Rutland protest sees big turnout
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The crowd gathers at the Tax Day Tea Party at Main Street Park in Rutland on Wednesday evening. Cassandra Hotaling / Rutland Herald |
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: April 16, 2009
With a pitchfork in one hand and a Bible in the other, Castleton resident Reg Purinton stood on the corner of South Main and West streets Wednesday, amid a wall of Vermonters protesting government taxing and spending, hoping to serve as a reminder of the country's founding principles.
The Bible he carried because it "was a guide for our country," the pitchfork because "if you didn't work, you didn't eat," said Purinton, a Clarendon carpenter who, along with his 10-year-old daughter Kayla and son, Chase, 8, attended Rutland's Tax Day Tea Party attired in 18th-century garb.
"There wasn't the redistribution of wealth there is today," he said.
The Purintons were among more than 300 people who flocked to Main Street Park late Wednesday afternoon.
Some carried signs with slogans such as "Take a sip of freedom" and "Steeped in corruption," while others related personal stories of how the tax burden has affected their lives and symbolically disposed of tea bags in a trash can labeled "Taxed Enough Already."
The turnout was a coup for organizer Jon Wallace, who found himself up against a minor roadblock last week when the Board of Aldermen denied his request for a special-events permit, despite the fact Wallace had received the OK from all required city departments.
Ultimately, the permit was a formality Wallace didn't need.
"I'm pleased," said Wallace, a West Rutland resident who began planning the event mid-March. "It's important. I asked the question, 'Who here felt they were kind of an island in their beliefs?' It's important for people to come out and see there are others who think and feel the way they do."
Outrage about government bailouts, taxing and stimulus spending on Wednesday cut across party lines, professional backgrounds and generations.
Pointing to the words Democrat and Republican on a homemade sign she waved along West Street, Kate Thompson, a para-educator from Cambridge, said she made the two-hour drive to Rutland because she "was tired of nobody listening."
"This is the first time I've ever felt like I had to do something like this to help my kids and my grandkids," she said.
Thompson, who was joined by her husband, Wayne, and friends Jim and Patty Jasmin of Jeffersonville, was among many at the protest who said they also attended a similar protest on the steps of the Statehouse earlier in the day.
Cousins Shawn Lessard, 24, and Max Emmons, 19, said that in the weeks before the rally they hung signs around Poultney, Wells and the New York border to publicize the rally.
"This is not a political sides issue," said Lessard, a Granville, N.Y., resident. "It's about not liking the way the country is going with the bailouts and spending. It's dangerous for our future."
Several local businessmen were also among the speakers who addressed the crowd from the park's gazebo.
Bart Bonazinga, a cardiologist with Integrative Cardiology, spoke about what he described as some health-care provisions damaging to patients and practitioners that were passed into law as part of the federal stimulus package, including electronic medical records and a rationing law modeled on a system used in the United Kingdom.
West Rutland resident Tom Burditt, owner of RX Lawn Systems, a one-man lawn-care business, also offered to talk about how he's losing customers in the economic climate while his prices remain stagnant. While he's still toughing it out in his home state, Burditt said he's watched his family slowly move away.
"I'm an eighth-generation Vermonter, but now the generations are being split because the state's become so expensive," Burditt said.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
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