Wednesday, Lord and his friends brought the boat to Roanoke Rapids from Jacksonville, Fla. After a mini tea party at Centennial Park they were headed to Washington early for Saturday’s National Tea Party.
“It’s a symbol America will stand up,” Lord said near the completion of the tea party, an event hosted by the newly formed Roanoke Valley Patriots. “It’s a symbol we as a people will not have a king tell us what to do.”
Kevin Fisher followed the Dartmouth on his Harley. He is a fed up small business owner from San Mateo, Fla. “I’ve been in business for 35 years,” he said. “Since I was 16.”
He used to have 40 employees. Now he has three. “I don’t want to see any more taxes,” he said. “Healthcare is killing small business owners.”
Billie Tucker, a North Carolina native now living in Jacksonville, said 5,000 people came to the first tea party there. “We were shocked,” she told the audience. “People woke up one day and said, ‘what the heck happened?’”
Tucker said the group planned to have the boat in Washington early. “We want to drive it around the White House. We want to drive it around congress.”
Lord told the audience, who cheered when the boat arrived, “I got tired of sitting in the living room and screaming at the TV.”
Local people believe the same thing.
Jim Garrett, who owns rental properties throughout the area, said, “There can’t be free health insurance. Everyone is going to pay for it through taxes.”
Jim Frazier believes the healthcare issue in the country can be fixed. “Let the free market system do it’s thing,” he said. “We need tort reform and let insurance companies have interstate competition.”
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