Castle Rock, CO 7/4/2009
It has been over 230 years since the people of Boston rose up against the British and threw English Tea into the harbor. The spirit of "Don't Tread on Me" is alive and well as Castle Rock held a Tea Party of its own which filled up Festival Park in Castle Rock. They don't have King George to kick around any more but President Obama, Governor Ritter and Senators Udall and Bennett have given the citizens of Douglas County a lot of incentive to do some kicking of their own.
The July 4 Tea Party was put together by Town Councilman Paul Donahue who had a short two weeks from inspiration to execution to pull off the event. Speakers at the event included Castle Rock Mayor Randy Reid, Ryan Reilly, State Senator Mark Scheffel and others.
Donahue talked about his inspiration for putting on the event. " What is happening today is a big overreach by the Federal Government outside of the U.S. Constitutional boundaries set up by our founding fathers. With the Government's Stimulus bill, Cap & Trade, and now Government run health care proposals, we have got to do something."
Donahue said people can start by not feeling they are alone. They can call their representatives and let their voices be heard. Donahue was encouraged in starting the event by the
South Denver 912 Project. The 912 Project's brochure states it "was designed to bring us back to where we were on September 12, 2001." The project's symbol is the Unite or Die Snake printed in Benjamin Franklin's newspaper in 1754. The article and cartoon was meant to underscore the disunited state of the British Colonies. The cartoon caught the attention of the public and was not only reproduced in other newspapers at the time, but reappeared in various forms at the start of the Revolutionary War.
Jon Wieland provided music for the event which ended with the huge crowd enthusiastically singing Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA". Volunteers provided hot dogs, hamburgers and chips to the hungry crowd at no charge. The day was beautiful and truly carried out the spirit of the 4th of July.
Mike Robinson is Senior Partner at
Robinson & Henry P.C., a Castle Rock law firm.