Trinity Park rally gives taxpayers a voice

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April 15, 2009

<a href="mailto:dheath@pressrepublican.com">By DAN HEATH</a> The Press Republican Wed Apr 15, 2009, 07:29 PM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — More than 100 people attended a Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party rally at Trinity Park Wednesday afternoon to protest government spending.

The event was organized by Holly De Tulleo of Mooers Forks, who kicked the event off at Plattsburgh City Hall.

“Give yourself a hand. This is your rally, your effort and your voices,” she said before leading a march up Cornelia Street and along Margaret Street to the park.

The crowd loudly chanted “I’ve come to say I don’t want to pay,” with several cars honking horns in support.

De Tulleo then led the rally from a platform in the park.

“We are here. This is the day,” she said to cheers from the crowd. “We will be seen and heard.”

It was one of more than 2,000 such rallies across the United States on the last day to file income-tax forms.

“We want our country back. It’s like we don’t even recognize her any more,” De Tulleo said.

After she led the crowd in a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance, Ron and Courtland Wood were joined by the crowd in singing the “Star-Spangled Banner,” accompanied by Carl Kokes on violin. They later led songs such as “America the Beautiful,” “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “Proud to be an American.”

De Tulleo asked participants to come up on stage and share their thoughts.

Morrisonville resident Gary Loffler quoted Margaret Thatcher:

“Socialism works just fine until you run out of other people’s money,” he said.

Loffler runs a small insulation business, Cellu-Spray. He said what’s happening with taxes is putting small businesses out of business.

“Government is like a cancer. It’s growing and growing,” he said before the event. “Things can’t keep growing forever.”

The large turnout shows people feel very strongly government is destroying the voices of our country piece by piece, Loffler said.

Tom Nagowski of Cumberland Head, said the massive federal bailout of companies that caused the current financial mess is wrong. In particular, he’s angry General Motors got $13.5 billion yet still might go bankrupt.

“We’ll never see that money again,” Nagowski said.

AIG is another example. It has received $170 billion in federal funds, including an $85 billion loan from the Federal Reserve.

“They’re (AIG) still giving bonuses to the people that caused this problem,” he said.

World War II veteran Antonio Gagliardi from Plattsburgh took the stage to say he remembers the events that led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany.

He said the leaders of the Wehrmacht Republic just kept printing money in response to economic hardship, until it took a wheelbarrow of cash to buy a loaf of bread.

It was their downfall that led to the ascension of Hitler, Gagliardi said.

“If you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to repeat it,” he said. “I’m afraid the same thing could happen here.”

Peru resident Jim Gallagher said positive, open discussions with neighbors will help forge a solution better than continued negativity.

“These are the things our forefathers stood for. They gave their lives,” he said.

Rachel Maliniak of Plattsburgh then took the stage to read a poem she later titled “Fed Up.”

“Bailout nation, jobless claims, markets failing, Main Street pain. The state of the nation is corporate greed, corrupted government and Ponzi schemes,” it reads in part.

Maliniak wrote it after seeing her parents lose so much of their retirement and others lose everything they have. She doesn’t want her 7-year-old daughter to grow up to face all these problems.

“I don’t like it when I see people get hurt. People are generally good, and they don’t deserve that,” Maliniak said.

She said Congress was irresponsible when it voted on the bailout bill without even reading them.

“They just pass it. People are not using common sense.”

Before the event, Monika Chambers of West Chazy said she became a U.S. citizen after 9-11. She is German but was naturalized because of the way the United States came together after the terrorist attacks.

“This (rally) is not party oriented. It can unite people just like after 9-11,” Chambers said.

A political science student at Plattsburgh State University, she blames the current financial mess on members of Congress from both parties.

Shirley Del Grasso, who owns Homestead Embroidery in Plattsburgh, said government needs to stop its out-of-control spending so there is money left for future generations.

“Stop the bailouts, or at least slow down,” she said. “They’re trying to fix everything too quick. That’s when you mess things up.”

After the event, De Tulleo said she was pleased with the turnout, especially since she didn’t start organizing the event until 3 weeks ago.

“I just wanted to join together the citizens of our area and surrounding area to establish a platform for their voices to be heard. I wanted to let people know they’re not alone with wanting their feelings to be heard about government spending.”

E-mail Dan Heath at:

dheath@pressrepublican.com