Photo by Greg Reedy
Many concerned citizens voiced their opinions by bringing signs to the Elk County Tea Party held Saturday.

By Greg Reedy

Record Sports Editor

Many concerned citizens got a chance to express themselves at the Elk County Tea Party held Saturday at the Elk County Courthouse Lawn.
Dave Woods spoke about the issues dealing with abortion and the number of unborn being aborted each year.
“There’s a whole class of American citizens that are being murdered that aren’t seeing the light of day. These are little boys and girls that are being aborted,” Woods said. “We’re approaching the death of 150 million unborn children. It staggers the imagination. Obama has rescinded the Mexico City agreement and now your tax dollars and my tax dollars are paying for abortions overseas to the tune of almost $1 billion. Do we have that to spend? No. It sickens me. My friends, I hope you find room in your heart to take up this cause, to be a warrior for these voiceless, hopeless Americans to the tune of 5,000 per day in America. We got to do something. Enough is enough.”
The emotions were not just from area residents as people from DuBois and Treasure Lake made the drive up to Ridgway. That included Treasure Lake resident Steve Smith, who challenged the crowd.
“I have a concern that our group can be timid in projecting our ideas to others,” Smith said. “They’re based on personal responsibility, freedom, liberty and limited government. I think all of us need to speak up to our opposition. We need to teach our younger people. Our schools, with a few exceptions, have done a terrible job of teaching about our heritage and the basis of our freedoms. We need to debate the other side and get right in their face.”
DuBois resident Dave Singer feels the country is on its way  toward bankruptcy.
“Do you think all this federal government spending will bankrupt the country and our children’s future? You’re darn right it will,” Singer said. “The congressional budget office pointed out that of all of these proposed mandates, by approximately 2029, this will create a greater federal debt payment than our GDP (Gross Domestic Product). What is wrong with us? This is absolutely disaster.
“I’m here at this tea party because I believe this federal government spending is out of control,” he said. “Paying for big government with all of our taxes will bankrupt us and bankrupt the United States of America as we know it. It’s my belief that President Obama is leading us into change that we must submit to. When I consider the freedoms that have been taken away from us by this administration and the actions taken by the federal government that have further restricted my freedoms, it is a bit hard to be in a celebratory mood. My spirit is relifted when I revisit the founding fathers. They declared that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Our national debt grew by $7.5 million over three minutes because under the Obama Administration, we increased the national debt by $3.6 billion every day. We cannot sustain this.”
David Kirkland left his remarks short and to the point.
“I personally feel President Obama is in a collaboration to destroy us and our Congress is permitting him to do it,” Kirkland said.
One of the most emotional speeches came from Sam Ettaro, a Curwensville Borough Councilman. Ettaro was often screaming to the crowd about his views and disgust with what he feel is going on in government.
“I come to you as a patriot and an activist. This is not enough. The situation we are in in this country, the policies the Obama administration are ramming through at light speed right now have been going on for many generations,” Ettaro said. “I want to see at the next rally many people that are sticking their necks out and run for positions. You need to fight the fight, get in the game. And get your kids in the game, it is their country, it is their future.
“We are in this for a long term. This is the survival of the country,” Ettaro said. “This is the orchestrated downfall of our nation. This is the greatest nation in the history of Earth and we are seeing it torn apart, torn down, pillaged and beaten down on national TV. The robber bands of today are taking us by the throat, putting a boot to our neck and saying ‘You’re going to do what we say, you’re going to give us the money that we want, you’re going to engage in the wars that we want to profit from, you are going to take the microchip in your driver’s license.’ I say no. No. We will not take this.”  
Cliff Stump is concerned about the animal identification system and small businesses.
“With this national animal identification system and last year the Michigan farmers were paying $8 for a bale of hay to feed their animals,” Stump said. “There’s five states that passed legislation so they couldn’t implement the system. There a house regulation bill No. 2749, that’s going to take $500 a year away from everybody that has a little business to sell anything. We can’t let that happen.” 
Mason Catalone said he hopes Americans can push on.
“As Americans, we push on, we don’t ever stop,” Catalone said. “We always fight for what is right and that’s what we need to do. It doesn’t matter what your party is, we’re Americans and we stand by each other.”