina]

BUMP!

[JulieRNR21]

Today's Sarasota edition of SH-T reprinted this article alng with same pictures as on the website.

People who attended the patriotic gathering hold hands during part of the event in Venice Sunday. About 600 people gathered at Patriot's Park to show their support for the troops.

Note Article says 1200 but picture caption halves it to 600.

[JulieRNR21]

Mary L. Brinkman, of Nokomis, stands behind photos of her grandsons, Tim Jansen and Jason Jansen, who are in the Army.

[ST.LOUIE1]

WooHooo! Look at you! : )

Love your pics, you're an excellent student, cutie! : )

[Joe Brower]

Julie,

All I am seeing in my browser is a grey square that says "PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE DUE TO MAINTENENCE. try back later".

D'oh!

If you want to email me the pix, I can put them on my website for you. 200 MB, unlimited bandwidth, no waiting...

[StarFan]

Sorry Julie. All I see is grey box saying Photo Not Available Due to Maintenance.

[Joe Brower]

Nope. Sorry, Julie -- still the grey box.

Like I said, if you want to email them (not FReepmail, but regular email) to me, I will be happy to create a personal subdirectory for you on my website and store them there. I will then email you back the exact URLs for the images for E-Z cut and paste. No bandwidth quotas to worry about, and lots and lots of megabytes of free space!

Looking forward to the Venice rally this Sunday!